Session Information
19 SES 01, Parallel Paper Session
Paper Session
Contribution
In 2004 and 2007 the European Union was extended to a number of Central and Eastern European countries. It is in particular from these countries that many Roma people have migrated – and continue to do so – towards Western Europe, mainly into cities. This increasing migration gives rise to much political debate, as Roma are considered to have a very particular way of living which it is feared will infringe on social stability. Consequently, a lot of action is taken at various policy levels, not least at the European level. In this complex situation, a recurring question of decisive importance is to what extent the migrations of Roma are different from other ones. Targeted measures are often legitimised by the particularity of Roma. In doing so, reference is made to an on-going history of diaspora, exclusion, discrimination and even persecution; to specificities of the Roma culture; or to the absence of a homeland of the Roma people, often in relation to a problematic social position in their countries of origin. The field of tension between a need to confront social problems related with Roma on the one hand and the willingness to recognise Roma identity on the other hand, is very present here. It is in this tension the research at hand can be situated. In this paper, the question to what extent experiences and self-perceptions of Roma immigrants in Western Europe correspond with the way they are represented in contemporary policy discourses, will be further explored. Beyond the question how a constructed identity shapes the politics of Roma migration, it may be questioned how self-definitions of Roma may in turn be meaningful to conceive of policy differently. What is at stake, then, are Roma’s own attributions of meaning behind outer behaviour. The insight that the way the ‘Roma problem’ is framed and reproduced in society is the most important obstacle hindering Roma political development, compels us to take such an insider perspective seriously. Doing so, Roma’s own definitions of their identity (and culture) may serve as a step-up to changes in the present socially constructed meaning-granting framework. The starting point of our quest was an interest in what the people at whom initiatives are targeted have to say about the discussions they are subject to. Plenty is written on adequate policy strategies, but Roma themselves are only scarcely heard in the debate. An important presupposition of this position is that at this point the definition of ‘Roma identity’ is to a certain extent open in the sense that it can be reframed or reconstructed differently. Our research focuses on how ethnic Roma who have recently migrated from Eastern Europe (in casu former Czechoslovakia) towards Western Europe (in casu Ghent), define Roma identity themselves. Two research questions were central to our project: 1. How do recently immigrated ethnic Roma in Ghent define their own identity and how/in what sense do they relate to ‘being Roma’; and 2. How does this self-identification correspond with currently predominant policy discourses towards Roma?
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
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