Romani Studies in Flux: Examining Shifts, Setbacks, Challenges and New Directions

At the 8th CASA Biennial Conference – Ageing of Anthropology, Ageing in Anthropology, held in Pardubice on 6–8 November 2026, Tina Magazzini and Martin Fotta from the Romani Atlantic project co-convened, together with Jan Ort, the panel “Romani Studies in Flux: Examining Shifts, Setbacks, Challenges and New Directions.” Mariana Sabino Salazar also presented on the panel.

About the panel

The panel reflected on the transformations of Romani studies over the past three decades, shaped by geopolitical shifts such as the fall of the Iron Curtain, EU expansion, and changing migration regimes. While increased funding, new programmes and journals, and the gradual rise of Romani scholars have expanded the field, participants critically examined the uneven and fragile nature of these advances. Contributions addressed declining long-term ethnography, reduced engagement with the Romani language, the marginal position of Romani studies within mainstream social science, limited policy impact, and growing political pressures on academic freedom. The panel brought together papers that reassessed past approaches, debated which trajectories are worth preserving or abandoning, and explored emerging methodologies and perspectives that are often developing at the margins of the discipline and that may help reorient Romani studies today.

List of speakers and presentations:

Jan Ort (Institute of Ethnology, Czech Academy of Sciences), Focus Groups in Ethnographic Experimentation: Research on Assisting Ukrainian Romani Refugees

Lada Viková  (Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Pardubice) and Jana Hachová (Independent researcher), About Changes in Research on the Holocaust of Roma and Sinti in the Czech Republic: Reflection on the Case Study of Jan Jedlička

Ignacy Jóźwiak (University of Warsaw, Centre of Migration Research), Roma Activism in Ukraine: Ethnography, Participation, and What Might Come Out of It (and for Whom)

Martin Fotta (Institute of Ethnology, Czech Academy of Sciences), Anthropology and Controversy in Romani Studies

Andrej Belak (Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology, Slovak Academy of Sciences), Against Strawman Research on Roma: What Anthropology Fails to Teach Us (Yet)

Mariana Sabino Salazar (Institute of Ethnology, Czech Academy of Sciences), Romani Performativity and Identity-Shifting in Brazil

Lucie Trlifajová (Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague), “And then someone came and told us that we were a socially excluded locality…” Possibilities and Limits of Participatory Research on Poverty

Tina Magazzini (Institute of Ethnology, Czech Academy of Sciences), Exploring the Connections between Romani Studies, CRT, and Migration Studies

© Photo by Jan Pumprla