A Postcolonial Reading of EU Citizenship of Roma: Case Study of Roma as Abject EU Citizens in Flanders
By Fien Van Hauwermeiren
Promoted by Prof. dr. Hendrik Vos
[October 2023]
“…maar alleen in deze gemeenschappelijke strijd kunnen nieuwe ideeën ontstaan. Daarbij is het telkens weer zaak om te voorkomen dat sociale relaties tot hiërarchieën verkalken. Materiële welvaart of eloquentie en assertiviteit mogen in die context nooit gelijkgeschakeld worden met legitimiteit van macht, mogen nooit betekenen dat je het recht hebt om te bepalen hoe andere mensen moeten leven, wat ze moeten doen, hoe ze zich moeten organiseren.”[1]
"While the continental union means greater mobility for some, for others the border now is everywhere," argues Fatima El-Tayeb.[2] Even though EU citizenship protects specific privileges, Roma[3] seem to be able to claim them to a lesser extent. Often Roma are part of the poorest populations in Europe and face segregation and discrimination.[4] The expulsions of Roma on discriminatory grounds in France in 2010 were strong violations of the Social Charter of Europe according to the European Committee of Social Rights. The Czech Republic is known for the forced sterilization of women, which happened until 2007[5]: a clear form of state violence against Roma. Many Roma in Belgium live in poverty and face social exclusion.[6] The fierce discrimination of Roma goes against rights provided for in the EU citizenship.[7] People sent back to their home country from France is an example of a limitation of EU citizenship of people and raises questions about gradations of EU citizenship.[8]
The hypotheses of this thesis draw on (post)colonial theoretical processes racialization and securitisation. Centring these processes, I explore whether they block Roma from fully accessing their EU-citizenship rights. This paper seeks to answer the following research question: are Roma in Flanders disconnected from EU-citizenship rights?
The first chapter of this paper consists of a review of postcolonial literature, resulting in an analytical framework which is used to study EU-citizenship rights of Roma in Flanders. The second chapter aims to present the methodology: a case study. The analytical framework is filled in with empirical material to answer the research question. The unit of analysis of the case study is the Roma population in Flanders. The empirical analysis includes a review of Belgian National Roma Integration Strategies, the Flemish MOE-(Roma) Action Plan (2012) and the FRA (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights) survey on Roma and Travellers in Belgium (2019).[9] An online seminar organised by Caritas was an attended, and six interviews and a field visit to the Lübeck site were carried out. The final section presents the conclusions. Even though the National Roma Integration Strategy 2020-2030 recognises antigypsyism, it is concluded that EU-citizenship rights (right to non-discrimination and right to residence) is abject for Roma in Flanders.
Postcolonial theory
The following review aims to connect postcolonial theory with the literature on EU-citizenship.
Figure 1: Synopsis of strands of literature that led to central concepts
Modern colonialism is understood as a kind of colonialism in which imperialist countries violently implemented far-reaching economic distortions of colonised territories and pushed colonised territories in a structurally subordinate economic position. This economic asymmetry was a necessary condition for the expansion of European economies.[10] Ania Loomba explores the dynamics of postcolonial theory and questions where postcoloniality begins and more importantly, "where is postcoloniality to be found?".[11] Colonisation created an unequal distribution of power, as well as certain conceptions, racism and exclusion that still exist in this world.[12]
Like Karl Marx who argued that capitalism dehumanises, Aimé Césaire proved how colonialism dehumanises through thingnification.[13] Césaire showed the consequences of colonialism and how tools such as racism and violence led to the dehumanisation of the coloniser fuelling the immorilisation of Europe.[14] Césaire negates the idea that colonization would be about civilization: "they talk to me about civilization, I talk about proletarianization and mystification".[15] Colonial ideology is an "ideology of racial and cultural hierarchy".[16]
In addition, Fanon demonstrated amongst others economic and social consequences of colonialism.[17] Exploring the workings of colonisation and violence, Fanon followed Césaire's thingnification and argued that racism turns people into objects, a violent coloniality of being.[18] According to Ding both Césaire and Fanon prove the different faces of ethnic identity and national culture.[19] Césaire and Fanon do not analyse colonial powers and their colonies as two separate places: they see it as one. Knowledge production is seen in a network that spans both.[20] But first, when understanding “race” we have to start from Fanon's notion that a person of colour only becomes a person of colour in relation to the white person.[21]
Spivak shows that through patriarchal and colonial domination silence is created.[22] The subaltern (women) cannot be heard: they are silenced.[23] They do not have the means to establish a production of knowledge outside the dominant one.[24] Their vocabulary, space, resources are the same: "there is no space from which the sexed subaltern subject can speak".[25] If the subaltern is continuously shaped by dominant discourse, knowledge and academic discourse must be seen in this light as well. Furthermore, if it is true that the subaltern is a product of dominant discourse, academic work is an instrument of this colonial discourse, part of hegemony of states. Both arguments show epistemic violence[26] and refer to colonial practices of knowledge in which colonial subjects are shown as "the other".[27]
Thus, the subaltern cannot speak according to Spivak. The subaltern is excluded from true (self-) representation.[28] As Spivak implies an intense form of violence, Fanon wrote: "what in fact constitutes this violence? As we have seen, the colonized masses intuitively believe that their liberation must be achieved and can only be achieved by force".[29] Wekker argues that colonisation serves elements of knowledge production that still exist. She draws on Said's cultural archive and racial hierarchy.[30] As Wekker’s analysis was based on The Netherlands, questions about similar processes in Belgium can be raised.
Connecting Césaire, Fanon and Spivak, as well as Trehan & Kóczé, these scholars are not talking about a certain form of violence but remind us of a colonisation of people which includes different forms of violence. Each of these postcolonial scholars point out that colonialism goes beyond colonisation of territories, but is about a dehumanisation, both epistemic (Spivak) and psychological (Fanon) and connects to what Sali describes as colonisation of groups.[31] "Does it not show enormous privilege and a very limited perspective when you do not see that the present world is already extremely violent?".[32]
Coming from the idea that colonialism goes beyond the territorial expansion of European states, political-economic reasons point to colonial dynamics towards the subaltern. This way, material aspects and categories in modern societies can be seen in a different light. This can be exemplified by the work of Boyce Davies, who uses the life and work of Claudia Jones to show how issues of borders, citizenship and having a passport take on a different meaning when put in a (post)colonial perspective.[33] Postcolonial analysis offers insights into how power of European states towards subaltern groups persists.[34] Roma continue to be seen as "inferior", which can be partly attributed to unequal power distribution in European politics.[35] Sali, based on Said’s Orientalism, argues that Roma are being racialised and are seen by non-Roma as "exotic subjects representing the Orient".[36] Racist practices can be seen as colonial practices, a colonial objectification toward Roma.
Abject citizenship through racialisation and securitisation
Roma as abject EU-citizens
Academic debates on EU citizenship are often placed in a broader framework dealing with citizenship and tensions surrounding who is a member of the state and who is not. Economic globalisation comes with a certain disintegration of states: a "resurgence of ethnic, nationalistic, religious and linguistic separatism".[37] Claims of human rights on the one hand and the fact that states are sovereign on the other leads to conflict. According to Benhabib there has always been an "us-versus-them" dynamic arising from ideas of sovereignty.[38] Almost never does the identity of the dominant group that has sovereignty coincide with that of groups that reside and over which the former has a position of power. Criticising ideas of a cosmopolitan Europe, Bhambra shows that European states deny their colonial past.[39] There is no place for those who are being understood as the other. This tension is inherent to political dynamics that exclude minorities. With their citizenship, states (and in this case the European Union) thus hold an instrument of exclusion.
The tension between the nation-state and the failure to respect equality before the law is central to Hannah Arendt's thinking about citizenship. When a situation is created in which rights are not equal for all, the state becomes a place of over- and underprivileged individuals.[40] Arendt connects this to the right to have rights which she believes is the most essential right: the right to belong to a political community.[41]
According to Ferreira and Kostakopoulou Roma with EU citizenship are held back from exercising their right to free movement.[42] Sardelić argues that the dominant image of the “poor Roma migrant” is deployed to indicate limitations of EU citizenship.[43] Additionally, scholars have identified different classes of citizenship, in academic debate referred to as edges of citizenship to talk about less privileged groups, including Roma.[44] Some minority groups continue to be constructed as “foreigners”, indicating limits to their EU citizenship.[45] Yıldız and De Genova link EU citizenship with racialization, marginalization, securitisation and criminalization of Roma.[46] Roma are always presented as “non-European” despite being EU citizens. Their exercise of their rights as European citizens is made more difficult and invisibility becomes a tool against state violence.[47]
This flawed (EU)-citizenship is described as abject citizenship by Hepworth.[48] Abject is borrowed from Julia Kristeva and Judith Butler.[49] Scholars define abject as “cast off, away or out” as well as “without hope”.[50] "In postcolonial studies, the concept of abjection is frequently used to describe the discomfort that informs the making of the racialized subjects"[51] and can be linked to Césaire's understanding of colonisation, more specifically his concept of thingnification. As abject citizenship is about dehumanisation, invisibility, and violence.[52]
For Toivanen, abject shows how the non-abject constructed its identity using exclusion from its abject counterparts.[53] "Abjection is the process which a part of the construction of the subjectivity of the white, class privileged person: allowing us to see abjection as an element that also marks the 'non-abject' societies and mobilities as their identity is built on the impartial exclusion of their abject counterparts”. Abject citizenship then refers to the fact that individuals can be seen as having certain privileges but are always understood as “inferior”. Hepworth shows that the regulation of residency in Italy led to abject EU citizenship.[54] Roma were categorised as “nomads” in the discourse, placed in abject spaces and linked to “the condition of deportability”.
Racialization and the right to non-discrimination
There is racism against Roma and scholars agree that Roma are a racialized minority.[55] This way, boundaries are set up to maintain an unequal distribution of power.[56] Irregularization of mobility, as well as the so-called "identity" of Roma are accompanied by prejudices such as "welfare tourists".[57] In some cases, Roma are dehumanised, partly because of neoliberal policy constructing them as illegal.[58] Regardless of whether differences between Roma and non-Roma are framed as “cultural” or “ethnic” they can be understood as part of a broader racial subordination.[59]
Migration and unemployment are being racialised.[60] But the other part of racialisation of Roma lays in the appalling division that is made based on skin colour. Yuval-Davis, Wemyss and Cassidy refer to Stuart Hall's famous statement "class is the modality in which race is lived".[61] The racialisation of Roma has also been linked to projects of integration in which Roma are repeatedly presented as the other.[62] It is therefore questioned whether a universal citizenship regime that includes Roma even exists. Given the expulsions of Roma with EU citizenship in the EU, the link to unequal relations between group based on “race” or class can be made. The first hypothesis derived from postcolonial thought is therefore the following: Roma in Flanders are restricted in their right to non-racism.
Securitisation and the right to stay
Securitisation of Roma is about presenting people as “a threat” to among others social security systems and allow governments to apply measures such as expulsions. This comes with the exclusion of people by irregularising their mobility and denying Roma a voice. Another aspect related to securitisation is criminalisation of people.[63] Like van Baar, Kózcé argues that Roma are seen as "irregular" and as "security threats".[64] More so, people with EU citizenship are sent back to their home country solely based on their ethnicity, argues Kostka.[65] Indeed, Roma are not "real” citizens as their EU citizenship does not protect them from police violence.[66]
Securitisation happens in Italian public spaces, where people are presented as a "security risk”.[67] Equally problematic is that: "the extremely bad housing and health situations in the camps- which are primarily the effects of how the system has been developed - tend to be naturalized as the normal, yet substandard, way in which the Roma live".[68] For Yıldız and De Genova there is no right to mobility within EU citizenship for Roma.[69] According to these scholars, there is a securitisation of Roma that restricts their right to free movement and blocks social security rights.
In addition, segregation is a form of "social rights deprivation". It maintains a hierarchy and creates fewer employment opportunities for some groups.[70] Segregation limits political representation and this way limits citizenship rights. A static, vicious circle of disengagement is created: it is believed that marginalisation of Roma is a result of a certain "disinterest" in politics, but it is precisely segregation that prevents this.
Ybarra argues that the construction of deportability through a repeated narrative of illegality and criminalisation leads to the construction of immigrants as illegal people as well as a racialisation of migrants.[71] This resembles the securitisation of Roma in Europe and their deportability.[72] On the one hand, deportability of Roma leads to forced mobility. On the other hand, ghettoization, and segregation force immobility upon Roma. According to van Baar[73] all this fits in the broader picture of securitisation making people "criminal" and "inferior".[74] Through this vocabulary, racialising measures against Roma are normalised, including deportation and sharpened state surveillance. Indeed, dehumanisation is described within processes of antigypsyism and racialisation.[75] Fejzula addresses racialisation and dehumanisation of Roma and draws a parallel between Fanon's colonial analysis and Roma in Europe.[76] In both, an unequal, racialised power relationship toward "the other” is recognised. In this specific case, antigypsyism allows for the construction of Roma as a "threat to the state”. The second hypothesis in this paper is therefore concentrated on the securitisation of Roma: Roma in Flanders are restricted in their right to stay/residence.
Conclusion
In this review, first, the postcolonial theoretical framework was highlighted to get to an understanding of the Roma subaltern. Post-colonial processes, racialisation and securitisation were described. Racism (and its real consequences) against Roma remains unchallenged. Securitisation is about the construction of Roma as a “threat” which allows governments to apply a dynamic of deportability in their right to stay. Fejzula indicated that there is a delicate but ever-present form of control over Roma in current societies.[77] Second, drawing on Benhabib's thinking, among others, the literature on EU citizenship was presented, in the light of (EU) citizenship in a globalised world. EU citizenship fits within the broader debate on globalisation and shifts that involve “us-versus-them”-thinking. States (and in this case the European Union) thus hold an instrument of exclusion with their citizenship dynamics. Semi-citizenship and edges of citizenship go against the idea that the EU-citizenship protects people. One specific reading of gradations in citizenship is Hepworth's (2012) abject (EU) citizenship allowing to see how regulation, camps and discourse constructed Roma in Italy as abject (EU) citizens.
Research design: case study
The case study carried out is a holistic, single case of Roma in Flanders.[78] In part, the research was inspired by discourse analysis theory as outlined by Laclau and Mouffe.[79] Following Spivak's analysis as closely as possible, this research does not attempt to fall into (new forms of) epistemic violence. Building on the fact that it is not possible to hear a voice of the subaltern, as Spivak argued, this paper cannot make Roma voices heard. The first part of the case study analysed policy documents related to Roma integration: the National Roma Integration Strategies, the MOE(Roma) Action Plan (2012) as well as the FRA survey on Roma and Travellers in Belgium (2019).[80] The second part of the research consisted of interviews.[81] The third part was an online seminar organised by Caritas. Finally, the research included a field visit to the Lübeck site in Ghent.
The specific hypotheses formulated are primarily based on the work of Bhabha who argues that the benefits of EU citizenship are mobility privileges and non-discrimination privileges, but EU citizenship rights for Roma are limited.[82] I placed the rights within a framework of racialisation and securitisation (inspired by among others Yıldız and De Genova).[83] To reiterate, the two hypotheses are as follows: (1) Roma in Flanders are restricted in their right to non-racism and (2) Roma in Flanders are restricted in their right to residence/stay.
An analytical framework (figure 2) was constructed. Racialisation and securitisation served as criteria to test whether Roma have an abject form of EU-citizenship in Flanders. First, processes of securitisation are interpreted in the research as shortcomings in the right of residence/right to stay. Shortcomings of the right to stay where noticed throughout the interviews or in the texts when processes of securitisation were recognised. Securitisation is about the construction of Roma as a “threat” which allows governments to apply a dynamic of deportability in their right to stay. Fejzula indicated that there is a delicate but ever-present form of control over Roma in current societies, a colonial process.[84] This results in evictions and state surveillance.[85] Another aspect related to securitisation of Roma mobility is criminalisation of Roma.[86] Kózcé[87] argues that Roma are seen as “irregular” and “security threats”, people are presented as a “security problem”.[88]
The right to non-racism was tested in the same way. To research a full or abject form of the right to non-racism, processes of racialisation, incidents of violations of right, homogenisation as well as assuming 'natural' differences, such as: Roma are “unproductive”, Roma are “criminal” or an exaggerated “nomad-sedentary” divide was interpreted as racialisation. If Roma were constructed as a “threat to the state”, there was extra state supervision, or criminalisation, segregation, or deportations were recognised/heard. Kózcé wrote about Roma as “the other” being racialised.[89] Differences are presented based on skin colour, but also “culture”, there is a racial subordination.[90] Racialisation of Roma is a consensus shared by several scholars.[91] There are processes of racialised othering.[92]
Figure 2: Analytical Framework for the case study
|
EU-citizenship |
Abject EU-citizenship is |
Material from conversations, online seminar, field visit or document analysis: |
|
Right to stay |
Securitisation Criteria example: sharpened state supervision |
example: employee of the Lübeck site points to police camera surveillance on the Lübeck site example: ethnic profiling by the police (employee Lübeck site) |
|
Right to non-racism |
Racialisation Criteria example: stereotyping |
example: “they are very much aware that they are treated differently” (quote social worker) example: "it’s how they talk to you, with a distance and as quickly as possible and “leave me alone” and you feel that stereotypes remain" (quote Lübeck site) |
Analysis and results
Figure 3: Visualisation of hypotheses understood as confirmed
|
Hypotheses |
Abject EU-citizenship |
Confirmed? |
Abject EU-citizenship |
Confirmed? |
|
Hypothesis 1: right to stay limited
|
Through securitisation
|
V |
Examples of violation of right of residence
|
v |
|
Hypothesis 2: right to non-racism limited |
Through racialisation
|
V |
Examples of racism
|
V |
Where the research initially looked for indications of processes of racialisation and securitisation, evidence of actual violations of the two EU citizenship rights was found and included in the analysis. This led to the addition of another column to the framework, representing these examples (see figure 3). The research question: are Roma in Flanders disconnected from rights provided by EU citizenship? Is answered as followed: Roma have an abject form of EU citizenship in Flanders when it comes to their right to non-discrimination/non-racism and when it comes to their right of residence/stay. The sense of silence which exists in academic work on racism and violence against Roma in Flanders is reminding of the thought of Gloria Wekker.[93] This paper offers a foundation to criticise the interpretation of EU citizenship of Roma in Flanders, more specifically from a postcolonial colonisation of groups’-perspective.[94]
Abject EU-citizenship right to stay
In the document analysis, the Flemish MOE-(Roma) Action Plan (2012) showed securitisation as Roma are constructed as a "threat" to social security:
“zonder activering blijven Roma ook gevangen in een afhankelijkheidsspiraal en kan ons sociaal zekerheidssysteem onder druk komen te staan”
“het draagvlak van een aantal steden en de capaciteit van de sociale zekerheid komt onder druk te staan door deze nieuwe migratievorm”
The economic marginalisation of people must be countered because otherwise they will be an economic “burden”. Understanding people in terms of economic integration is reminiscent of the idea “benefit tourists”: a harmful, yet dominant image. This is related to the prejudice assuming that people can be "unproductive," previously described by Hepworth.[95] Violations of the right to reside in the form of evictions were questioned in the FRA survey on Roma and Travellers in Belgium.[96] 10% of the Travellers were evicted from their homes in the previous 5 years (before 2019). For Roma this was 5%.
The main issue brought forward in the online seminar was the structural shortage of places to stay for Travellers and is described as a “humanitarian crisis", because of the precariousness of people’s living situation. The Flemish government admitted years ago that there are not enough places. Yet the promise to create about 500 additional places “never happened,” emphasized Reusen.[97] Sometimes sites are closed without providing a living solution for people, even though this is illegal. In addition, some families have difficulty registering, there is excessive control or a threat of expulsion. Numerous examples of intrusive state surveillance were found in the research. For example, a policy officer (1) explained how travellers had to take a photo every day of bills from the shops where they went to prove their travel.[98] A parallel can be drawn with the research by De Genova and Hepworth, who describe an expression of extra state supervision as an action with a securitising effect.[99]
The interviews (1/2) showed how the right to stay for people in Puurs-Sint-Amands is largely respected, however, stands in stark contrast to attempts to restrict it in other places in Flanders.[100] A policy officer (1) explained how, a few years back, the Antwerp city council tried to close the transit site in Deurne.[101] There has also been the temporary closure of the transit area in Kortrijk among other examples of municipalities trying to evict Roma residents even though they have been living there for decades. The policy officer also confirmed that evictions take place in Flanders.
The structural shortage of places to live for travellers and racism on the housing market in Flanders, are (implicit) forms of violation of the right of stay: "the shortage of housing pushes people with the right to stay away", stressed a policy officer (1)[102] when talking about Travellers. This resonates with the insight of De Coninck who problematises the shortage of social housing.[103] Local authorities often show exaggerated, violence-triggering reactions towards Roma living in their municipality, such as the temporary closure of the camp in Kortrijk.
The conversations proved that there are evictions of Roma, which is a clear violation of the right to stay and shows an abject form of EU citizenship. Most of the criteria outlined for securitisation were met. First, the seminar and the field visit showed that extra state supervision or control is a reality for Roma. The far-reaching control of travellers and the camera surveillance on the Lübeck site confirm Fejzula's point that a firm state control is a reality for Roma.[104] The interviews and the online seminar also revealed criminalisation of Roma, allowing me to confirm earlier research by van Baar, who stated that criminalizing Roma is an instrument for securitising Roma.[105] This is supported by evidence of ethnic profiling by police.[106]
Following the conclusion of Hepworth, the Lübeck site is an abject space with a phasing out of the rights of Roma by the state, Roma's “existence is rendered invisible and inaudible through abject spaces”.[107] The Lübeck site demonstrates a form of segregation in which the dynamics of abject citizenship became visible, where surveillance, marginalisation, racism and the threat of expulsion continue to exist, confirming Szalai's conclusion that segregation of Roma hinders citizenship rights.[108]
Abject EU-citizenship right to non-racism
"There is no restraint on judgements when it comes to Travellers and Roma”[109]
The National Strategy for Roma Inclusion 2012-2020 names discrimination as a problem, however, the word racism is not mentioned once throughout the strategy. The older texts show a silence about racism that is indicative of colour blindness, as discussed in the study of El-Tayeb.[110] Yet, “hate-motivated harassment” was experienced by 16% of Roma, showing expressions of racism and demonstrating an abject form of EU citizenship.[111] Moreover, there is always underreporting of discrimination, especially by Roma.[112]
In the interviews, examples of racialisation were discussed: stigmatization, criminalization, as well as explicit acts of racism. “Our residents of Lübeck are being discriminated against twice: first because we are Roma, but that second what do you think? Because they are from Romania”.[113] For example, a policy officer (1) quoted a mayor who tried to close a site in a municipality because "there should be no extra Roma".[114] For the policy officer, this is an example of how “discrimination against Roma is the last accepted form of racism”. Policy officer: “There is so much racism against Roma”.[115] The social workers (1/2) in Puurs-Sint-Amands also indicate that Roma fear racism in schools in Flanders.[116]
Employee Lübeck site (2): “We have examples of people who went to open houses, and if they see that there are candidates who are “Flemish”, they no longer want to try renting the house, just because they know they don't stand a chance”.[117] A policy officer (1) also refers to strong antigypsyism when it comes to discrimination against Roma. According to an employee (1) on the Lübeck site, prejudices towards Roma are "huge".[118] "I think they really realize that they are treated very differently… They are being discriminated in Belgium”.[119] Another employee (1) on the Lübeck site confirmed: “people feel racism, but they don’t always experience this as racism, they don’t always understand”.[120] “It’s how they talk to you, with a certain distance and very hasty and “leave me alone”, you feel that those stereotypes remain".[121]
In line with Fejzula, Roma in Flanders are the racialised other.[122] This is proven by several racist incidents linked to the Lübeck site. First, there are examples of incidents involving ethnic profiling by the police. The latter immediately assumed that Roma were “criminals”, took them to the police office or checked the people. The employee (1) emphasized that Roma are also being checked on because of the colour of their skin.[123]
One of the prejudices is that people are “criminal” emphasizes (1) an employee on the Lübeck site.[124] Second, two families were recently threatened and physically attacked, a policy officer (1) described. But the racialisation of Roma is also reflected in actions such as the incident in which the administrator-general or the federal government agency for pensions (FOD pensioenen) decided this year that income guarantees for people who have a reference address would be ended. This is a clear attempt to restrict rights.[125]
All interviews cited acts of racism as well as elements of racialisation and securitisation. The threats made by governments of Kortrijk and Deurne to restrict the right of residence show securitisation.[126] The interviews showed that Roma have an abject form of the right to non-racism. (Personal) experiences with racism were brought up during the interviews.[127] Violence towards Roma was also discussed. Given that racism on the housing market prevents people from renting, an abject form of citizenship also became apparent at the crossroads of the right to non-racism and the right to non-discrimination.
The field visit to the Lübeck site in Ghent proved an abject form of citizenship as well. The Lübeck project is illustrative of the mixed picture of the right to stay researched in the case study. At first sight, the Lübeck site is an exercise of EU rights. For example, the housing units are people's domicile address. Yet, the location is reminiscent of the segregation referred to by Hepworth.[128] Employee (2): “this is not an inclusive or integration project, because you almost segregate people in a site, remote from the city, where no one sees them. Is that integration? Roma are still segregated”. There is also camera surveillance, criminalisation of Roma and the residents are faced with a lot of racism.[129]
Concluding, racialisation was found in the interviews/field visit and the online seminar. Processes of racialisation such as the assumption of “unproductiveness” were recognised in policy texts. Hepworth built her argument around the fact that people in Italy were repeatedly labelled “nomads”.[130] In Flanders, Roma are placed in an economic framework, with the result that they are constructed as an “economic burden”. Racialisation in Flanders is not so much based on a “nomadic-sedentary” dichotomy, rather a “productive and non-productive” stereotype. This research confirms Sardelić's conclusion that the much-repeated prejudice of the “poor Roma migrant” demonstrates limits of EU citizenship adding to the racialisation of Roma based on the fierce prejudice that Roma are a “burden”.[131] The research also proved strong racialisation of Roma based on skin colour of people.[132]
Conclusions
"Roma, we are the same as everyone else. Nothing more, nothing less" [133]
Drawing from the thinking of Césaire, Fanon, Spivak and Wekker, among others, I focused on racism/dehumanisation and violence, as well as the impossibility of hearing the Roma subaltern in current structures. I connected postcolonial theory and the literature on gradations in EU citizenship to get to abject (EU) citizenship. I built on the research of Hepworth, who showed how regulation, living conditions and discourse constructed Roma in Italy as abject citizens. Hepworth understands Roma camps in Italy as abject spaces with "some form of conditional freedom and surveillance".[134]
I argue that the case study developed in this paper provides ground to critique from a postcolonial framework the interpretation of EU citizenship of Roma in Flanders. I recognised colonial dynamics such as racialisation and securitisation limiting the EU citizenship rights of Roma in Flanders, making their EU citizenship abject.The postcolonial theoretical framework of Kelley among others proved insightful.[135] The fierce racism and violence[136] against Roma in Flanders resonates with Kanobana's[137] point that there is much violence in contemporary society.
The criteria of securitisation were met in the interviews, field visit, seminar and policy texts. The seminar and field visit showed that often state supervision or excessive control is a reality. The extensive control of Travellers and camera surveillance at the Lübeck site confirm Fejzula's statement that there is continuous state control of Roma.[138] The interviews and online seminar also revealed criminalisation of Roma. Thus, I confirm earlier research by van Baar who argued that criminalising people is an instrument of securitisation, as ethnic profiling happens in Flanders.[139]
Both racism on the housing market in Flanders and the structural shortage of places for Travellers are (implicit) forms of violation on the right to stay. Some actions of governments such as the temporary closure of the transit site in Kortrijk give a wry impression. Furthermore, the Lübeck site is an abject space. The people’s "existence is rendered invisible and inaudible through abject spaces".[140] In this research, the Lübeck site is interpreted as a form of segregation where dynamics of abject citizenship became visible in for example the precarious housing situation, camera surveillance, ethnic profiling, racism and dynamics of deportability.
When it comes to the right to non-racism Roma also have an abject form of EU citizenship. Processes of racialisation such as assuming “unproductivity” was recognised in policy texts. First, racialisation in Flanders is partly based on the opposition of “productive and non-productive”. Hepworth built her argument on the fact that Roma in Italy were labelled “nomads”, yet in Flanders, it is an economic framework in which Roma are placed, with the result that they are constructed as a “burden”.[141] Second, Roma are racialised based on skin colour. The study found fierce evidence of racism and violence, such as hate crimes and ethnic profiling of people in Flanders.[142]
By examining mainly material forms of racialisation and securitisation to fill out the empirical framework, this case study searched for whether there is racialisation and securitisation of Roma in Flanders. Now, the results of this research prove fierce (material) racialisation and securitisation and thus provide a basis for further analysis of these processes. Fanon's work on not seeing and making the racialised person into an object could be elements of further research.
Endnotes
[1] Sibo Kanobana, “Ode aan de chaos” in In het spoor van Fanon. Orde, wanorde, dekolonisering, Koen Bogaert (Berchem: EPO, 2023), 293-312.
[2] Fatima El-Tayeb, European Others: Queering Ethnicity in Postnational Europe (University Minnesota Press, 2011), p. xxxii.
[3] In this research, the word "Roma" is used to refer to very heterogeneous groups of people, a "transnational, mulitlingual, multireligious community". By Roma, the European Union designates "Roma, Sinti, Kale, Romanichels, Boyash/Rudari, Ashkali, 'Egyptians', Yenish, Dom, Lom, Rom, Abdal" as well as Traveller populations.
[4] Nando Sigona and Peter Vermeersch “Editors' introduction. The Roma in the new EU: Policies, frames and everyday experiences”, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, volume 38, no. 8, (2012), 1189-1193.
[5] Tine Danckaers “Europa lust zijn Roma niet”, MO*, 2-4-2012, accessed March, 2023 https://www.mo.be/analyse/romarechten-op-een-hoopje
[6] Van Campenhout “Roma en onderwijs: ‘Wanneer ik vijftien ben, trouw ik en stop ik met school’”, MO*, 25-1-2017, accessed 19-3-2023, https://www.mo.be/reportage/wanneer-ik-vijftien-ben-trouw-ik-en-stop-ik-met-school
[7] Heide Castañeda “European Mobilities or Poverty Migration? Discourses on Roma in Germany”, International Migration, volume 53 no. 3, (2015), 87–99, https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12166; Dena Ringold, Roma and the Transition in Central and Eastern Europe: Trends and Challenges (World Bank Publications, 2000), https://doi.org/10.1596/0-8213-4801-9
[8] Huub van Baar, Ana Ivasiuc and Regina Kreide, “The European Roma and Their Securitization: Contexts, Junctures, Challenges” in The Securitization of the Roma in Europe (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), 1–25, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77035-2; Kate Hepworth, “Abject citizens: Italian ‘Nomad Emergencies’ and the deportability of Romanian Roma”, Citizenship Studies, volume 16 no. 3–4, (2012), 431–449, https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2012.683256; Sergio Carrera and Anaïs Faure Atger, “Implementation of Directive 2004/38 in the context of EU Enlargement A proliferation of different forms of citizenship? CEPS Special Report/April 2009”, Centre for European Policy Studies,(2009) accessed March, 19, 2023, https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/98996/SR%202009-04%20Implementation%20of%20Directive%202004-38.pdf; Julija Sardelić, “The position and agency of the ‘irregularized’: Romani migrants as European semi-citizens”, Politics, volume 37 no. 3, (2017): 332–346, https://doi.org/10.1177/0263395716668537
[9] De nationale strategie voor de integratie van Roma. (n.d.). POD Maatschappelijke Integratie, Armoedebestrijding, Sociale Economie en Grootstedenbeleid. Accessed April 4, 2023, https://www.mi-is.be/nl/de-nationale-strategie-voor-de-integratie-van-roma; Vlaamse overheid & Agentschap voor binnenlands bestuur. (2012); VLAAMS ACTIEPLAN MOE(ROMA)-MIGRANTEN 2012. In Vlaanderen. Accessed April 4, 2023, https://publicaties.vlaanderen.be/view-file/11763; FRA European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. (2019). ROMA EN WOONWAGENBEWONERS IN BELGIË. Accessed February, 25, 2023, https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2020-roma-and-travellers-survey-country-sheet-belgium_nl.pdf
[10] Loomba, Colonialism/postcolonialism, 3-4
[11] Loomba, Colonialism/postcolonialism, 14
[12] Koen Bogaert, In het spoor van Fanon. Orde, wanorde, dekolonisering (Berchem: EPO, 2023), 15.
[13] Loomba, Colonialism/postcolonialism, 22.
[14] Bogaert, In het spoor van Fanon, 174-175; Aimé Césaire, Discourse on colonialism (New York: Monthly Review Pess, 2000), 32-39.
[15] Césaire, Discourse on colonialism, 44
[16] Kelley, Freedom dreams: The black radical imagination, 175
[17] Kelley, Freedom dreams: The black radical imagination, 69
[18] Bogaert, In het spoor van Fanon, 11; Loomba, Colonialism/postcolonialism, 22-23; Nidhi Trehan and Angéla Kóczé, “Racism, (neo-)colonialism and social justice: the struggle for the soul of the Romani movement in post-socialist Europe”, Racism Postcolonialism Europe (Liverpool University Press, 2009), 58.
[19] Zhaoguo Ding, “Theorizing Resistance in Spivak’s Deconstructive-Marxist Postcolonial Criticism”, Studies in Literature and Language, volume 2(1), (2011), 22. 2
[20] Gloria Wekker, Witte onschuld: Paradoxen van kolonialisme en ras (Amsterdam University Press, 2020), 122.
[21] Bogaert, In het spoor van Fanon. Orde, wanorde, dekolonisering, 127
[22] Gurminder K Bhambra, “Postcolonial and decolonial dialogues”, Postcolonial Studies, volume 17(2), (2014): 115–121, https://doi.org/10.1080/13688790.2014.966414
[23] Following Spivak, this paper uses the term "Roma subaltern". "Subaltern" was described by Antonio Gramsci as groups of people that are not part of the dominant groups. A characteristic of a subaltern group is that it has fewer institutions that provide representation (Zhaoguo Ding[23]).
[24] Selma Mellas, “A postcolonial reading of undocumented women’s mobilization - Spivak’s subaltern silencing and the case of the USPR women” (2021).
[25] Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, “Can the Subaltern Speak?”, Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture (Macmillan Education UK-London eBooks, 1988): 103, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19059-1
[26] Mellas, “A postcolonial reading of undocumented women’s mobilization - Spivak’s subaltern silencing and the case of the USPR women” (2021).
[27] Ioanna Petraki, “Roma Health Mediators: A Neocolonial Tool for the Reinforcement of Epistemic Violence?”, Critical Romani Studies volume (3(1), (2020): 72–95, https://doi.org/10.29098/crs.v3i1.60; Mellas, “A postcolonial reading of undocumented women’s mobilization - Spivak’s subaltern silencing and the case of the USPR women” (2021).
[28] Mellas, “A postcolonial reading of undocumented women’s mobilization - Spivak’s subaltern silencing and the case of the USPR women” (2021), 16
[29] Frantz Fanon, The Wretched Of The Earth (Grove press, New York, 2004), 33
[30] Wekker, Witte onschuld, 8-10, 49-50
[31] Ada Sali, “Colonialism and Postcolonialism. The Roma as Postcolonial Subjects: Romani Orientalist Representation in Europe”, Budapest: Central European University (2015).
[32] Kanobana, “Ode aan de chaos” in In het spoor van Fanon, Bogaert (Berchem: EPO, 2023), 296
[33] Carole Boyce Davies (Duke University Press, 2008). Left of Karl Marx.
[34] Cittadini, “Feeling at Home? The inclusion of Roma in the housing sector in the light of the relationship between places and identity: a post-colonial analysis of housing rights and policies”
[35] Sali, “Colonialism and Postcolonialism. The Roma as Postcolonial Subjects: Romani Orientalist Representation in Europe”; Silvia Cittadini, Feeling at Home? The inclusion of Roma in the housing sector in the light of the relationship between places and identity: a post-colonial analysis of housing rights and policies (2019).
[36] Sali, “Colonialism and Postcolonialism. The Roma as Postcolonial Subjects: Romani Orientalist Representation in Europe”; Trehan and Kóczé, “Racism, (neo-)colonialism and social justice: the struggle for the soul of the Romani movement in post-socialist Europe”
[37] Seyla Benhabib, “Citizens, residents, and aliens in a changing world: Political membership in the global era”, Social research, (1999).
[38] Benhabib, “Citizens, residents, and aliens in a changing world”, 709-744
[39] Gurminder K Bhambra, “Whither Europe? Postcolonial versus Neocolonial Cosmopolitanism”, International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, volume 18(2), (2016): 187–202, https://doi.org/10.1080/1369801x.2015.1106964
[40] Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (Harcourt Bracejovanovich, Publishers, 1973): 290.
[41] Getachew, Worldmaking after Empire, 97
[42] Nuno Ferreira and Dora Kostakopoulou, “The Roma and European Union citizenship” in The human face of the European Union: are EU law and policy humane enough? (Cambridge University Press eBooks, 2016): 206–234.
[43] Julija Sardelić, “Differing Roma Mobilities? The Case of Cross-Border Migration of Roma Between Slovenia and Austria” in Constructing Roma Migrants European Narratives and Local Governance, (Springer Open, 2019): 227–242, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11373-5
[44] Dora Kostakopoulou, “When EU citizens become foreigners”, European Law Journal, volume 20(4) (2014): 447-463; Julija Sardelić, “The Exclusion of Roma and European Citizenship”, Current History, volume 120(824), (2021): 100-104, https://doi.org/10.1525/curh.2021.120.824.100; Can Yıldız and Nicholas De Genova, , Un/Free mobility: Roma migrants in the European Union, Social Identities, volume 24(4) (2018): 425–441, https://doi.org/10.1080/13504630.2017.1335819
[45] Heide Castañeda, “European Mobilities or Poverty Migration? Discourses on Roma in Germany”, International Migration, volume 53(3), (2015): 87–99, https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12166; Kostakopoulou, “When EU citizens become foreigners”, 447-463.
[46] Yıldız and De Genova, Un/Free mobility: Roma migrants in the European Union
[47] Huub van Baar, “Europe’s Romaphobia: Problematization, Securitization, Nomadization”, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, volume 29(2) (2011): 203–212, https://doi.org/10.1068/d2902ed1; Joanna Kostka, “The Migrating Poor: Romanian Roma Under Social Authoritarianism in Poland”, in Constructing Roma Migrants European Narratives and Local Governance (Springer Open, 2019): 155–172, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11373-5.
[48] Hepworth, “Abject citizens: Italian ‘Nomad Emergencies’ and the deportability of Romanian Roma”
[49] Julia Kristeva, A Power Of Horrors (Columbia University Press, 1982); Judith Butler, Bodies that matter (Routledge New York & London, 1993).
[50] Hepworth, “Abject citizens: Italian ‘Nomad Emergencies’ and the deportability of Romanian Roma”
[51] Anna-Leena Toivanen “Not at Home in the World: Abject Mobilities in Marie NDiaye’s Trois femmes puissantes and NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names”, Postcolonial Text, volume Vol 10, No 1 (2015), 2.
[52] Césaire, Discourse on colonialism, 35
[53] Toivanen “Not at Home in the World: Abject Mobilities in Marie NDiaye’s Trois femmes puissantes and NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names”
[54] Hepworth, “Abject citizens: Italian ‘Nomad Emergencies’ and the deportability of Romanian Roma” p. 441
[55] Remus Creţan, Raluca Narcisa Covaci & Ioan Sebastian Jucu, “Articulating ‘otherness’ within multiethnic rural neighbourhoods: encounters between Roma and non-Roma in an East-Central European borderland”, Identities, volume 30(1) (2023), 93-111, https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289x.2021.1920774; Nicholas De Genova, “The Securitization of Roma Mobilities and the Re-bordering of Europe” in The Securitization of the Roma in Europe, Huub van Baar, Ana Ivasiuc and Regina Kreide (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), 29–44, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77035-2_2; El-Tayeb, European Others: Queering Ethnicity in Postnational Europe, xiii-xv; Hepworth, “Abject citizens: Italian ‘Nomad Emergencies’ and the deportability of Romanian Roma”; Sardelić, “Differing Roma Mobilities? The Case of Cross-Border Migration of Roma Between Slovenia and Austria”; Yuval-Davis, Wemyss and Cassidy “Introduction to the special issue: racialized bordering discourses on European Roma”
[56] Yuval-Davis, Wemyss and Cassidy “Introduction to the special issue: racialized bordering discourses on European Roma”
[57] van Baar, “Europe’s Romaphobia: Problematization, Securitization, Nomadization”
[58] Angéla Kózcé, “Race, migration and neoliberalism: distorted notions of Romani migration in European public discourses”, Social Identities, volume 24(4), (2018): 459-473.
[59] Yıldız & De Genova, “Un/Free mobility: Roma migrants in the European Union”
[60] Anna Mirga-Kruszelnicka, “Challenging anti-gypsyism in academia: The role of Romani scholars”, Critical Romani Studies, volume 1(1), (2018): 8-28.
[61] Yuval-Davis, Wemyss and Cassidy “Introduction to the special issue: racialized bordering discourses on European Roma”, Ethnic and Racial Studies, volume 40(7), (2017): 1047–1057, https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2017.1267382
[62] Enikő Vincze, “The racialization of Roma in the ‘new’ Europe and the political potential of Romani women”, European Journal of Women's Studies, volume 21(4), (2015): 435-442.
[63] van Baar, Ivasiuc and Kreide “The European Roma and Their Securitization: Contexts, Junctures, Challenges”
[64] Kózcé, “Race, migration and neoliberalism: distorted notions of Romani migration in European public discourses”
[65] Joanna Kostka, “The Migrating Poor: Romanian Roma Under Social Authoritarianism in Poland” in Constructing Roma Migrants European Narratives and Local Governance, (Springer Open, 2019), 155–172, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11373-5
[66] De Genova, “The Securitization of Roma Mobilities and the Re-bordering of Europe”
[67] Hepworth, “Abject citizens: Italian ‘Nomad Emergencies’ and the deportability of Romanian Roma”
[68] van Baar, “Europe’s Romaphobia: Problematization, Securitization, Nomadization”, p. 207
[69] Yıldız & De Genova, Un/Free mobility: Roma migrants in the European Union
[70] Júlia Szalai, “The impact of multifaceted segregation on the formation of Roma collective identity and citizenship rights” in The Roma and Their Struggle for Identity in Contemporary Europe (Berghahn Books, 2020), 69-93, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1k3nr1x.9
[71] “We are not ignorant”: Transnational migrants’ experiences of racialized securitization. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 37(2), (2019): 197–215, https://doi.org/10.1177/0263775818819006
[72] Huub van Baar, “Contained mobility and the racialization of poverty in Europe: The Roma at the development–security nexus”. Social Identities, volume 24(4), (2018), 442-458
[73] van Baar, “Contained mobility and the racialization of poverty in Europe: The Roma at the development–security nexus”
[74] van Baar, “Contained mobility and the racialization of poverty in Europe: The Roma at the development–security nexus”
[75] Yuval-Davis, Wemyss and Cassidy, “Introduction to the special issue: racialized bordering discourses on European Roma”
[76] Sebijan Fejzula “The Anti-Roma Europe: Modern ways of disciplining the Roma body in urban spaces”, Revista Direito e Práxis, volume 10, (2019), 2097-2116
[77] Ibid.
[78] Roberta Heale and Alison Twycross, “What is a case study?” Evidenced-Based-nursing, vol 21(1), (2018), 7.
[79] Marianne W. Jørgensen and Louise J. Phillips Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method (SAGE Publications, 2002), 33-34.
[80] De nationale strategie voor de integratie van Roma. (n.d.). POD Maatschappelijke Integratie, Armoedebestrijding, Sociale Economie en Grootstedenbeleid. Accessed 4/5/2023, van https://www.mi-is.be/nl/de-nationale-strategie-voor-de-integratie-van-roma; Vlaamse overheid & Agentschap voor binnenlands bestuur. (2012). VLAAMS ACTIEPLAN MOE(ROMA)-MIGRANTEN 2012. In Vlaanderen. Accessed 11/4/2023, van https://publicaties.vlaanderen.be/view-file/11763; FRA European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. (2019). ROMA EN WOONWAGENBEWONERS IN BELGIË. Accessed 25/2/2023, https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2020-roma-and-travellers-survey-country-sheet-belgium_nl.pdf
[81] Two policy officers, two social workers from Puurs-Sint-Amands and two employees/social workers from the Lübeck site were interviewed. For the interviews, the snowball sampling method was used.
[82] Jacqueline Bhabha The Politics of Evidence: Roma Citizenship Deficits in Europe. In Citizenship in Question: Evidentiary Birthright and Statelessness. (2016) https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822373483
[83] Yıldız & De Genova, “Un/Free mobility: Roma migrants in the European Union”
[84] Fejzula “The Anti-Roma Europe: Modern ways of disciplining the Roma body in urban spaces”
[85] Huub van Baar, “Contained mobility and the racialization of poverty in Europe: The Roma at the development–security nexus”. Social Identities, volume 24(4), (2018), 442-458
[86] Huub van Baar, Ana Ivasiuc and Regina Kreide, “The European Roma and Their Securitization: Contexts, Junctures, Challenges” in The Securitization of the Roma in Europe (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), 1–25, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77035-2 p. 7
[87] Kózcé, “Race, migration and neoliberalism: distorted notions of Romani migration in European public discourses”
[88] El-Tayeb, European Others: Queering Ethnicity in Postnational Europe, 184; Hepworth, “Abject citizens: Italian ‘Nomad Emergencies’ and the deportability of Romanian Roma”; Kózcé, “Race, migration and neoliberalism: distorted notions of Romani migration in European public discourses”; van Baar, “Contained mobility and the racialization of poverty in Europe: The Roma at the development–security nexus”
[89] Kózcé, “Race, migration and neoliberalism: distorted notions of Romani migration in European public discourses”
[90] Yıldız and De Genova, “Un/Free mobility: Roma migrants in the European Union”
[91] De Genova, “The Securitization of Roma Mobilities and the Re-bordering of Europe” p. 34; Fatima El-Tayeb, European Others: Queering Ethnicity in Postnational Europe (University Minnesota Press, 2011), p. xiii-xv; Julija Sardelić, “Differing Roma Mobilities? The Case of Cross-Border Migration of Roma Between Slovenia and Austria” in Constructing Roma Migrants European Narratives and Local Governance, (Springer Open, 2019): 227–242, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11373-5
[92] Nira Yuval-Davis, Georgie Wemyss and Kathryn Cassidy “Introduction to the special issue: racialized bordering discourses on European Roma”, Ethnic and Racial Studies, volume 40(7), (2017) : 1047–1057, https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2017.1267382; Kózcé, “Race, migration and neoliberalism: distorted notions of Romani migration in European public discourses”
[93] Wekker, Witte onschuld: Paradoxen van kolonialisme en ras, 268
[94] Sali, “Colonialism and Postcolonialism. The Roma as Postcolonial Subjects: Romani Orientalist Representation in Europe”
[95] Hepworth, “Abject citizens: Italian ‘Nomad Emergencies’ and the deportability of Romanian Roma”
[96] FRA European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. (2019). ROMA EN WOONWAGENBEWONERS IN BELGIË. Accessed 25/2/2023, https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2020-roma-and-travellers-survey-country-sheet-belgium_nl.pdf
[97]Reusen, “Webinar woonwagenbewoners”, online seminar, Caritas, 27/3/2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKd97lqY9aA
[98]Reusen, “Webinar woonwagenbewoners”, online seminar, Caritas, 27/3/2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKd97lqY9aA
[99] De Genova, “The Securitization of Roma Mobilities and the Re-bordering of Europe”; Hepworth, “Abject citizens: Italian ‘Nomad Emergencies’ and the deportability of Romanian Roma”
[100] In conversation with two social workers from Puurs-Sint-Amands (1/2), 13/4/2023
[101] In conversation with policy officer 1, 14/4/2023
[102] In conversation with policy officer 1, 14/4/2023
[103] Joyce De Coninck “Roma Rights: A Comparative Analysis Between Belgium and Romania” (2013)
[104] Fejzula, “The Anti-Roma Europe: Modern ways of disciplining the Roma body in urban spaces”
[105] van Baar, “Contained mobility and the racialization of poverty in Europe: The Roma at the development–security nexus”
[106] In conversation with employee 1 Lübeck site, 25/4/2023
[107] Hepworth, “Abject citizens: Italian ‘Nomad Emergencies’ and the deportability of Romanian Roma”
[108] Szalai, “The impact of multifaceted segregation on the formation of Roma collective identity and citizenship rights
[109] In conversation with policy officer 1, 14/4/2023
[110] El-Tayeb, European Others: Queering Ethnicity in Postnational Europe, 53
[111] FRA European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. (2019). ROMA EN WOONWAGENBEWONERS IN BELGIË. Accessed 25/2/2023, van https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2020-roma-and-travellers-survey-country-sheet-belgium_nl.pdf
[112] In conversation with policy officer 1, 14/4/2023
[113] In conversation with employee 1 Lübeck site, 25/4/2023
[114] In conversation with policy officer 1, 14/4/2023
[115] Ibid.
[116] In conversation with social worker 1 and social worker 2, 13/4/2023
[117] In conversation with employee 2 Lübeck site, 25/4/2023
[118] In conversation with employee 1 Lübeck site, 25/4/2023
[119] In conversation with employee 2 Lübeck site, 25/4/2023
[120] In conversation with employee 1 Lübeck site, 25/4/2023
[121] Ibid.
[122] Fejzula, “The Anti-Roma Europe: Modern ways of disciplining the Roma body in urban spaces”
[123] In conversation with employee 1 Lübeck site, 25/4/2023
[124] Ibid.
[125] In conversation with policy officer 1, 14/4/2023
[126] Ibid.
[127] In conversation with employee 1 Lübeck site, 25/4/2023
[128] Hepworth, “Abject citizens: Italian ‘Nomad Emergencies’ and the deportability of Romanian Roma”
[129] In conversation with employee 2 Lübeck site, 25/4/2023
[130] Hepworth, “Abject citizens: Italian ‘Nomad Emergencies’ and the deportability of Romanian Roma”
[131] Julija, “Differing Roma Mobilities? The Case of Cross-Border Migration of Roma Between Slovenia and Austria”
[132] In conversation with employees 1 and 2 Lübeck site, 25/4/2023
[133] In conversation with employee 1 Lübeck site, 25/4/2023
[134] Hepworth, “Abject citizens: Italian ‘Nomad Emergencies’ and the deportability of Romanian Roma”, 436
[135] Kelley, Freedom dreams: The black radical imagination
[136] In conversation with employee 1 Lübeck site, 25/4/2023; in conversation with policy officer 1, 14/4/2023
[137] Kanobana, “Ode aan de chaos” in In het spoor van Fanon. Orde, wanorde, dekolonisering,
[138]Fejzula, “The Anti-Roma Europe: Modern ways of disciplining the Roma body in urban spaces”
[139] van Baar, “Contained mobility and the racialization of poverty in Europe: The Roma at the development–security nexus”
[140] Hepworth, “Abject citizens: Italian ‘Nomad Emergencies’ and the deportability of Romanian Roma”, 436
[141] Hepworth, “Abject citizens: Italian ‘Nomad Emergencies’ and the deportability of Romanian Roma
[142] In conversation with employee 1 and 2 Lübeck site, 25/4/2023; in conversation with policy officer 1, 14/4/2023