Christina Rodell Olgac

Christina Rodell Olgac

Associate Professor

Senior Lecturer

Christina Rodell Olgaç is engaged in the educational situation of the Roma minority in Sweden, with a special focus on higher education and social mobility.

Teacher Education

Christina Rodell Olgaç, PhD, Associate Professor in Education and Senior Lecturer in Romani Studies at Södertörn University. She joined the University in the end of 2002 and in 2006 she defended her doctoral thesis where she from an intercultural perspective analyses the school situation of the Romani minority in the mainstream schools in Sweden from the middle of last century until 2005. Before coming to Södertörn she worked for several years as a primary school teacher with refugee children and new arrivals in reception classes in Rinkeby, one of the suburbs of Stockholm. She also taught at the Stockholm Institute of Education. At Södertörn she has been teaching mainly student teachers with focus on intercultural education in relation to the national minorities, and more specifically the Roma, from a school perspective.

Between 2012 – 2019 and in tandem with Angelina Dimiter-Taikon, MA in Education, Lecturer in Romani Studies, Christina Rodell Olgaç has developed a two-year course for Romani mediators targeting school and social work, the "Södertörn Model", and a course for mother tongue teachers in Romani. In total more than 50 Roma from different Romani groups speaking different varieties of Romani and living all over Sweden, have participated. The courses have been commissioned to the University by the Swedish National Agency for Education and the National Board for Health and Welfare. Many of the participants have after completing these courses got permanent employment in their municipalities.

Her current research concerns critical intercultural education with a special focus on the Romani minority, especially higher education and social mobility. This research is done in close co-operation with Romani teachers in projects with methods inspired by participatory action research and critical ethnography. Her second field of research is related to national self-awareness and national minorities as well as intercultural learning processes among student teachers and teachers.

Selected publications

Rodell Olgaç, C., Dimiter-Taikon, A. & Lindqvist, A. (2021). Romska modersmålslärare i högre utbildning: Pedagogiska utmaningar och möjligheter. [Romani mother tongue teachers in higher education: Educational challenges and opportunities.] Gullberg, T. & Björkgren, M. (red.), Minoritetspedagogik i Norden. Bottniska studier 7. (149–166). The book is also published on the homepage of Svensk-Österbottniska Samfundet. https://issuu.com/svensk-osterbottniskasamfundet/docs/minoritetspedagogik_i_norden__2_

Rodell Olgaç, C. (2020). Sverige, skolan och de fem nationella minoriteterna: från monokulturalitet och enspråkighet till interkulturell pedagogik och social rättvisa. [Sweden, the school and the five national minorities: from monoculturalism and monolingualism to intercultural education and social justice.] I Hill. H. (red.), Perspektiv på interkulturalitet. Södertörn Studies in Education 3. Huddinge: Södertörns högskola. (85–109) http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1391070/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Rodell Olgaç, C. (2019). Roma in the Educational System of Sweden: achievements after year 2000 and challenges for the future. In Óhidy, A. & Forray, K. R., Lifelong Learning and the Roma Minority in Western and Southern Europe. Bingley: Emerald Publishing. (163–182) doi:10.1108/978-1-83867-263-820191014

Rodell Olgaç, C. (2016). Snuvade på sin historia: Nationella minoriteter, lärarstudenter och smärtsamma interkulturella läroprocesser. [Robbed of their history: National minorities, student teachers and painful intercultural learning processes.] I Kirsch, F.M., León Rosales, R. & Rodell Olgaç, C. (red.). Vem vågar vara interkulturell? En vänbok till Pirjo Lahdenperä. u.a.: Stockholm. (71–86)

Rodell Olgaç, C. & Dimiter-Taikon, A. (2016). Romsk brobyggarutbildning med inriktning mot skolan 2012–2015: Högre utbildning, social mobilitet och interkulturellt kapital. [Romani mediator education targeting school 2012-2015: Higher Education, social mobility and intercultural capital.] Skolverket. http://sh.divaportal.org/smash/get/diva2:916700/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Rodell Olgaç, C. (2015). Minorías nacionales, conciencia nacional y proceso de aprendizaje intercultural entre docentes en formación en Suecia /National minorities, national self-awareness and intercultural learning processes among student teachers in Sweden. Revista de Educación, No 8, 101-116 (Spanish), 291–306 (English)

Rodell Olgaç, C. (2014). Rätten till en dåtid, nutid och framtid för den romska minoriteten och allas vårt ansvar. I Goldstein-Kyaga, K., Möten med Dalai lama. Reflektioner om fred, medkänsla, lycka och interkulturell dialog. Stockholm: Dialogos Förlag. (192–207)

Rodell Olgaç, C. (2013). Education of Roma in Sweden – an interplay between policy and practice. I Hornberg, S. & Brüggemann, C. (Hrsg.), Die Bildungssituation von Roma in Europa. Studien zur International und Interkulturell Vergleichenden Erziehungswissenschaft 16. Münster: Waxmann. (197–213)

Rodell Olgaç, C. & Dimiter Taikon, A. (2013). "Mamma, ska jag säga att jag är rom?" En kartläggning av romska barns och elevers skolsituation i fem pilotkommuner för Skolverket. [“Mummy, shall I tell that I am a Rom?” Mapping the school situation of Romani children and youth in five pilot municipalities for the National Agency for Education.] Bilaga till Skolverkets Delredovisning av regeringsuppdrag inom regeringens strategi för romsk inkludering till Länsstyrelsen, Dnr A2012/1387/DISK. www.skolverket.se External link.

Rodell Olgaç, C. (2012). Romskt föreningsarbete bland barn och ungdomar – på väg mot ett organisationskapital. [Romani organisational work among children and youth: heading for an organisational capital.] I Goldstein-Kyaga, K., Borgström, M. och Hübinette, T. (red.). 2012. Den interkulturella blicken. Inte bara goda pedagogiska avsikter. Södertörn Studies in Education 2. Huddinge: Södertörn högskola. (135–154) http://www.divaportal.org/smash/get/diva2:534213/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Rodell Olgaç, C. (2011). Lärarstudenter i mötet med den romska minoriteten. [Student teachers in the encounter with the Romani minority.] I: Strandbrink, Peter, Lindqvist, Beatriz & Forsberg Håkan (red.), Tvära möten. Om utbildningsvetenskap och kritiskt lärande. Södertörn Studies in Education 1, Södertörns högskola. (97–114)

Rodell Olgaç, C. (2010). Nationella minoriteter – en nordisk utblick. I: Bonnevie Lund, A. & Bolme Moen, B. (red.), Nasjonale minoriteter i Norge – historie, kultur og framtid. Trondheim: Tapir Akademisk Forlag. (231–247)

Rodell Olgaç, C., Demetri, M. & Dimiter Taikon, A. (2010). Nya perspektiv på den romska minoritetens skolgång. [New perspectives on the schooling of the Romani minority.] I: Lahdenperä, P. & Lorentz, H. (red.), Möten i mångfaldens skola: interkulturella arbetsformer och nya pedagogiska utmaningar. Lund: Studentlitteratur. (133–155)

von Brömssen, K. & Rodell Olgaç, C. (2010). Intercultural education in Sweden through the lenses of the national minorities and of religious education. Intercultural Education Vol. 21, Nr 2 April. (121–135)

Rodell Olgaç, C. (2006). Den romska minoriteten i majoritetssamhället skola: Från hot till möjlighet. [The Romani minority in the school of the mainstream society: From a threat to an opportunity.] Diss. Studies in Educational Sciences 85. Stockholm: HLS Förlag. https://www.divaportal.org/smash/get/diva2:189317/FULLTEXT01.pdf

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