The Politics of Unbelonging

The Politics of Unbelonging draws on the notions of racialisation and marginalisation to critically examine the continued political, social and economic exclusion of Roma in Europe and beyond. It combines sharp theoretical insights with a forensic investigation into the ways in which Roma - the largest and the most socio-economically deprived minority group in Europe - are forced into a special category - unbelonging. Unbelonging explains continued marginalisation and exclusion in regional, national and international contexts.

Zevnik and Russell provide an insight into how Roma are made to unbelong in the institutions, civil society and media representations across the EU institutions and its Member States. They also show how the community self-perpetuates majoritarian policies and internal racialisation, preventing parts of the community access to political rights. The case study of Slovenia demonstrates such visceral visibility of Romani unbelonging in political and social contexts.

The book draws out how Roma agency becomes visible in campaigns for recognition of a Roma nation at the international level. Similarly, it acknowledges the significance of building coalitions with other marginalised groups and political projects to achieve political recognition and strengthen Roma's political purchase.

Major contributions of The Politics of Unbelonging include its theoretical and empirical underpinning and the location of Roma in a wider set of literatures on race and racialisation. Moreover, the book's call to recognise the agency of Roma communities and identification of the potential for allyship in a global - and non-state reliant - context can help frame future studies of marginalisation and racialisation.