To improve the chances of Roma students succeeding in higher education, several initiatives have been established in recent decades, such as the Roma szakkollégium network (Roma Special Colleges), ...which joins various institutions around Hungary with the goal of helping Roma youth in higher education. This study inquiries into Roma university students and their support network during the pandemic through the work of Roma Special Colleges, considering that during the pandemic, it was the marginalized and vulnerable groups, such as the Roma, who disproportionally experienced challenges that affected their education. The aim of this study is to examine how Roma Special Colleges through their mentoring programs (1) were able to identify the specific needs of Roma university students during the pandemic; and (2) adapted their work to better assist Roma students during remote education. These findings, generated during a series of interviews with directors and program organizers of Roma Special Colleges, point out the importance of the personalized assistance that mentors in Roma colleges were able to provide, not only supplying needed IT tools and promoting academic success, but also fostering wellbeing, a sense of belonging and positive self-esteem among Roma students.
Scholars have long been interested in researching Roma; a form of “top-down research,” where the researcher analyzes, gathers data, and interviews the “objects” of the research, is still dominant in ...the field, although an increasing number of critics have been proposing ways of including Roma in knowledge production to shape the discourse about themselves. Exclusion of Roma in the process of research silences their voices and contributes to incomplete, flawed findings that often reinforce stereotypes. This paper takes a critical look at interactions and the power dynamics between the researcher and the informant(s) during research based on one in-depth case study: fieldwork conducted in a small town in Hungary in 2012–13. The presented research is one small step towards deconstructing knowledge production with a focus on research ethics and practice, rather than a large-scale paradigm change. This paper strives to transcend the scholarly field of Romani Studies specifically, and contribute to the broader literature on Social Science methodology, especially scholarship about interpretive methods and fieldwork.
Jekatyerina Dunajeva explores how two dominant stereotypes—“bad Gypsies” and “good Roma”—took hold in formal and informal educational institutions in Russia and Hungary. She shows that over centuries ...“Gypsies” came to be associated with criminality, lack of education, and backwardness. The second notion, of proud, empowered, and educated “Roma,” is a more recent development. By identifying five historical phases—pre-modern, early-modern, early and “ripe” communism, and neomodern nation-building—the book captures crucial legacies that deepen social divisions and normalize the constructed group images. The analysis of the state-managed Roma identity project in the brief korenizatsija program for the integration of non-Russian nationalities into the Soviet civil service in the 1920s is particularly revealing, while the critique of contemporary endeavors is a valuable resource for policy makers and civic activists alike. The top-down view is complemented with the bottom-up attention to everyday Roma voices. Personal stories reveal how identities operate in daily life, as Dunajeva brings out hidden narratives and subaltern discourse. Her handling of fieldwork and self-reflexivity is a model of sensitive research with vulnerable groups.
Jekatyerina Dunajeva explores how two dominant stereotypes—“bad Gypsies” and “good Roma”—took hold in formal and informal educational institutions in Russia and Hungary. She shows that over centuries ...“Gypsies” came to be associated with criminality, lack of education, and backwardness. The second notion, of proud, empowered, and educated “Roma,” is a more recent development. By identifying five historical phases—pre-modern, early-modern, early and “ripe” communism, and neomodern nation-building—the book captures crucial legacies that deepen social divisions and normalize the constructed group images. The analysis of the state-managed Roma identity project in the brief korenizatsija program for the integration of non-Russian nationalities into the Soviet civil service in the 1920s is particularly revealing, while the critique of contemporary endeavors is a valuable resource for policy makers and civic activists alike. The top-down view is complemented with the bottom-up attention to everyday Roma voices. Personal stories reveal how identities operate in daily life, as Dunajeva brings out hidden narratives and subaltern discourse. Her handling of fieldwork and self-reflexivity is a model of sensitive research with vulnerable groups.
Disproportionate exposure to adverse environmental conditions is part of the complex cycle of dispossession and racial discrimination faced by marginalized minorities in Europe-primarily the Roma. ...The concept of environmental justice or the analysis of environmental risk along racial dimensions are largely absent from policy debates. This is a critical omission considering that the consolidation of neoliberal governance powerfully recomposes access to public services and individualizes collective responsibilities for a safe environment. Driven by competitive logic, neoliberalism champions the zero-sum game where losers are either abandoned or punished by the governing apparatus. This article argues that neoliberal governance, underpinned by moral appeals and racist imaginaries, legitimizes repression of marginalized groups such as the Roma. The primary purpose of this paper is to fill a theoretical and conceptual gap in the literature linking environmental issues to racism.
The coronavirus pandemic has profoundly affected Hungarian higher education (HEI). As campuses around the globe were forced to shut down, online distance learning became an everyday reality for all ...students. At the same time, faculty were rushed to adjust their teaching content and methods, as well as forms of assessment, to online teaching. As a result, this transition exposed flaws in technological abilities, digital preparedness and flexibilities within universities. In this work, my goal is to analyze how the Hungarian HEIs adopted online educational practices during the pandemic and how they were able to address some of the difficulties while adjusting their teaching and creating new forms of support for both students and faculty. To that end, the article first discusses the prevalence of distance and digital learning before the pandemic, then evaluates the steps and challenges of transition to remote online education during the pandemic, and finally highlights some lessons learnt and best practices of some Hungarian universities.
Is there a need for more research on the effects of COVID-19 on education? While there is research suggesting that the impacts and “the troubling effects of the pandemic on research and higher ...education… might be felt for years to come” (The Lancet Editorial, 2020), there is also discernible pandemic fatigue, not only among the population, but researchers and subjects of research as well (Patel, Webster, Greenberg, Weston, & Brooks, 2020). Indeed, there has been an overabundance of published research articles in nearly all disciplines about the pandemic. The purpose of the current special issue is not to repetitively take stock of what happened during the pandemic but rather explore how the pandemic transformed the education system while rethinking certain practices and strategies engrained in the education system. To some extent, then, taking stock of what we know about the pandemic should help us prepare for the era some call the “new normal post-COVID-19 era” (Cahapay, 2020).
Народы и культуры Dunajeva, Jekatyerina
Romani studies,
06/2020, Letnik:
30, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
What this essentialized representation is missing is the rich culture, diverse languages and traditions, as well as the acknowledgment of the integral part Roma played in shaping Russian history and ...culture. ...in the Russian context few would understand who "Roma" denotes. ...as the "Council of Europe Descriptive Glossary of terms relating to Roma issues" rightly notes, "in some countries, the term 'Gypsies' or its national equivalent has no negative connotations, is accepted by the people concerned and may occasionally be more appropriate. What makes this section particularly expressive is the illustration of proverbs (in original language and translation to Russian) reflecting on women's role, hygiene, as well as various words and expressions that help explain lifestyle patterns and unwritten rules.
The study demonstrates that the definition and meaning of education, and by extension of educational inequality, are embedded in countries’ historical, political and social environments, while also ...responding to exogenous changes and international trends. We comparatively discuss the experience of 4 countries (Norway, Finland, Lithuania and Hungary) in order to unpack the historical underpinnings of the way education is framed in policy documents. Building on that, we review the effects of neoliberal ideas with their universalist dogma that have affected policy making in all cases, and assess to what extent the meaning of education was decoupled from its historical framework. Our findings are relevant for understanding not only the process of policy change, but in particular how the meaning of concepts within educational policy change over time. We suggest that embedded concepts carry meaning that has evolved over time and became strongly entangled with the country’s history and culture, while prevailing ideologies (neoliberalism and in the case of Hungary that of neoconservatism) also generate considerable effects on education policies.
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