This master’s thesis describes the living environment and circumstances of dwelling in the Roma settlements in the municipality of Metlika. The historical situation of the Roma people in Europe and in Slovenia is marked by stigmatisation, marginalisation, stereotyping and social exclusion. This results in a low socioeconomic status, low level of education, unemployment, dependence on social transfers, and especially in the lack of an efficient dialogue between the Roma communities and the majority population as the result of the ethnic boundary. The Roma people are often ethnicised, pathologised and considered different and inferior and exclusively responsible for their situation.
In the theoretical part, a description of the legal status and the life of the Roma people in Slovenia and in the Bela Krajina region are laid out. Next, the structure of prejudices and stereotypes about the Roma people that are creating and fortifying the ethnic boundary is explained, as is the aversive attitude of the majority society towards the Roma people. The chapter concludes with a more detailed overview of the areas of social exclusion of the Roma people.
Based on the field diaries kept during ethnographic fieldwork, the empirical part of the thesis outlines everyday lives of the people living in the Roma settlements in the area of Metlika. Through a selection of key topics, the ways in which the collocutors perceive their own situation and social status, especially in relation to the institutions of the majority society, is outlined.
The results of the research determinedly show that the Roma people continue to live stranded in the vicious circle of poverty: they are born and are socialised into poverty, and most of them will be unable to break out from it. Poor understanding of their life, the lack of expertise on the part of various »experts« that deal with the »Roma problem«, and the persistence of racist ideologies, attitudes and practices aggravate their situation. In order to achieve significant progress, particularly the young Roma people need be given more means, time and attention so they can acquire skills, knowledge and abilities to cope with the larger society, build up resources to break free from the vicious circle, the possibility of leaving the »community« as the inescapable living environment included, and achieve the position by climbing the social ladder within the majority society. It is imperative that such a transition between generations is facilitated, the intergenerational poverty and trauma thereof interrupted.
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