Seminar of the Institute of Ethnology.  1. 11. 2021

Martin Fotta: Romani Chronicles of COVID-19

Abstract: Romani people in Europe and the Americas entered the COVID-19 pandemic from an exceptionally disadvantaged position: already before the emergency, they endured extreme marginality and dispossession. Many lived isolated in slums and purpose-built ghettos, and were the subject of routinised, overly discriminatory policies and regulations. They subsisted very precariously, most often through street-based activities. They had much poorer health and shorter life expectancy than the non-Roma who surrounded them, and many Romani children were made to attend segregated classrooms and schools. As the pandemic continues and resources are outstretched across all arenas, the acute vulnerability of Romani communities grows with devastating concrete effects. In my presentation I will discuss an ongoing book project Romani Chronicles of COVID-19 that I have been co-ordinating together with Paloma Gay y Blasco (St. Andrews). In it, social scientists, activist intellectuals, NGO workers, health experts and affected individuals—Romani and non-Romani—chronicle their experiences with the pandemic within Romani communities using a variety of textual formats, from analyses to dialogues, diaries and poignant personal reflections.

pondělí  1. 11. 2021, 14.00

zasedací místnost Etnologického ústavu AV ČR, v. v. i.

Na Florenci 3, Praha 1

5. patro

ONLINE MS Teams: Seminář EÚ 1. 11. 2021

Pozvánka ke stažení.

Image: Valdinalva Barbosa, a Romani activist and one of the contributors to the book, is being tested in her camp at the height of the pandemic in Brazil (From Barbosa’s personal archive).