Roma Gypsies' knowledges: Exclusion, struggles, and contacts with institutions in an Italian periphery.
Item
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Title
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Roma Gypsies' knowledges: Exclusion, struggles, and contacts with institutions in an Italian periphery.
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Identifier
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AAI3187425
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identifier
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3187425
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Creator
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Fantone, Laura.
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Contributor
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Adviser: William Kornblum
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Date
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2005
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Sociology, General | Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies
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Abstract
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This study is concerned with the processes of acquisition of knowledge of Roma Gypsy youth and, in particular, with their difficulties in accessing education in Italy. The principal problems involved are the discrimination against Roma Gypsies in Italian institutions and the distrust of Italian institutions among Romani families. The existing literature explains this disastrous situation by establishing causality between the recurrent geographic displacement of the Roma Gypsy community, their sharp cultural differences, and their lack of integration. This research emerges from a few basic questions: Why and through what social processes do Italian educational institutions deny access to young Roma? What difference does their exclusion make in terms of their sociopolitical (and economic) marginality? How is the knowledge they acquire of Italian culture and Roma culture transmitted to them? Which interventions designed to address these problems of Roma Gypsies' education appear to be promising?;Such questions are addressed in interviews with Italian scholars, teachers, social workers, and volunteers, and Roma Gypsy parents and youth about their experiences with the Roma in Italian educational institutions. Ethnographic participant observation provides descriptions of Romani camps in Bologna and the spaces and moments of conflicts in which the Romani youth were involved. By using interviews, the study interrogates how the Roma perceived their educational experiences and the acquisition of informal education, as well as the many ways in which strategic knowledge was transmitted inside, around, and outside of Italian institutions as well as within their families and communities. The dimension of Roma cultural traditions is crucial because the Roma's view of knowledge has strengths---especially in regard to the values of intergenerational relations, change, and flexibility---that have not been recognized by the Western knowledge imparted in schools.;The study assesses the main barriers for Roma Gypsy access to formal education, and tries to understand and value the Romani informal transmission of knowledge, addressing the complexity of intercultural mediations they perform and live in contact with Italian society. This may lead to more effective methods of preventing discrimination against Roma Gypsies and improving participation of Roma in schools and in Italian society in general.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy Restricted.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.