Transnationalism, Activism and Solidarity
The conference is supported by the Czech Academy of Sciences (Lumina Quaeruntur Fellowship, project Romani Atlantic: Transcontinental Logic of Ethno-Racial Identities, LQ300582201) and Strategy AV21-Identities in the World of Wars and Crises. It is organized by the Institute of Ethnology, Czech Academy of Sciences together with Faculty of Arts, Charles University; French Research Center in Humanities and Social Sciences (CEFRES, MEAE–CNRS); Prague Forum for Romani Histories and CEU Romani Studies Program.
When: 21–23 May 2025
Where: Vila Lanna
CEFRES, Prague – 3rd block of conferences
Convenors: Tina MAGAZZINI and Martin FOTTA (Institute of Ethnology, Czech Academy of Sciences)
PROGRAM
I. Opening roundtable
Institute of Czech Literature, Czech Academy of Sciences
Wednesday, May 21
16:00 – 16:30 Welcome remarks
16:30 – 18:30
Beyond “Europe’s largest ethnic minority”. Comparing and contrasting social justice projects
Roundtable discussion on policies for Roma within a broader social justice agenda, followed by reception drinks.
Moderator: Tina Magazzini (Czech Academy of Sciences)
Participants:
Claude Cahn (United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights)
Jelena Jovanovic (European Parliament); Sunnie Rucker-Chang (University of Cincinnati)
II. Relational Approaches to Romani Racialization(s)
Vila Lanna, Prague
Thursday, May 22
08:30–09:00 Registration
09:00–09:10 Opening of Day 1 of the conference
09:10–10:10 Jelena Savić (Uppsala University): Keynote session (TBC)
10:10–10:30 Coffee break
10:30–12:10 Panel I:
Thick Solidarities Across the Race-Mobility-Migration Nexus
Moderator: Marton Rovid (Central European University)
‘Gypsyness’ and the Race-Migration Nexus: Racialization, Identity and Agency Among Intermarried and Multiethnic Spanish Roma
Zenia Hellgren, Dan Rodríguez García et al. (Pompeu Fabra University)
Ethno-racial Dilemmas: Negotiating Balkan Romani Diasporic Identities
Carol Silverman (University of Oregon)
Racial Hierarchies in Inter-Roma Solidarity in the Context of War in Ukraine
Jan Ort (Czech Academy of Sciences)
12:10–13:10 Lunch break
13:10–15:20 Panel II:
The Role of Territory & Class for Solidarity in Racialized Contexts
Moderator: Rufat Demirov (Central European University)
The importance of territory to think about Romani people’s rights in the Global South
Gabriela Marques Gonçalves (Federal University of Goiás)
Processes of Racialization of Roma People in Contemporary France
Lison Merville-Boudjema (Lyon 1 University)
Navigating Conflicting Roles in Roma Activism: Advocacy, Solidarity, and Child Welfare
Joanna Kostka (Lancaster University)
Exploring Romani Racialization through Semi-Peripheral Dynamics in Global Capitalism
Cecília Kovai (Hungarian Research Network) & Lilla Eredics (HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences)
15:20–15:40 Coffee break
15:40–17:20 Panel III:
Interrogating the Categories of Roma Race-Making
Moderator: Kateřina Čapková (Charles University and NYU in Prague)
Romanipen/“Gypsyness”, more than a Europeanized identity. Emergencies available
Rafael Buhigas Jiménez (Autónoma University of Madrid) & Iván Periáñez Bolaño (University of Seville)
Ciganos de Alma and Pretendians: Navigating Marginalized Identity Claims in the Age of Multiculturalism
Mariana Sabino Salazar (Czech Academy of Sciences)
Hauntings of Racelessness: epistemological violence and Roma political agency in Turkey
Tuba Akin (University of Illinois)
Friday, May 23
09:00–09:10 Introduction to Day 2 of the conference
09:10–10:10 Manuela Boatcă (University of Freiburg):
Keynote session
Romani Europeans and the Challenge of Unthinkable Histories
10:10–10:30 Coffee break
10:30–12:10 Panel IV:
The Relational Making of Roma Racialization / across Europe
Moderator: Renata Berkyová (Czech Academy of Sciences)
Between and Beyond Romani and Voyageur: How Race Takes Shape through Genocide Commemoration
Siv B. Lie (University of Maryland)
Racializing Slavic and East European Studies – a Critical Romani Studies Perspective
Sunnie Rucker-Chang (Ohio State University)
Shifting discourse through human rights activism. How the German Sinti and Roma were moulded into a ‘threatened people’ in their own country
Daniela Gress (Heidelberg University)
12:10–13:10 Lunch break
13:10–14:50 Panel V:
The Relational Making of Roma Racialization / beyond Europe
Moderator: Yasar Abu Ghosh (Charles University and NYU in Prague)
Detangling Romani, Indigenous and European Bodies: The Emergence of Race in the Early Modern Atlantic World
Ann Ostendorf (Gonzaga University)
“Primitive people whom contact with civilization has failed to exterminate”: Native Americans and Romani people in the United States
Dalen Wakeley-Smith (Washington University)
Double-layered Racialisation: The Transfer of Caste-based Identity Markers onto English Gypsies in Historical Discourse
Gatha Rajagopal (Pondicherry University)
14:50–15:30 Closing reflections
15:30–16:00 Coffee Break
III. Refusing Sustainability. Race and Environmentalism in a Changing Europe
CEFRES Prague
17:00–19:00 Refusing Sustainability: Race and Environmentalism in a Changing Europe
Moderator: Martin Fotta (Czech Academy of Sciences)
Book discussion with Elana Resnick (University of California), followed by a small reception.