大象传媒 Scotland - 大象传媒 Scotland - 鈥業s it right my people are banned from shops, like dogs?鈥� 鈥� the young Traveller fighting prejudice while staying true to his roots

鈥業s it right my people are banned from shops, like dogs?鈥� 鈥� the young Traveller fighting prejudice while staying true to his roots

19 September 2018

Davie Donaldson is a part of Scotland’s Traveller community. He’s had to fight against stigmas surrounding his culture his whole life.

He described how, when a young boy, his teachers wouldn’t mark his homework because “he wouldn’t do anything with it.” He went on, however, to study social anthropology with international relations at Aberdeen University.

Keen to dispel myths about his community, Davie made a film that questions why a group of people living in Scotland for over 1,000 years are still made to feel like second–class citizens.

The Truth About Life As A Young Scottish Traveller

This is life for a young traveller in Scotland.

Amnesty International Scotland published studies in 2012 stating that Travellers in Scotland regularly face discrimination. Davie explained that he still sees signs banning Travellers from swimming pools, shops, restaurants and pubs.

Building on Traveller history 鈥� but also having the opportunities everyone else has 鈥� is really important to me.

He is also frustrated at how some have been adopted by the ‘settled’ community (those who are not Travellers).

Words like chavvie (which originally meant a newborn child) and gadgie (a man who was not a gypsy) have been reappropriated as slurs against people from the Travelling community.

Describing someone as a tink or a mink is “extremely offensive” to Davie and his people. “Those words are used to describe dirt.”