The Politics of Roma Expulsions in France and the European Union
Public Deposited- Last Modified
- February 26, 2019
- Creator
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Smith, Andrew J.
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Romance Studies
- Abstract
- In the United States, the word “Gypsy” – often used as an exogenous term for the Roma – may conjure images of swarthy, colorfully clothed violin players from a far-removed time. In Europe, however, “Gypsy” is often associated with criminality, untrustworthiness, and laziness, as the Roma are often found on the sides of streets begging for coins and using their children to gain pity. These associations allow for the Roma to be seen as problems, of needing to be dealt with, and France has responded by expelling them en masse. The guiding normative principle I take in this thesis is that government power should always be questioned through a process of examining the legitimacy of the government’s actions. When the French government expels Roma en masse, it believes its actions to be legitimate based on knowledge of the area in which it acts, in this case, the Roma. Examining the French government’s presuppositions of the Roma as well as EU law reveals that the French government’s expulsions are based on illegitimate rationale. In other words, the French government’s actions are built on flawed presuppositions that form the rationale of its actions. Thus, a critical examination of France’s actions is necessary so as to not to take the assumptions and presuppositions about the Roma as undeniable truth. For example, instead of assuming the Roma’s lifestyle is too different from French society, it is necessary to examine the assumptions about the Roma lifestyle that appear to make it incompatible. These presuppositions are the foundation for the knowledge that the government uses to legitimize its actions; therefore, it is important to vigorously examine them.
- Date of publication
- spring 2014
- Keyword
- DOI
- Resource type
- Rights statement
- In Copyright
- Note
- Funding: None
- Advisor
- Heitsch, Dorothea
- Degree
- Bachelor of Arts
- Honors level
- Highest Honors
- Degree granting institution
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Extent
- 62
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