Roma Rights and Civil Rights
A Transatlantic Comparison

This is the first book-length work to offer a sustained comparison of Roma and African Americans.

Felix B. Chang (Author), Sunnie T. Rucker-Chang (Author)

9781107158368, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 March 2020

300 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 1.5 cm, 0.46 kg

'This long-awaited book connects the perspectives on, tactics of, and struggles for Roma rights in Central and Southeast Europe and civil rights in the United States. The diachronic comparison of racialized Roma and African American experiences enters into a dialogue to understand local histories and structural discrimination and exclusion. This  book encourages us to build understanding and seek solidarities with other racialized groups to challenge violent social, political, and economic dynamics. Roma Rights and Civil Rights paves the way to create epistemic connections between Roma and African Americans.' Angéla Kóczé, Sociologist, Acting Chair of Romani Studies Program, Central European University

Roma Rights and Civil Rights tackles the movements for - and expressions of - equality for Roma in Central and Southeast Europe and African Americans from two complementary perspectives: law and cultural studies. Interdisciplinary in approach, the book engages with comparative law, European studies, cultural studies, and critical race theory. Its central contribution is to compare the experiences of Roma and African Americans regarding racialization, marginalization, and mobilization for equality. Deploying a novel approach, the book challenges conventional notions of civil rights and paradigms in Romani studies.

1. Historical comparisons: from slavery to World War II
2. Historical comparisons: from the Cold War to the European Union
3. Resistance and the nation
4. Minority protections and conditionality
5. Minority protections and internal governance
6. Filmic representations.

Subject Areas: International human rights law [LBBR], Comparative law [LAM], Human rights [JPVH], Sociology: birth [JHBF], African history [HBJH]