The European Commission does not include antigypsyism alongside antisemitism and Islamophobia as part of its human rights policies, but rather sees antigypsyism exclusively as part of the social inclusion agenda. In the past years, both an increasing number of scholars and Roma activists critical of policy-making towards Roma have underlined the need to address antigypsyism in order to increase the impact of policies targeting Roma in all spheres. I believe antigypsyism should be seen as an analytical tool that allows us to move beyond inclusion discourse promoted by governments and international organizations which emphasizes equal opportunities and non-discrimination as policy aims. However, it is inadequate to merely consider antigypsyism in general terms, as a phobia or a system of prejudices, and rather I will consider it in three primary areas: academia, Holocaust studies and gender relations. In my talk I aim to provide an overview of the way antigypsyism is produced and reproduced in these three areas. Such a methodological, analytical and theoretical focus on antigypsyism serves as prerequisite for a multifaceted research agenda with strong policy implications.
Dr. Iulius Rostas is Affiliated Fellow with the Institute for Advanced Studies at CEU, Senior Fellow with the Open Society Foundations Roma Initiatives Office and Visiting Lecturer at Corvinus University of Budapest. He has worked for the Open Society Foundations, the European Roma Rights Center and the Government of Romania and consulted the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the World Bank, the European Commission and the Roma Education Fund. Dr Rostas is the editor of "Ten Years After: A History of Roma School Desegregation in Central and Eastern Europe" (CEU Press, 2012) and in 2011 he published "Social Inclusion or Exclusion: the Rights of Persons Living with HIV in Moldova" (Cartier Publishing, 2011).