Guidelines on the Promotion of Roma Identity, History, and Culture
For centuries, Roma communities have been foundational to the economic, political, and artistic fabric of Europe, yet they remain systematically sidelined in national narratives. Effective communication is not about speaking for Roma communities, but about ensuring Roma are the primary authors of their own stories. Beyond aesthetics, Roma cultural production serves as a powerful tool for resistance, documenting survival and challenging the structural “invisibility” of antigypsyism.
The Guidelines on the Promotion of Roma Identity, History, and Culture, created by the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC) within the JEKHIPE project, represent an extensive evidence-gathering on how narratives are currently perceived in the JEKHIPE project countries: Romania, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Spain, the Czech Republic, and Sweden. They are designed to help practitioners move from “symbolic gestures” toward “structural participation,” where Roma artists and scholars hold shared authority in museums, media, and policy frameworks.
The guidelines provide a strategic framework for creating compelling messages that avoid the “victimhood” trap. Instead, they center on:
- Agency and Contribution: Highlighting Roma as active historical actors and democratic contributors.
- Intersectionality: Acknowledging the diversity within the community, including gender, age, and sexual orientation, to break down monolithic stereotypes.
- Public Memory: Using public spaces and commemorative practices to negotiate a shared history that includes Roma testimonies alongside official documents.
Guidelines on the Promotion of Roma Identity, History, and Culture
About JEKHIPE
JEKHIPE is a European Commission-funded initiative (CERV) led by ERGO Network, ERIAC, and CEPS, in collaboration with national partners: Slovo 21 (Czechia), Central Council for German Sinti and Roma (Germany), UCRI and Romni (Italy), Amare Romentza (Romania), FAGiC and Romane Siklovne (Spain), and Trajosko Drom (Sweden).
Together, these organizations address historical injustices, such as the lack of recognition for the Roma Holocaust and slavery, while promoting institutional representation in arts and education. By engaging policy-makers and grassroots communities, JEKHIPE seeks to contribute to the establishing of clear mechanisms for governmental accountability across Europe.
The project aims to achieve the following objectives:
- Establish expert and/or truth commissions on antigypsyism.
- Develop policy recommendations for EU and national policymakers on transitional justice approaches to address antigypsyism.
- Raise awareness of institutional antigypsyism and policy and legislative developments in the fight against antigypsyism.
- Promote Roma identity, history, and culture to prevent and fight antigypsyism, including incorporating Roma history and culture into school curricula.
- Empower Roma communities and NGOs to recognize and fight antigypsyism.
- Capacitate local Roma civil society and key stakeholders in countering antigypsyism.
Detailed records of project outputs, including research data and scholarly publications, are publicly accessible via the project’s dedicated website: antigypsyism.eu
