Dr. Iulius Rostas will present on the foundations of antigypsyism. The presentation will explore the multiple roots that made the racialisation of Roma and the development of antigypsyism possible.

Antigypsyism is a core concept of the Critical Romani Studies. In my presentation I will explore the foundations of anti gypsyism. What were the conditions and ideas that facilitated the appearance of antigypsyism? How were Roma racialised? What types of stories and narratives about Roma were constructed? What were the inspirations for those stories and who promoted such narratives? I argue that antigypsyism has multiple roots inspired by political, administrative, religious processes at the time and it got important support from the Enlightenment philosophy and science.

Dr. Iulius Rostas is Visiting Professor at the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (Bucharest, Romania). Between 2016 and 2019 he served as Chair of Romani Studies and Assistant Professor at Central European University and was Visiting Lecturer at Corvinus University of Budapest (2012-2016). 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). He is the founder Editor-in-Chief of the Critical Romani Studies journal (crs.ceu.edu). His latest book “A Task for Sisyphus: Why Europe’s Roma Policies Fail” was published by CEU Press in 2019 and translated into Romanian in 2020.