Mobilizing Romani Ethnicity
The Roma issue is generally treated as a European matter. Indeed, the Roma are the largest European minority—their presence outside of Europe is a result of various waves of migration over the past four hundred years. Likewise, the stereotypes associated with the Roma—the problematized, stigmatized status of a “Gypsy” as well as the historical and contemporary manifestations of antigypsyism—are also of European origin. This book claims, however, that the perception of Roma being strictly a European issue is flawed, and that re-connecting the Roma issue globally represents an important learning experience and an added value.
The book offers a critical exploration of Romani political activism in Colombia and Argentina, and compares it to that in Spain, narrated from the intimate perspective of Romani actors themselves. By outlining parallel lineages of Romani activism in three countries and on two continents, the author arrives at broad conclusions regarding the nature of ethnic mobilization. Mirga-Kruszelnicka proposes a new synergetic conceptualization of this multidirectional concept as an interplay between political opportunities, mobilizing structures, and frames of identity.
Contributing to the vivid debate about the relationship between the researcher and the researched, the book also includes an original discussion of the positionality of scholars of Romani background.
FOREWORD by Ethel Brooks
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
INTRODUCTION: Personal equation: Where did it all start?
CHAPTER 1. DEFINING ETHNIC MOBILIZATION – A SYNERGIC APPROACH
- Ethnic mobilization – a conceptual puzzle
- Defining ethnic mobilization
- Understanding Romani ethnic mobilization
CHAPTER 2. POLITICAL OPPORTUNITIES – UNDERSTANDING THE BROADER CONTEXT
- Setting the scene: Ethnic mobilization in Europe and Latin America
- Roma as political subjects
- Roma in Europe and Latin America: Comparable cases?
CHAPTER 3. ROMANI ETHNIC MOBILIZATION IN A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE. LOOKING INTO THE CASE-STUDY COUNTRIES
- Argentina, Colombia and Spain: majority contexts, minority struggles
- Reconstructing the genealogy of Romani presence
- In search of windows of political opportunity
- Anno Domini 2017 – Status of Roma
CHAPTER 4. WHO IS DOING THE MOBILIZING? ANATOMY OF ROMANI ETHNIC MOBILIZATION THROUGH THE PRISM OF THE ACTORS
- Anatomy of a movement – birth and growth of Romani actors Argentina
- Panorama of Romani mobilizing structures: an overview
- Leadership and composition patterns
- Multiple voices: Between fragmentation and consolidation
- Rationale for ethnic mobilization
CHAPTER 5. MOBILIZING FRAMES? IDENTITY AND INTERESTS INTERTWINED
- Identity and interests – and potential of collective agency
- Romani identity frames
- Frames of collective Romani interest
- Mobilizing frames? Frame alignment and frame correspondence vis-à-vis Romani constituency
CHAPTER 6. MOBILIZING ROMANI ETHNICITY FOR COLLECTIVE ACTION
- Targets of mobilization – why is this important?
- Targeting structures of power – external upward mobilization
- Building support and seeking allies – external lateral mobilization
- Internal mobilization – community as a resource?
CONCLUSIONS: MOBILIZING FOR CHANGE? LIMITS AND POTENTIAL OF ROMANI ETHNIC MOBILIZATION
- Romani issue as a global issue – importance of the trans-continental perspective
- Contributions to Romani Studies
- Romani agency in the world politics – possibilities and opportunities
EPILOGUE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX