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- Author or Editor: Špela Urh x
- Policy Press x
Around 10 and 15 million Roma live in Europe, where cultural diversity is among the European Union’s officially declared values. However, the Roma are not recognised as representatives of this idea, but have become the European “Other”, perceived as a threat to the dominant society both with their nomadism and their settlement. Roma “otherness” was, and still is, seen in explicit forms of racism in the past (geographical persecution, assimilation strategies, genocide, sterilization) and more implicit forms in the present (nimbisms, ignorance, special school placement). The article looks at these aspects of Roma oppression but also points to examples of good practice from the perspective of both a ‘community social work model’ and a ‘cultural advocacy’ perspective and suggests these are the most successful social work perspectives working with marginalised Gypsy communities.
Racism was and has remained a key determining element of the life experiences and life chances of Roma people all around Europe. The author provides some examples of current and past anti-Roma racism and analyses how and why the Roma ethnic minority face such racism. Despite many international declarations, European Union legislation, programmes and initiatives to protect the Roma against racism, racism still continues. Across Europe, the Roma are suffering increasing intolerance and hostility, scapegoating, and growing xenophobia. In the field of social work, many critical theoreticians argue that social work education and training have been slow to acknowledge racism in everyday life. This article presents the evidence of growing anti-Roma racism in order to encourage practitioners in the field of social work, students of social work, and social work scholars and researchers to include anti-Roma racism in our theories, practices and research agendas informed by anti-racist social work.
