| Description |
One of the current challenges faced by European societies is understanding and managing increased cultural diversity and complex intercultural dynamics. Within this context, mixedness (i.e., mixed couples and individuals across ethnocultural boundaries) constitutes one of the most important tests for revealing the societal structure and intergroup relations. A significant amount of information is now available on immigrant / native mixing. However, we know very little about processes of mixedness involving national ethnic minorities, particularly in the case of the Roma, (Rrom or Romani) population, the most numerous ethnic minority in Spain and Europe. The Roma population has been completely overlooked in all the studies on interculturalism, which contributes to this group’s invisibility within discussions on diversity. This four-year multi-method and participatory project aims to contribute to fill this gap, by studying dynamics of mixedness among the Roma population of Spain. Specifically, we explore attitudes towards inter-ethnic mixing; individual and family negotiations; acculturation processes; multiethnic identity processes; multicultural capital; experiences of discrimination and also strategies of resistance and reappropriation. Particular attention is given to gender, employing an intersectional and dialogical feminism perspective that is also informed by Romani feminism. The project includes a plan of knowledge transfer activities done in collaboration with policy-makers, frontline community workers and civic associations, to increase its social impact and transformative potential. The ultimate goal of the project is to encourage values of interculturalism and to promote diverse and inclusive societies.
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