Paper short abstract:

This essay aims to examine the place of Romani studies in the fight against anti-Gypsism from a both epistemological and ethical point of view.

Paper long abstract:

Over the last 10 years, researches on Roma/Gypsies have considerably developed in Europe. The fall of communist regimes, the establishment of market economies in Eastern Europe and, more generally, the deep inscription of social and economic crisis in the European horizon have brought the "Roma issue" as a central concern of national and international institutions, this leading to the inflation of the production of "knowledge" about these groups. These studies are usually more quantitative than qualitative, and generally avoid to question the validity of the object itself: the Roma/Gypsies are considered as a meaningful and natural category. However, many recent ethnographies highlight the malleability and the dynamism of local or national ethnic categorizations at work, as well as the socio-cultural diversity of those called Roma/Gypsies. In other words, the more we ethnography them, the less the Roma/Gypsies category makes sense. Yet, by its current political and media over-representation, the "Roma issue" topic motivates the proliferation of field researches... this confirming the idea that the Roma are a problem to be addressed. Therefore, can the Romani studies do anything against anti-Gypsism?