The Violence of Knowledge in Practices Toward Roma in the Czech Republic The Historical Echo of Surveillance During Socialism
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2016 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Global Humanities |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Pedagogy and education |
| Keywords | Violence of knowledge; Roma; socialist policies |
| Description | There are few explanations of why the Roma were segregated in socialist Czechoslovakia, and this lack of understanding is a considerable obstacle when attempting to prevent such discrimination and aggression; placement into residential care, eviction, sterilization, and the forced removal of children from their families are but some examples of violence that once plagued the Roma in Czechoslovakia. This text discusses the connection between the procedures that limit the Roma people’s rights and the arguments in favor of such limitations, which are formulated within the matrix of institutionalized violence. Today, human rights activists focus on changing procedures that regulate access to welfare and struggle to remedy organizational flaws that foster institutional violence, but developing alternatives to these procedures also challenges the ways Roma are perceived and the social practices directed at them. The pro et contra arguments matter – especially in the case of a long history of disempowerment as experienced by the Roma in the Czech lands. |
| Related projects: |