Paper short abstract:

Depicted as flouting the rules of fair play, Travellers are considered transgressors par excellence. Nowhere is this more apparent than in how they conduct their economic transactions. By examining these transactions, I show how Traveller notions of fair play contrast with those of outsiders.

Paper long abstract:

Frequently depicted as flouting the rules of fair play, Irish Travellers are considered as transgressors par excellence. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the way they conduct their economic transactions. From the perspective of non-Travellers, Travellers are predatory, inducing their customers to contract their services by any means necessary. Conversely, Travellers' notions of fair play revolve around attributions of 'cleverness', ideologies of manhood, and practices of competitive one-upmanship. Economic relations, therefore, are synonymous with hunting, with those 'clever' enough to procure resources from 'country people' (non-Travellers), esteemed as real Traveller men. Not only does this afford them a livelihood but also inverts asymmetrical power relations between Travellers and non-Travellers.

Through a case study of men's economic transactions, this article not only demonstrates that Traveller notions of fair play markedly contrast with those of non-Travellers, but destabilises conventional anthropological approaches which suggest that socially disembedded economic exchanges are intrinsically alienating. In order to demonstrate this, I examine how, rather than shaping social relations with their customers, Travellers' economic transactions operate in the opposite direction, drawing a boundary instead of forming a bond. Far from being alienating this separation acts to reproduce the Traveller social order.