ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the social science literature that analyses the plight of the Roma. It also considers briefly the history of how the Roma have become a subject of growing scholarly attention. Various international institutions have written reports to emphasise that Romani participation and consultation are critical in the design and implementation of policy programmes meant to address the problems facing Roma. There have been sociological studies of varying quality about the position of the Roma in several Central and Eastern European countries throughout the communist era. Such scholarship has often been dependent on specific interests and traditions at certain academic institutions. As Y. Matras has argued, what is remarkable about much of the Romani migration in Europe is that it has happened despite a lack of nomadic traditions. Some of the research on Roma has intersected with studies on general patterns of migration in and from Central and Eastern Europe.
