The situation of many Rroma in different countries around Europe is \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclosely connected to the sociological concept of \u201cstructural violence\u201d. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStructural violence is a term used by different social scientists to denote \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstructures of repression of epistemological, political, economical and social \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnature, which keep the affected people from improving their livelihoods. In the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcase of Rroma, structural violence has the form of highly negative \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tepistemological ascriptions, which hinder them from improving their \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcircumstances, combined with a history of exclusion and disadvantage, which \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tleave many of them in a kind of \u201cdevils circle\u201d of hopelessness towards any \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmajor change. Paul Farmer defines \u2018structural violence\u2019 as follows:<\/p>\n
\u201cStructural violence is one way of describing social \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tarrangements that put individuals and populations in harm\u2019s way\u2026 The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tarrangements are structural because they are embedded in the political and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\teconomic organization of our social world; they are violent because they cause \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinjury to people \u2026 neither culture nor pure individual will is at fault; \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trather, historically given (and often economically driven) processes and forces \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconspire to constrain individual agency. Structural violence is visited upon \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tall those whose social status denies them access to the fruits of scientific \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand social progress (Farmer 1999: 79).<\/em><\/p>\n The concept is therefore closely linked to the notion of \u2018agency\u2019, which \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trefers to the individual power of a single person in a social structure to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tperform his\/her aspirations and affect his\/her social environment. \u2018Ageny\u2019 also \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\temanates from subjects, who are conditioned in the way they act, or perform an \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\taction. The idea that \u201cthe things they do are in some sense determined by the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tways in which their identity has been constructed\u201d (Ashcroft\/Griffiths\/Tiffin \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(2007: 6) refers to the idea that social possibilities of individuals or groups \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tare linked to the identity fellow human beings ascribe them and the way people \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\treconstruct their own identity between outside ascription and self-ascription \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof identity. In this reflections, it is important to consider that it is \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tneither just individual agency and neither just the structure surrounding a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tperson, that determines his\/her destiny, but a complicated negotiation of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttwo. Bourdieu sees it as a dialectic between \u201cexternalizing ones agency\u201d, and \u201cinternalizing \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe structure\u201d, which is at work when constructing personal and group identity \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Bourdieu 1990).\u00a0 <\/p>\n In the case of Rroma, the structure \u2013 with which I want to denote the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstructure of society as well as knowledge which society produces and emanates \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tabout the Rroma \u2013 is today clearly still the dominating factor in the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trelationship of agency and structure. Individual and group actions of Rroma \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\thave contributed to improve their situation in society, but negative \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstereotypes and prejudices still continue to dominate them so strongly, that \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmany Rroma have to life with their identity as a burden, rather than be proud \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof their identity. It is the task of all mankind and political and economical \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tleaders in particular, to change the relationship of agency and structure in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsuch a way, that individual persons, no matter of what origin, don\u2019t have to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfeel powerless because of the strong overweight of structure over individual \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tagency. Fostering equal access to education, working possibilities and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfinancial means can be a step towards achieving this goal.\u00a0 <\/p>\n As part of the institutionalized exclusion of Rroma in large parts of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWestern society, one can detect what Bauman calls the production of \u201chuman wate\u201d, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twhich is closely connected with the dangerous feeling of being redundant in and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfor society. Bauman pessimistically explains the feeling of humans who feel \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tredundant in this world:<\/p>\n The others do not need you; they can \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdo as well, and better, without you. There is no self-evident reason for being \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\taround and no justification for your claim to the right to stay around. To be \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdeclared redundant means to have been disposed of because of being disposable \u2013 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tjust like the empty and not refundable plastic bottle or once-used syringe, an \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tunattractive commodity with no buyers, or a substandard or stained product \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twithout use thrown off the assembly line by the quality inspectors. Redundancy \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tshares its semantic space with \u2019rejects\u2019, \u2019wastrels\u2019, \u2019garbage\u2019, \u2019refuse\u2019 \u2013 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twith waste (Bauman 2004: 12). \u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n This dangerous feeling of being disposable for society \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbecause of exclusion and repression from educational, economic and political \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpossibilities has to be seen as an inherent and major part \u00abstructural violence\u00bb. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFrom Bauman\u2019s (2004) viewpoint, the systematic exclusion of people is a vital \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpart of modernity and it\u2019s production of order. It is in its simplest form the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tresult of economic processes, which differentiate between useful and un-useful \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\thumans for production and consumption. In it\u2019s more complex forms, the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tproduction of order is a form of \u201cstate racism\u201d, which is the systematic \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tevaluation of knowledge about people and its subsequent re-ascription, in the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tform of the differentiation of \u201cuseful\u201d and \u201cun-useful humans\u201d. This \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdifferentiation is amongst others based on the dominant \u201cstories\u201d, which are \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttold about groups of people. In case of the Rroma, the dominant tale is one of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnegative stereotypes, of intentional criminality and deliberate unwillingness \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttowards integration. This \u201ctale\u201d is so deeply rooted in European history, that \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tis dominates realistic scientific knowledge and statistical knowledge about \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma, which would paint a different picture of Rroma realities. Rroma \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRealities are complex, diverse, fragmented, individual stories, which evade \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsimple reduction. This approval of complexity has been termed \u201cthe postmodern \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcondition\u201d by Jean Francois Lyotard. For the case of Rroma, it means to acknowledge \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthat there is not \u201cthe Rrom\u201d as simple as there is not such a thing as \u201cthe \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSwiss\u201d of \u201cthe Italian\u201d. Most Rroma speak the language Rromanes, but some don\u2019t. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSome Rroma are Christians, some are Muslims, some are part of other religions. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA few engage in criminal activities, but most of them don\u2019t. When wanting to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tunderstand the reality behind the stereotypes about Rroma, it is important to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tacknowledge that there is no simple answer to the question of how Rroma really \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tare. An individual destiny can never been reduced to simple labels.<\/p>\n Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n The situation of many Rroma in different countries around Europe is closely connected to the sociological concept of \u201cstructural violence\u201d. 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