Football as a medium for (transnational) integration of the Romani people

Fot. Marijeta Rajkovic Iveta

Seminarium prowadzone będzie w jęz. angielskim. 

Abtract:
Southeastern Europe is home to numerous Romani communities, each distinctive in their own way depending on their country of origin and time of immigration, language, customs, religion etc. Following up on multi-sited ethnographic research (in the Republic of Croatia, the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of Serbia), this paper discusses the role of football (professional, amateur and recreational) in the integration of the Roma. Taking into account the numerousness and diversity of Romani communities, research results show that football, as the most popular sport, enables easier social integration into ethnic community on local and transnational levels. Various football activities (minority football camps, tournaments) are initiated and organized by the very Roma. Even though de iure Roma have full civil rights, football serves as a means to reduce discrimination, inequalities, poverty and social exclusion. In order for young Roma to train in the club, they have to attend school regularly, which results in economic integration. This research also contributes to the creation of public integration policies which are implemented by the very minority and immigrant communities working transnationally.

Bio:
Marijeta Rajković Iveta is Associate Professor at the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. She created and introduced the following new courses into the curriculum: Anthropology of Migrations (undergraduate study programme); Integration Policies and Processes; Minority and Immigrant Communities and Theories and Research Approaches in Migration Studies (module “Migration Studies”); Migration Process of Southeast Europe (Southeast European Studies), Migration, Borders and Minority Communities, Migration and Postmigration Processes, Croatian Diaspora and Emigration (postgraduate doctoral programme). She is the Chair of the Migration and Minority Communities Section at the Department. Main areas of her research interest are: migration (especially contemporary migration) and post-migration phenomena, minority communities, historical anthropology and border studies. For more information of her research and publications see:

https://etno.ffzg.unizg.hr/staff/dr-marijeta-rajkovic-iveta/?lang=en; CRORIS/Croatian Academic Bibliography: https://www.croris.hr/crosbi/searchByContext/2/21814

Polecane lektury:

• Jurković, Rahela, Rajković Iveta, Marijeta. 2016.  “Taste of Home”: Integration of Asylees Intertwined with Transnational Processes and the Promotion of Culinary Traditions.  Studia ethnologica Croatica, 28: 147-211. doi: 10.17234/SEC.28.7
• Penninx, Rinus,  Garcés-Mascareñas, Blanca. 2016. The Concept of Integration as an Analytical Tool and as a Policy Concept. In: Integration Processes and Policies in Europe: Contexts, Levels and Actors, eds. B. Garcés-Mascareñas, R.Penninx. Cham: Springer, 11–29. (https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-21674-4_2)