History, Identity, and the Politics of Exclusion The Roma of Northern Europe

Date of Award

2003

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Baram, Uzi

Keywords

Race, Roma, Europe

Area of Concentration

Anthropology

Abstract

The Roma are one of the largest ethnic minorities in Europe. As an ethnic group, the Roma are diverse and live throughout Europe. Since their arrival in the fourteenth century, Roma have been consistently persecuted and oppressed as an inferior face. The globalization of Europe, or Europeanization, has fundamentally changed the continent. The European Union is not the sole cause of Europeanization, but it has accelerated the process. A uniform refugee policy and national minority policy is one of the goals of the European Union. These policies have a profound effect the Roma populations of Europe. The process of Europeanization, has changed the way people construct their identities and the way countries nationalize. Majority populations within Europe can no longer define their identities in relation to other European nations as many of the sources of identity are shared with other countries. Already understood within the context of a racial worldview, European minorities have become the 'other' by which majority populations utilize in constructing their identities in the New Europe. The Roma populations of Germany, Finland, and Sweden are examined to elucidate the current position of the Roma in the New Europe. Ethnographic data from Sweden is utilized to bring out the complexities the Roma are facing in the New Europe. The ethnographic data reveals that despite extensive attempts to improve the social and economic situation of the Roma in Sweden, the reality for most Roma has changed little. Racism and discrimination against Roma in each of the countries has steadily increased over the past decade. As a racialized minority, the Roma cannot be integrated into European society, the goal of the European Union. Race, which at its core lay the notion that differences are non-transcendable, is used to create the social hierarchy in Europe. Until the racial hierarchy of Europe is dismantled, the Roma will continue to be outsiders-intruders on European culture and economy.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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