"Europe is inhabited by groups who are more likely than others to live in socially excluded conditions; this means that access to social, economic and political resources and rights are typically restricted to them due to socio-economic, legal and/or cultural obstacles. Three of the most socially excluded of these groups are Roma, Gypsies and Travellers (hereafter RGTs), Muslims and - increasingly - refugees and asylum seekers. For many years, Sociology and Social Anthropology have been investigating the social conditions of each of these groups, by typically approaching them either in isolation from each other, viewing them primarily as ""migrants"", and privileging a focus on the state in dynamics of social inclusion and exclusion. Going beyond a state-centred focus on migration, instead adopting a relational approach squarely focused on Civil Society Organizations (hereafter CSOs), Camp-bivalence has advanced knowledge on social inclusion and exclusion dynamics involving these three minority groups.
From a Sociological and Socio-Anthropological perspective, Camp-Bivalence aimed to analyse the dynamics of social exclusion and inclusion of RGTs in Rome and Greater Birmingham, refugees and asylum seekers in Berlin, and Muslims in Bucharest. In each city, the specific focus was the relationships between one minority group and one specific urban location: In Rome and Greater Birmingham, the focus was on one campsite for RGT in each city; in Berlin on a park where black Africans typically hang out in groups, and in Bucharest on the location where a new Mosque is going to be constructed. In particular, the role of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) was the key empirical focus within the dynamics of social in/exclusion under scrutiny.
The ways in which CSOs and EU Member States attempt to guarantee socially inclusive conditions to these three groups are particularly crucial, in view of improving the provision of social services and security for all. Cities, in this context, assume a key role as contexts in which economic activities are typically concentrated, hence where the supply and demand of labour, education, healthcare and housing are particularly significant. Moreover, cities are places of fast and dense social interactions, and, as such, catalysts and elicitors of cross-cultural acceptance and understanding but also misunderstanding and explicit rejection; in sum, cities are the key contexts in which everyday and institutional conflicts and negotiations around social inclusion and exclusion occur.
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