Innocence, privilege and responsibility : Power relations in policies and practices on Roma, Travellers and basic education in three Nordic countries

Field: Social Sciences (Social Sciences)

This dissertation focuses on policies and practices promoting the basic education of Roma and Traveller national minorities in Finland, Sweden and Norway. The study analyses the power relations inherent in the current policies and practices. The interest lies especially in the subjectivities enabled and constrained by the relations of power in the promotion of basic education of Roma and Traveller national minorities. The study stems from the notion that the power relations and subjectivities are produced by travelling discourses which result from the interplay between national and international policy processes. The study consists of three publications and a summary. Each publication perceives the questions of power relations and subjectivities from their unique perspective. \n \nThe study is positioned in the intersections between several disciplines, such as education, sociology, feminist studies, studies on ethnic relations and minority research. Theoretically, the study draws from feminist theories, poststructuralism and critical theories on race and whiteness. The transnational and translocal data of the study includes a) policy documents about Roma, Travellers and basic education (N=8) from Finland, Sweden and Norway, and b) interviews with 24 research participants who are implementing the policy measures. The interviews with five of the research participants from the Finnish data are ethnographic, including participant observations for one to four days. \n \nThe study identifies three problem representations from the policy documents: 1. “Special needs of Roma pupils”; 2. “Roma families” and 3. “National minority cultures at school” making the Roma and Travellers the focus of attention rather than the school institutions, structural discrimination or racism. One of the practices the policy documents promote is “Roma mediators”, whose work is validated by these problem representations. The analysis shows that the work of the Roma mediators is constrained by the current power relations since, in order to do their work, Roma mediators need to negotiate with the discourse of tolerance which submits individuals to relations of power where some are the potential tolerating actors and others may become tolerated. Roma mediators are perceived as representatives of all the Roma, assumed to work against biases with their own presence. The responsibility for change is placed on the shoulders of the Roma mediators. Another policy measure that is closely scrutinised in this research is the measure of providing knowledge about Roma and Travellers in schools. This research shows that the actors who identify as Roma or Travellers use knowledge about the groups to react to racialization of Roma and Travellers in schools and to challenge the silence about the Roma and Travellers in the nation states. The analysis highlights that the notion of providing knowledge involves the premise that the responsibility for change and transformation is on the Roma. \n \nIt is argued that the current policies and practices focus on Roma and Travellers and their actions in manifold and persistent ways, enabling the subjectivity of innocence for other than Roma and Travellers. The analysis suggests that the subjectivities enabled for Roma and Travellers include being those responsible for change, for the current situation, and for being inadequate, whereas the subjectivities of innocence, not being responsible, being a helper, and a tolerating actor are enabled for others. Making the Roma and Travellers the focus of attention and enabling innocence and helper subjectivities for others reflects the asymmetrical power relations the current discourses subject individuals into. The study argues that Roma policies would benefit from a further analysis of the current power relations produced by the discourses in order to promote the equality of the Roma and Travellers in these societies.