OMG did you see BFGW!

Trying to find a ‘hook’ on which to hang various Sociological concepts in order to capture students imagination is always a challenge. The recent C4 series ‘My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding’ has been a gift. It pulls in 8m+ viewers, even beating ‘The Brits’, regularly trends at #1 on Twitter and is the conversation starter every Wednesday registration. Norms & Values, Socialisation, Sub Cultural Theory, Media Representation, Patriarchy; you name it, links every week.

Obviously there has been a lot of media interest into the success of the programme, not all of it positive. From the obvious moral high ground(!) of the Daily Mail, to more thoughtful analysis on the beeb. The travelling community have found a voice too through their own media.

If that’s all a bit lightweight, it might be worth checking out these two ethnographies I’ve been using this term as part of the IB Social Anthropology course. The Clark & Greenfields is an excellent introduction, serving as a ‘reader’ in the subject. Whilst the Okely book is a full blown Ethnographic Study, particularly interesting considering it was written 30 years ago and bears little resemblance to some of the customs in the 2011 programme. So much for tradition!