ABSTRACT
This chapter compares the construction of a Roma cause in Finland and Italy in the second half of the twentieth century during which pro-Roma mobilizations increased in both countries in opposition to policies characterized by suspicion and control.1 The Roma in the two countries are somewhat different but they do share a similar fate in terms of relative economic, social and political exclusion compared to the mainstream population (even if the Roma encounter distinct individual socio-economic situations). This chapter focuses on the ways that the Roma in both countries strive to act collectively to overcome this situation. I consider that there are two key issues that condition the Roma’s mobilization processes. The first is the issue of social and economic marginalization and the second refers to the symbolic perceptions of the Roma as “others” or as a people excluded from the mainstream population. Following from this situation, this chapter focuses on two issues: (1) the ways that the Roma-a people with supposedly scarce symbolic and material resources-mobilize towards political and institutional actors and
(2) the extent to which pro-Roma mobilizations were facilitated or constrained by the Finnish and Italian models of citizenship.
