Outsider status, and racialised habitus: the experiences of Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller students in higher education

This qualitative study explored the university experiences of 13 students from Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller (GRT) communities in England Scotland. Using conceptual tools, informed by work Bourdieu, such as racialised habitus cultural capital, well Elias’s on established-outsider figurations we show that GRT are ‘racialised’ outsiders established white habitus, with experiencing devaluing their capital including anti-Gypsy anti-Roma rhetoric within settings. Moreover, a destabilised was evident, for some, who experienced ‘cultural dissonance’ between community expectations feelings ‘not being good enough’. compounded controlling images they encountered, resulting hyper-vigilance about sharing ethnic identity. For this led to painfully ‘fragmented selves’ which exacerbated lack support universities invisibility institutional habitus.