2021 Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP)

Happy to announce that our panel "Challenges and answers to anti-Gypsyism within the current political climate of Europe" is accepted to the 2021 ISPP Annual Scientific Meeting!

Anti-Gypsyism has been recognized as a key obstacle to Roma inclusion, equality and participation by the European Union. Although ethnic Roma communities can be found in all European countries, most Roma people live in East-Central Europe. In these countries right-wing populism has been on the rise in the past 10 years and anti-Gypsyism has been widely used for right-wing populist political mobilization. Considering the special challenges that Roma people currently face in Europe, our panel focuses on the relationship between political discourse about Roma people and the phenomenon of anti-Gypsyism in different European contexts using both quantitative and qualitative research methods. 

We will present findings based on survey data that reveal both the antecedents of anti-Gypsyism and its behavioural consequences related to different political climates, direct analysis of political discourse affecting the Roma communities in five European countries and discuss interventions to counter the discrimination of the Roma within the current political context. Based on these research findings, we call on politicians, public figures and the media to recognize the responsibility of how issues related to Roma people are discussed, used and misused for short term political gain. Reference to allyship and reference to the needs of Roma people can be equally valuable in facilitating positive engagement, however the use of hostile language can contribute to people’s intentions to join hostile groups threatening Roma people.

The panel will be chaired by Anna Kende from Eötvös Loránd University.

Partners

The projects PolRom (Grant No. 808062 — PolRom — REC-AG-2017/REC-RDIS-DISC-AG-2017) and ENGAGE (Grant no. 963122 — ENGAGE — REC-AG-2020 / REC-RDIS-DISC-AG-2020) are funded by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship (REC) Programme (2014-2020) of the European Union.

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