Paper short abstract:

The paper addresses forms of anthropological engagement and dilemmas in the case of ethnographic study of a particular network of Slovakian Roma and state institutions dealing with Roma migrants in their UK migratory destinations.

Paper long abstract:

Following Slovakian accession to the EU in 2004 many Slovakian Roma migrated to Great Britain. Unlike other Roma groups migrating to Western Europe, Slovakian Roma frequently adopted various strategies of invisibility. They entered the labour market alongside other Eastern European migrants and were frequently categorized as Slovaks. However, within several years a category of Eastern European Gypsies emerged as a highly problematic identity label in several British cities related to issues of poverty, education, health care, housing and welfare. Various local institutions, practitioners, NGO workers, activists and journalists started to classify the migrants as Roma/Gypsies and singled them out as a particularly challenging population.

Drawing on fieldwork among Slovakian Roma migrants and state workers, the paper discusses forms of anthropological engagement and dilemmas. While many anthropologists of Roma successfully challenge some of the stereotypes, their own representations might risk a similar danger of contributing to re-configuration of another type of reified visions of social world and essentialism. The paper discusses some of the tensions stemming from studying simultaneously state and Roma migrants. It situates ethnographic practice within a social field in which 'Roma culture' becomes a highly contested concept.