to the invitation of the DG Justice

As responses to the call launched among the members of the Network to comment on the progress achieved during the year 2012 in each of the Members States of the European Union to implement the National Strategies for Social Inclusion of the Roma we received the following comments and contributions.

1) Issues connected to the social inclusion of the Roma have been intensely debated on the email list of the network.

• The list of members who have sent comments and engaged in debates includes: Kai Åberg, Thomas Acton, Timofey Agarin, Gabriel Andreescu, Sam Beck, Barbara Bello, Christian Brueggemann, Sarah Carmona, Elisabeth Clanet, Jan Conka, Radosveta Dimitrova, Ada. I. Engebrigtsen, Eben Friedman, Slawomir Kapralski, Martin Kováts, Balázs Krémer, János Ladányi, Yaron Matras, Lamia Missaoui, Judith Okely, Martin Olivera, Helen O’Nions, Ryan Powell, Márton Rövid, Ana Rozanova, Iulian Stoian, Orhan Tahir, Nóra Teller, and Sina Van den Bogaert.

2) Members have shared the links of their published work connected to the Strategies:

• Christian Brueggemann: Measuring results? Education indicators in Roma integration strategies
• Balázs Krémer: Roma – Societal empowerment and integration
• Elisabeth Clanet: L’EXEMPLE DES ROMS / LES ROMS, POUR L’EXEMPLE
• Annabel Tremlett and Aidan McGarry: Challenges facing Researchers on Roma

3) Comments sent directly to the Network secretary:

• Barbara Tiefenbacher on Austria Download
• Zora Popova on Bulgaria Download
• Ana Rozanova on Lithuania Download
• Florin Moisa on Romania Download
• Andreea Carstocea on Romania Download
• Marc Willers and Owen Greenhall on UK Download
• Andrew Ryder, Sarah Cemlyn, and Margaret Greenfields on UK Download
• Ulderico Daniele: The Involvement of regional and local authorities and the civil society in several countries Download
• Barbara Giovanna Bello: Fighting discrimination convincingly Download

Three internships for early career scholars of Romani background has been offered funding by the Network. The call for internships has been published within the frame of the Supporting Roma in Academia actions initiated by Scientific Committee of the Network in the summer of 2012.

The inters will be hosted by the European Centre for Minority Issues’ (ECMI) located in Flensburg (Gemany) and supervised by the researchers of this Institute. The internship periods are staring from February 2013.

The following intern has been selected:

• Elena Gaudi (Romania) with the research project: Educative measures as alternatives to detention in case of juvenile delinquency for EU citizens
• Aleksandar Marinov (Bulgaria / UK) with the research project: Inward Looking: the impact of migration on Romanipe from the Romani perspective
• Diana Pirjol (Romania) with the research project: Overview of the health status and access to health care services of Roma community in Europe: Results of a meta-analysis

See also the news on the website of the ECMI.

Call for application to attend a Research Seminar

Date: 29-30th May 2013

Venue: Corvinus University of Budapest

Young, motivated, and experienced Roma and non-Roma researchers, activists, and professionals are invited to a workshop to critically reflect upon existing forms of Roma participation and to explore effective practices of participatory policy formation, research, and empowerment.

In the last two decades a complex network of organizations emerged specialised in the “Roma issue”, comprising non-governmental and inter-governmental organizations, expert bodies, foundations, activists, and politicians. These actors have managed to raise the attention of international organizations and national governments to the plight of Roma; however, the social status of Roma has not improved significantly, with a large proportion of them still living at the margins of society.

The event seeks to explore how to go beyond exerting external pressure on governments in order to overcome the historical marginalization of Roma and to facilitate their substantive participation and empowerment. In what ways could Roma participate in policies affecting their lives beyond taking part in limited forms of political consultations? What are the preconditions for the emergence of a strong and autonomous Roma civil society? How could large NGOs reach Roma communities at the ‘grassroots’? How to combine the struggle against racism, the promotion of democratic solidarity, and the reinforcement of an open Roma culture that allows for diverse and multiple identities? What lessons can be learnt from the experiences of Roma self-governments and ethnic political parties? How could universities, churches, companies, and media empower Roma?

Participants are invited to share before the workshop concrete cases of Roma empowerment. The cases will be discussed and elaborated with the help of senior participants at the workshop and will be published online afterwards.

Related events

The workshop is part of a three-day event Roma Participation, Empowerment, and Emancipation comprising a conference and another workshop on theoretical approaches to empowerment. The conference is open to a broader audience, whereas the limited number of participants of the two workshops are selected on the basis of two separate calls. The selected participants of the two workshops are encouraged to attend the conference and join each others’ workshops.

In the framework of the conference high level policy-makers, senior scholars, and prominent Roma activists and intellectuals engage a broader audience. Confirmed conference speakers include Laszlo Andor (EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion), Zeljko Jovanovic (Director of Open Society Foundations Roma Initiatives Office), Agnes Daroczi (Phralipe), and Thomas Acton (Professor Emeritus, University of Greenwich). See further information at http://romaempowerment.wordpress.com

Confirmed workshop participants: Margaret Greenfields; Will Guy; Martin Kovats; Marton Rovid; Iulius Rostas; Marius Taba.

Supporting organizations: Corvinus University of Budapest, University of Bristol, European Academic Network for Romani Studies, Roma Education Fund, Open Society Foundations Roma Initiatives Office, Roma Research and Empowerment Network

Eligibility

The workshop aims to attract primarily young, motivated, and experienced Roma researchers, activists, and professionals who have firsthand experience with Roma-specific programs, bodies, initiatives. Participants should be willing to reflect critically on their own experiences, share it with other workshop participants, and develop case studies. The language of the workshop is English: participants are expected to have a good command of English.

Funding

The European Academic Network for Romani Studies covers the travel and accommodation costs of a limited number of Roma participants. In addition, a limited number of non- funded participants will be selected. Roma MA and PhD students and graduates up to five years after the completion may apply for funding. BA graduates may also be considered on a case-by-case basis. Participants will be selected on the basis of their experiences, their knowledge of English, and their statement on empowerment.

Application

Candidates are required to fill in the online application form including a 300-word biographical note, a 1000-word statement on empowerment, and the submission of a CV. The online application form is available at http://bit.ly/XCAJcd

Deadline of application

Please submit application by 15 March 2013. Participants will be selected by 31 March 2013.

Organizers: Andrew Ryder; Crina Marina Morteanu; Iulius Rostas; Marius Taba; Marton Rovid

 Contact: romaempowerment@gmail.com

Download this document in pdf.

Archive Research Seminar at the University of Liverpool, 29-30th May 2013

Call for applications

Early career researchers of Romani background (BA, MA, PhD) are invited to apply for a 3 day academic seminar on the uses of historical methods and sources in Romani Studies.  The seminar will focus on planning and implementing research projects using archives and a wide variety of historical approaches (such as transnational, social, cultural, or oral history).  Through lectures and practical exercises, participants will gain hands-on experience of working with archival sources and planning longer-term research projects.  Participants will give presentations about their own research interests. The workshop will include talks with historians, librarians, specialists in archive management, and museum professionals, who together specialize in a wide range of historical and geographical areas, ranging across the modern history of Western Europe and the Mediterranean to Germany and East Central Europe.

As an example, we will work with the Gypsy Lore Society Collections held at the University of Liverpool Library.  We will re-evaluate these archival collections, both as a body of knowledge to be deconstructed by scholars wishing to challenge the romanticising tendencies of nineteenth-century ‘Gypsiology’, and as one possible resource for historians interested in new approaches to researching the history of Roma and Gypsies in Europe since the nineteenth century from a local and transnational perspective.

The workshop will also include sessions on public history, and the connections between history, archives and human rights, for example with a talk at the Federation of International Human Rights Museums, established by Liverpool’s International Slavery Museum in 2010 to explore how museums around the world can engage with sensitive and controversial histories and challenge racism, discrimination and other human rights abuses.

This workshop will provide a basis for future collaboration between the organizers and participants on grant applications and joint research projects.

Lectures and seminars:

Professor Eve Rosenhaft, historian (Germany and Holocaust Studies), Department of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies, University of Liverpool

Professor Henriette Asséo, historian, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Centre de recherches historiques), Paris; author of numerous studies of Gypsies in France and Europe and co-author, with Idit Bloch and Juliette Jourdan, of the documentary film Mémoires tsiganes, l‘ autre génocide (Kuiv Productions – Mémoire magnétique, 2011)

Dr. David Fleming OBE, Director of National Museums Liverpool, on the Federation of International Human Rights Museums

Dr. Ilsen About, historian; post-doctoral researcher at Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l‘Homme, Université Aix-Marseille.

Dr. Celia Donert, historian; lecturer in the History Department, University of Liverpool

Mrs Katy Hooper, Special Collections Librarian, University of Liverpool Library

Dr. Alex Buchanan / Dr. Margaret Procter, Archive Studies, University of Liverpool

Eligibility

Students of Romani background enrolled in a BA, MA or PhD programme in the humanities or social sciences; early career researchers no more than 5 years after PhD.  Anthropology, Sociology, Gender Studies, Political Science, Demography, History, Law, Public Policy, or Social Theory are all eligible fields. The languages of the workshop will be English and French.  Participants should have a good command of English; there is no requirement for participants to speak French.

Application

Candidates should fill in the form attached. They should provide a 500 word resumé (excluding bibliography) in English of their research interests and a short biographical description (max 250 words) of themselves (see form). BA students are encouraged to submit a letter of motivation along with the form attached. Applications should be sent via email to both chdonert@liv.ac.uk and rsnet.secretary@gmail.com.

Organisation and funding

• Celia Donert, Historian, Liverpool
• Eve Rosenhaft, Historian, Liverpool
• Henriette Asséo, Historian, Paris
• Ilsen About, Historian, Aix-Marseille

The seminar is funded by the European Academic Network on Romani Studies http://romanistudies.eu/.  Accommodation, travel and meals will be covered by the organisers.

Deadlines

Candidates should submit their applications by Friday 22 March 2013.  Six participants will be selected by the organizers. All candidates will be notified by 12 April.

Download the Call for application and the Application form.

Research Seminar at the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, Chisinau, 2–4th of April 2013 – Call for applications (Прием заявок)

Приглашаeм интересующихся ромов/цыган к участию в научно-исследовательском семинаре “Ромы/Цыгане в постсоветских странах: история, этнография, политика”.

Основные темы семинара:

• Состояние исследований ромов/цыган на постсоветском пространстве.
• История ромов/цыган – основные периоды (Российская империя, СССР, Вторая мировая война, постсоветский период).
• Этносоциальная структура – ромские/цыганские этногруппы, диалекты ромского языка, этнокультурная характеристика и традиционная специфика.
• Государственная политика в отношении цыган, национальное и международное ромское движение в постсоветских странах.

 Лекторы:

• Елена Марушиакова, Болгарская академия наук
• Веселин Попов, Болгарская академия наук
• Ион Думиника, Академия наук Республики Молдова
• Михаил Тяглый, Украинский центр изучения истории Холокоста

Критерии отбора участников:

В семинаре могут участвовать ромы/цыгане с законченым университетским образованием, а также студенты, магистранты и докторанты. Преимущество будут иметь молодые кандидаты, продемонстрировавшие устойчивый интерес к науке в области ромских/цыганских исследований.

Язык семинара: русский

Заявка

Кандидаты, желающие принять участие в семинаре, приглашаются заполнить Бланк заявки и прислать его до 10 марта 2013 года по электронной почте на адрес:

johny_sunday@yahoo.com, а также на rsnet.secretary@gmail.com.

Финансирование

Семинар проводится при финансовом содействии Европейской академической сети ромских/цыганских исследований. http://romanistudies.eu

Проживание, питание и транспортные расходы для участников научного семинара будут полностью обеспечены организаторами.

О результатах отбора будет сообщено до 17 марта 2013 года.

Download the call for application and the application form.

Research Seminar in Cluj-Napoca (Romania), 11-14th of April 2013

Call for applications

MA and PhD students of Romani background from Eastern Europe are invited to apply for participating in a 3 day academic seminar on the intersectionality of gender, race (ethnicity) and social class.

Rooted in USA Black feminism and making the main theoretical concern of postcolonial studies, the concept of intersectionality contributed to understandings of multiple forms of discriminations against racialized women and men within the political context of the “governance of the poor”. The seminar research asks how the concept of intersectionality can be used in the context of European structural social inequality in which most of Romany populations live. It explores if and how this concept might be employed in different research stages such as data gathering or analytical framing of findings. It also addresses concrete methodological questions, issued from different field researches among Roma populations and aims to challenge this concept. Organizers will provide to participants several fundamental readings via email in order to prepare the seminar.

The seminar focuses on the articulation of different types of power relations, raising thus crucial questions concerning the nature of domination, resistance and agency that characterise Romani populations in contemporary societies. The overall theme of the seminar will occasion participants to critically consider power relations in their structural, institutional, individual and collective dimensions in a wide range of social, historical, cultural and political settings. Participants will be invited to reflect on representations of power which underpin their own research projects.

The seminar consists in four lectures, four master classes, film screenings and a round table.

Lectures & Master classes

• Dr. Iulia Hasdeu, anthropologist, researcher and lecturer at Gender Studies Institute – Sociology Department, University of Geneva (Switzerland)
• Dr. Elisabeth Tauber, anthropologist, researcher, Free University of Bolzano (Italy), Center of Competence: Innovation and Quality in Social Professions
• Gergö Pulay, anthropologist, PhD candidate at CEU (Hungary), Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology
• Catalina Tesar, anthropologist, PhD candidate at University College London, researcher at the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant Bucharest, associate lecturer at SNSPA (Romania).

Each of the above will deliver a lecture outlining their own approach to the question of intersectionality. They will also take part in a Master Class, where participants will have the opportunity to present their own research projects for the experts to comment on.

Eligibility

The main target group are students of Romani backgroud from Eastern Europe, enrolled in a MA or PhD program in social sciences. BA students will be also considered on a case-by-case basis. Anthropology, Sociology, Gender Studies, Political Science, Demography, History, Public Policy, Social Theory are all eligible fields. Priority will be acorded to students who are commited to long term academic research. The language of the seminar is English. Students are expected to have a good command of the English language.

Application

Candidates should fill in the form attached. They should provide a 500 word (excluding bibliography) resume in English of the presentations they will deliver during the seminar and a short biographical description (max 250 words) of themselves (see form). BA students are encouraged to submit a letter of motivation along with the form attached. Applications should be sent via email both to romastudies.cluj@yahoo.com, and to rsnet.secretary@gmail.com.

Organisation and funding

• Iulia Hasdeu, Anthropologist, UNIGE (Geneva)
• Catalina Tesar, Anthropologist, Muzeul Taranului Roman (Bucharest).

The seminar is funded by the European Academic Network on Romani Studies http://romanistudies.eu/. Accommodation and transportation will be fully covered.

Deadlines

Candidates should submit their applications no latter than the 24h of February 2013. Only 12 participants will be selected by the organizers.

Download: Call for application and Application form