Konferensartikel

Reflecting on identity is a key point in comprehending the whole Roma issue. The attribution of an identity from the outside on the basis of allegedly ethnical char- acteristics; e.g. the nomadic life; should be replaced with a self-determined identity; in which the ethnicity only represents one aspect among other characteristics. Heteronomous identification is a typical feature of a racist Anti-gypsyism afflicted by prejudices; expressed by extermination; expulsion and repression. Migration of Roma has always been the result of their expul¬sion by the dominant society. The exaggeration in the mass-media of a “migra¬tion issue” caused by the Roma in Western Europe serves the political interests of nationalistic trends and parties. The Biblical associations with wanderers and homeless should be replaced with the image of the healed lepers; which is a model for the inclusion of the marginalized.

Roma; Anti-gypsyism; migration; identity; exclusion; exegesis; racism; expulsion