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Accepted Paper:

Family and transmission among Roma migrants  
Alice Sophie Sarcinelli (Université Paris Cité)

Paper short abstract:

This paper investigates Roma family intergenerational transmission of migration processes, and in turn children’s representations, perspectives and identity construction. This double process produces different ways of portraying and understanding families, ethnicity, migration and identity, articulating imagination and reality.

Paper long abstract:

If the struggle for social and cultural transmission is present in all minorities, this is particularly difficult when it comes to the identity of romanès because of the very negative stereotypes and moral judgments surrounding these minorities. Moreover, migrations and displacement make it more complex. Roma migrant communities had to re-negotiate relationship with the host society and new generations are growing up in new environments, although living in rather segregated settlements. Our aim is to investigate Roma family intergenerational transmission of migration processes, and in turn children's representations, perspectives and identity construction.

Common representations of Roma often lead those communities to develop strategies in order to appear morally worthy. To preserve their identities Roma parents need to transmit to their children a strong sense of belonging to their community while, at the same time, teaching them how to hide their identity. This has a decisive influence on child rearing and educational practices.

As a matter of fact, familyhood is not a unidirectional process, but a mutual one. Therefore, another major aspect of our focus is children's subjective representation of their roots and background, as well as of their parents' pathways. This double process produces different ways of portraying and understanding families, ethnicity, migration and identity, articulating imagination and reality. Moreover, they reconstitute and redefine their social identifications over time. However, the values and strategies of the parents are not automatically reproduced by the children. Quite on the contrary, the youngest generations redefine the social boundary between the self and other.

Panel P23
Gypsies, Roma or Travellers and anthropologists of Europe
  Session 1