Centre of Social and Psychological Sciences released a new monograph “Luník IX: Genesis of the Roma Ghetto”
Author Ondrej Ficeri interprets the genesis of Luník IX as materialisation of racial space, resulting from intersection of three factors: 1) limited capabilities of socialist urban planning, 2) technocratism of the Roma policies of the era of state socialism and 3) prevailing antigypsyism in mentalities of the majority society.
Author argues the housing estate Luník IX was not built as a socialist experiment for the sake of idealistic intergroup coexistence of the Roma and non-Roma. Neither was it built for altruistic provision of standard housing for deprived families of the local Roma community. These urban myths, broadly spread in the historical memory of inhabitants of Košice and Slovakia, are in the book refuted by analysis of the archival materials. In fact, In the case of Luník IX we are concerned with a deliberate displacement of as many Roma families as possible from the city proper on the actualised periphery of the growing socialist city. Housing estate Luník IX was designed as a Roma neighbourhood and from the very beginning it featured attributes of a racial ghetto.
Text: Ondrej Ficeri, CSPV SAV, v. v. i.