Anti-Roma Racism, Social Work and the White Civilizatory Mission

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is not to specifically discuss social work per se, but rather to understand and analyse what are the conditions, politics and ideologies behind the social interventions targeted to Roma people. In concrete terms, the chapter aims to analyse the dominant orientations in social work with Roma communities, as part of the mechanisms of legitimisation and maintenance of Antigypsyism in today’s democratic society. In doing so, we argue that the conditions which Roma are exposed to and make them politically vulnerable are in fact consequences of political discourses, practices and racial ideologies that are central to understanding the politics of modern states. Therefore, we argue that public policy approaches, social work interventions and integration policies are in fact European disciplinary devices and civilising missions, aiming to “reform Roma way of being”.