‘They clip our wings’: studying achievement and racialisation through a Roma perspective

ABSTRACT

This article presents data gathered among Bulgarian Romani communities during a project investigating the educational hardship of Roma people. Major social inequalities affect the educational and life chances of Roma students. Despite European Union political frameworks, the perspectives of Roma themselves remain undocumented. This paper addresses this gap by reporting on data from interviews with Roma parents and students, which reveal practices of discrimination racialising Roma in Bulgarian schools. Reporting on modes of racialisation, the author shows the direct impact of experiences of discrimination on Roma students’ educational and career prospects. The findings are relevant to building knowledge of how racialisation, which has shaped the societal discourse surrounding Roma groups, remains integral in contemporary Europe, reinforcing racialised social hierarchies. This article informs further our understanding of the limitations of concentrated political efforts to bring actual change in the lives of Roma if destructive social constructions, such as racialisation, are not sufficiently addressed.

KEYWORDS:

• Roma
• racialisation
• inclusion
• culture
• racism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Roma are Europe’s largest ethnic minority group, estimated at 10–12 million (UNESCO 2013).

2. An international initiative launched by the Open Society Institute and the World Bank, in cooperation with twelve governments in CSE.

3. Margareta Matache, email message to author, 15 June 2017.

4. In the Bulgarian education system, fourth grade denotes the completion of elementary school.

5. All names are pseudonyms that were randomly chosen by the author. Information regarding age and education level is included in parenthesis after participants’ names.

6. Gadje is a term used by Roma people to refer to non-Roma (in this study, Bulgarians).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Veselina Lambrev

Veselina Lambrev is Assistant Professor of Program Development at the College of Education, University of South Florida. Her research focuses on the need for developing transformational education practitioners, and the possibility such an educator preparation offers for advancing equity for underserved communities.