ABSTRACT

The book examines some of the dilemmas surrounding Europe’s open borders, migrations, and identities through the prism of the Roma – Europe’s most dispersed and socially marginalised population. The volume challenges some of the myths surrounding the Roma as a ‘problem population’, and places the focus instead on the context of European policy and identity debates. It comes to the conclusion that the migration of Roma and the constitution of their communities is shaped by European policy as much as, and often more so, than by the cultural traits of the Roma themselves. The chapters compare case studies of Roma migrants in Spain, Italy, France, and Britain and the impact of migration on the origin communities in Romania. The study combines historical and ethnographic methods with insights from migration studies, drawing on a unique multi-site collaborative project that for the first time gave Roma participants a voice in shaping research into their communities.

Chapters 1 and 7 of this book are freely available as downloadable Open Access PDFs at https://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license. 

chapter 1|25 pages

How open borders can unlock cultures

Concepts, methods, and procedures*

chapter 2|31 pages

Romania’s Roma

A socio-historical overview*

chapter 3|26 pages

Romanian Roma at home

Mobility patterns, migration experiences, networks, and remittances*

chapter 4|24 pages

Founder effects and transnational mutations

The familial structure of a Romani diaspora*

chapter 5|21 pages

Romanian Roma migration to Italy

Improving the capacity to aspire*

chapter 6|23 pages

Life and death of a French shantytown

An anthropology of power*

chapter 7|21 pages

Community identity and mobilisation

Roma migrant experiences in Manchester*