Research
Romani Studies at Södertörn University has a multidisciplinary focus with national, Nordic and international links, and both Roma and non-Roma researchers. Research at the university has an emancipatory focus and a rights-based perspective, and thus has a high level of societal relevance. The core of our research is a critical approach to colonial, racist and antiziganist perspectives in Romani Studies, past and present.
Romani Studies has natural intersections with other disciplines in research and education that may have similar topics of enquiry. At Södertörn University, Romani Studies has cooperated with education, history, linguistics, social work, history of art, journalism, comparative literature, criminology, sociology, law, Sami studies and ethnology. At doctoral level, we have a colloquium for doctoral students that focuses on critical studies and antiziganism research.
Our research collaborations include the Central European University (Budapest/Vienna), Harvard University, the Antiziganism Research Unit at Heidelberg University and the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (Berlin).
Projects
‘MEMOROBIA: Memorialisation of Romani enslavement in territories of contemporary Romania’.
Solvor Mjøberg Lauritzen is through her employment at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society (Oslo, Norway) project manager for the project funded by the Norwegian Research Council (NFR). The project was approved in June 2021 for the project period December 2021-June 2025. Other participating researchers: Jan Selling (Södertörn University), Margareta Matache (Harvard, USA), Delia Grigore (Bucharest, Romania).
Grounded in the fields of contemporary history, social anthropology and education, the project will research Romani slavery (Robia) from a contemporary perspective. First, the project will analyse the consequences of Robia in present day Romania, including the consequences for Romani self-images and non-Roma–Roma relations, such as racialized poverty and antigypsyism. Further, the project will research the new field of memorialisation of Robia, and provide an informed discussion on the pros and cons of activism aiming at historical justice in this context. Lastly, the project will map Robia in Romanian and Norwegian education, with the aim of addressing how Robia can be ethically integrated into educational settings in Europe.
'Paving the way for Truth and Reconciliation Process to address antigypsyism in Europe: Remembrance, Recognition, Justice and Trust Building
Jan Selling participates as national expert on antigypsyism for Sweden in a project financed by EU DG JUST Grant. Project runs 2021-2022. Main partners: CEPS, Belgium (project manager Prof. Sergio Carrera); Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, Germany; European Roma Grassroots Organizations Network, Belgium/EU; Federación de Asociaciones Gitanas de Cataluña, Spain; ARESEL, Romania. Other project researchers : Anja Reuss (Germany) , Ciprian Nodis och Iulius Rostas (Romania), Annabel Carballo och Pedro Casemero (Spain). Advisory board: Soraya Post, Miriam Karoly, Markus End, Ismael Cortes och Claude Cahn.