The Lessons of Romani National Claims for Conceptions of European Citizenship: From an Imaginary Community to an Imagined One?

Abstract

This paper aims to contribute to the conceptualisation of a post-national European citizenship by drawing out lessons from Romani conceptions of political space to build upon two recent contributions to the European citizenship debate. European Romani political leaders have, in recent years, consciously chosen to articulate their demands for representation and inclusion in the form of a non-territorial nation. The focus of earlier research, I have previously attempted to interrogate the conception of space and belonging that underpin such a claim, in particular the means by which such a diverse and heterogeneous group as ‘the Roma’ is nonetheless able to maintain a sufficiently strong sense of belonging to put forward a claim for nationhood, albeit in non-territorial form. It is both the non-territoriality of the claim itself – a precursor to ideas of post-national citizenship – as well as the diasporic nature of the group making it (or, at least, on whose behalf it is being made) that makes the Romani claim so interesting in the context of European citizenship.

Keywords: European Citizenship, Roma, Non-Territoriality