Approches critiques de la race - Roma (antiracist) activism in Europe and the (de-)whitening of Romani women’s intersectional experience

Séminaire Approches critiques de la race / Critical Approaches to Race Seminar

Roma (antiracist) activism in Europe and the (de-)whitening of Romani women’s intersectional experience 

by Serena D’Agostino (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) & Sebjan Fejzula (Universidade de Coimbra)

• Abstract 

Anti-Roma racism – also known as anti-Gypsyism or Romaphobia – has been traditionally overlooked by antiracist movements in Europe. The denial of race and racialization in the so-called ‘Roma issue’ has normalized and legitimized the scapegoating of and discrimination against the Roma, as well as shaped Romani activism. Critical Romani activists and scholars have recently challenged this normalization and contributed to positioning anti-Roma racism in broader discourses around race, racialization and racism. In this seminar, we engage in a critical discussion around Roma (antiracist) activism in Europe, with special emphasis on the intersectional experience of Romani women.

• Bios:

Serena D’Agostino (she/her/hers) is a Senior Research Fellow at the Political Science Department of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). She obtained her PhD in Political Science at VUB in 2018, with the thesis "Romani Women in European Politics. Exploring Multi-Layered Political Spaces for Intersectional Policies and Mobilizations”. Her research interests lie at the crossroads of (political) intersectionality, activism/social movements and minority politics and rights, with a focus on Romani politics and Roma rights in Europe. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in the European Journal of Politics and Gender, the International Feminist Journal of Politics, the Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies, the Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, and Politics, Groups, and Identities, among others.

Sebijan Fejzula (she/her/hers) is a Junior Resercher at the Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal. Currently, her interdisciplinary research work focuses on racialization, Roma self-organisation and (anti)racist collective struggle, with a special focus on institutional dimension of anti-Roma racism, cases of police brutality as mechanism for controlling and disciplining Roma people I Europe. She is also a founding member of Roma anti-racist collective Kale Amenge (Roma for ourselves). Among her latest publications can be highlighted articles as The Anti-Roma. Europe: Modern ways of disciplining the Roma body in urban spaces; Anti-Roma racism, social services and the white civilisatory mission; De-whitening Romani women’s intersectional experience (forthcoming) and the co-edited book State Racism: A collective view of autonomy and racial justice.

Responsables scientifiques : Leila Mouhib – Alana Osbourne – Lena Terrando Kenza Talmat – Jean Illi – Marti Luntumbue

Infos et Inscriptions : jean.illi@ulb.be / marti.luntumbue@ulb.be