Paper Titles & Abstracts

Many discrimination surveys reveal that both Roma adults as well as children encounter racism in the Finnish society on an everyday basis. The racism takes place as verbal or physical abuse in the public domains: on the streets, public transport, schools and work. Roma also encounter racism from the authorities. The living standards of Roma people are estimated to be much lower than other Finnish groups and they live more often than other autochtonous groups from public transfers and other subsidies. A recent study on the participation in cultural life among Roma shows that Roma consume much less cultural services than other Finnish national minorities, if anything they visit religious events. The reason for this is not only the religiosity of Finnish Roma of whom many belong to the Pentecostal movement. It is rather the aspect of "fitting in" that counts: Roma know that in these events they are welcome. This study indicates that racism in Finland also predetermines the cultural consumption of Roma. The respondents of this study but also other studies stressed that racism, being blamed all the time begins as a small child when one has to witness how own parents and grandparents are treated disrespectfully by majority population, also by authorities. When the majority population target on destroying one's self-esteem, the in-group become even more important for safeguarding one's ego and leads to further closure of Finnish Roma community. The shift arouses fears of what will happen with Roma culture in Finland when the language is lost and traditional professions gone and the question is "Are we still going to be Roma when we have an equal education as other people in Finland? And can we be Roma, our own group but without discrimination?"