Introduction : emerging trends in Gypsy, Roma and Traveller research

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated or brought about changes in Gypsy, Roma and Traveller-related (GRT) ethnographic research. This chapter explores the concrete methodological implications of these developments, focusing on a series of key elements: the shifting roles, capabilities and accountabilities of researchers; the development of collaborative approaches to project design, implementation and dissemination; the flexible combination of research methods; the ongoing reconfiguring of ‘the field’ from a locale to an evolving set of relations and processes; the foregrounding of doubt, ignorance and failure in the research process; the transformation of ethnographic writing to incorporate the work and perspectives of non-academic GRT interlocutors; and shifting ideas of what outputs of academic value might look like. The chapter introduces the book as a companion to those interested in GRT issues.