Scholars have called for the abandonment of the nomad category on the grounds that it is analytically untenable. This article explores whether this is the case by examining the category’s socio-political life. In order to do this, it traces nomadism’s chequered social life from ancient Greece, through colonial anthropology, to contemporary Europe. It then examines two case studies: Roma in Italy and Travellers and Gypsies in the UK. In each of these empirical cases, the nomad category is employed in manifold ways by state administrations, NGOs, and Travellers, Gypsies and Roma. On the basis of this material, the article argues that the ways the nomad category is popularly imagined, politically deployed, and historically documented demonstrate its continued analytical worth.
