'Tales in a tent': John Sampson's representation of Romanies

Porter, Michelle. (2011) 'Tales in a tent': John Sampson's representation of Romanies. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This analysis of an article published in 1892 examines the production of academic knowledge about Romanies in late nineteenth century Britain. This thesis investigates three aspects which arise from John Sampson’s description of fieldwork: 1. the emergence and hegemonic dominance of the Gypsy Lore Society which published the article in its journal The Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society; 2. John Sampson’s performance of an idealized Romani Rai and its impact on his research methods; 3. what the text itself reveals about the nature of interactions between Romani Rais and Romanies, with a particular focus upon how items of folklore and language are coded to convey a variety of meanings to different audiences. From this discussion, this thesis concludes that the performance of the Romani Rai was an essential motivator for Sampson’s academic activities and, further, that this performance diminished the quality and content of the research collected.

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