Dr. Uştuk will present his ethnographic research of the Roma community in Urla, a town near Izmir. The talk will begin with a brief overview of the evolution of Romani Studies in Türkiye, situating the emergence of the field within the broader political transformations prompted by EU accession processes and the Roma civil society movement. Against this contextual background, an ethnographic case study from Urla, İzmir region, demonstrates how gentrification policies led to an “exile strategy” against the Roma community, framing them as the “unwanted others.” The research indicates that structural exclusion operates simultaneously through policy frameworks and everyday narratives of blame, sustaining a long-lasting politics of exclusion.

One can register for this conference.

• https://romanistudies.ch/seminar-series/2025-2026/29-october-2025/