Project description DEENESFRITPL Revealing anti-Roma sentiment in media and politics Roma in Europe suffer from widespread and persisting anti-Gypsyism – recognised as a specific form of racism fuelled by prejudice and stereotypes. They are the victims of various forms of discrimination – from school segregation to mandatory sedentarisation. In the context of growing populism in Europe, the EU-funded ROMAPHOBIA project will focus on the racism and xenophobia toward the Roma in the news media and political discourse in the UK and Sweden in 2016. Specifically, it will investigate how and why Romaphobia becomes particularly widespread in times of socio-political crisis and how it is communicated across media platforms. The findings will support the implementation of policies and interventions tackling inequalities faced by Roma. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective This project will investigate contemporary expressions of racism and xenophobia toward the Roma in the context of the growing populism in Europe. It focuses on two specific contexts, the UK and Sweden, examining how and why Romaphobia becomes particularly widespread in times of socio-political crisis and how it is communicated across media platforms. The project will make a valuable contribution to understanding how Romaphobia in media and political discourse is discursively constructed—often in ways which are easily manageable and deniable by those who disseminate racist discourses. This project combines content analysis and multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) in two empirical studies (1) an examination of UK news media, YouTube, and political discourse on Roma migrants during 2016 when the UK voted to exit the European Union and (2) an examination of the most influential Swedish editorials and political opinions on Twitter on the controversial ban on begging in Sweden, following 2016, prior and after the Swedish electoral elections. The project is extremely timely and relevant, if one looks at the current treatment of the Roma in Europe. Despite the significant efforts from European Commission and human rights groups to combat racism and discrimination, most European Roma live on the edge of poverty and are regularly subjected to violence and social exclusion—actions which became more routinised and are little or infrequently articulated in media and political discourse. In addition to contributing to the academic knowledge on discourse and racism, the proposed project will be instrumental for independent media bodies in raising awareness for the kind of concealed forms of racism that have dominated the public discourse. Such critically oriented research is vital for policy makers in designing and implementing more effective legislation to eradicate, even if partially, the discrimination and inequalities experienced by Roma in Europe. Fields of science social sciencespolitical sciencespolitical communicationsocial sciencespolitical sciencespolitical transitionselectionssocial sciencessociologysocial issuessocial inequalitiesracial inequalitysocial sciencessociologydemographyhuman migrationssocial scienceslawhuman rights Keywords racism populism media and political discourse multimodal critical discourse analysis Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Main Programme H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility Topic(s) MSCA-IF-2020 - Individual Fellowships Call for proposal H2020-MSCA-IF-2020 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF) Coordinator LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY Net EU contribution € 212 933,76 Address ASHBY ROAD LE11 3TU Loughborough United Kingdom See on map Region East Midlands (England) Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire Leicestershire CC and Rutland Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 212 933,76
