Sovereign Power and Purification Narratives: Forced Displacement in the Decade of Roma Inclusion

In 2005, twelve European governments signed the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015 Declaration, which is described as an “unprecedented political commitment… to eliminate discrimination against Roma” (Decade of Roma Inclusion webpage). However, following the onset of the economic crisis of 2007, the forced displacement of Roma across Europe has increased dramatically. In order to analyze these contradictory developments, I draw on the work of Romani Studies scholar Ethel Brooks, who argues that the Roma camp is a space in the state of exception, a space where the law is suspended. In this work, I suggest that both inclusion and forced displacement are forms of the sovereign reclaiming of Roma spaces.

My work asks how affect and judgments of taste shape sovereign spaces. I propose an analysis of inclusion and forced displacement as contradictory movements of sovereign power that are framed by the same purification narrative: Roma spaces are “unsanitary” and have to be “cleaned up”. As a result, relocated Roma are greeted with racism and violence in places that are supposed to be their new homes. In this way, purification narratives shape the affective and ethical dispositions of the white majority.

In this project, I use textual and media analysis to examine inclusion and forced displacement in contemporary Belgrade. My main sources are governmental and NGO documents and two major Serbian daily newspapers – Politika and Vecernje Novosti. This work brings together affect theory and philosophical theories of sovereignty while contributing to the emerging field of Romani Studies.