Facebook Instagram Twitter RSS Feed PodBean Back to top on side

How Roma Mayors Penetrate the Municipal Power Structures: Resisting the Non-Roma Dominance in Slovak Local Governments

In: Slovenský národopis / Slovak Ethnology, vol. 68, no. 4
Tomáš Hrustič

Details:

Year, pages: 2020, 397 - 411
Language: eng
Keywords:
Roma, local elections, political and symbolic power, asymmetries, social mobility, ethnic boundaries
Article type: 2. articles
Document type: PDF
About article:
This paper discusses the outcomes of power asymmetries in Slovak municipalities with Roma population and presents examples how local Roma leaders resist the non-Roma dominance by active participation in local elections. Presenting data from field research and long-term repeated observations, the paper shows successful strategies of elected Roma mayors who disrupt the usual perception of the Roma as objects of decision-making process and passive recipients of various policies. In these paternalistic beliefs Roma have never been seen as actors who can control resources, who could hold the political power and who could decide how to use the resources. Although the Roma have penetrated the power structures of many municipalities, they are not able to wipe out invisible ethnic boundaries, or, at least, to soften and disrupt them. However, as the text illustrates, it seems that the political power asymmetries in a significant number of municipalities are being balanced, nevertheless, the symbolic dominance and symbolic power of non-Roma still persists.
How to cite:
ISO 690:
Hrustič, T. 2020. How Roma Mayors Penetrate the Municipal Power Structures: Resisting the Non-Roma Dominance in Slovak Local Governments. In Slovenský národopis / Slovak Ethnology, vol. 68, no.4, pp. 397-411. 1339-9357. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/se-2020-0023

APA:
Hrustič, T. (2020). How Roma Mayors Penetrate the Municipal Power Structures: Resisting the Non-Roma Dominance in Slovak Local Governments. Slovenský národopis / Slovak Ethnology, 68(4), 397-411. 1339-9357. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/se-2020-0023
About edition:
Published: 20. 12. 2020
Rights:
CC-BY