Are Slovaks
learning enough about national minorities in the current educational
system? To what extent can education
about Roma help to create better mutual understanding and undermine
racism? What do you think about how Ort
describes Romani studies and its theory of knowledge (arrggh, TOK...) and
research methods? Would you be attracted
to this field of study? What do you
think about Ort’s critical stance toward the concepts of “adapting” “integration”
and “harmony”?
Sunday, November 26, 2023
Tracing the Romani Studies learning curve
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I don’t think I’ve ever been taught about Roma in school, which is rather strange to me. In other countries students are taught about the history and culture of minorities, like black history month in the USA, but here in Slovakia nothing like that takes place. When I think about it, I know very little about the Romani people, just like Mr. Ort notes at the beginning of the article, and most of my knowledge comes from a few personal experiences. I think that students in Slovakia aren’t learning enough about minorities, which is a bigger problem than we realize.
ReplyDeleteThe reason is the us vs. them mentality that is so ingrained into Slovak culture. Because the majority of people know next to nothing about Roma, they consider the Romani people to be outsiders. As people prefer to employ, live next to or vote for those they view as belonging to the same community, Roma are discriminated against in all areas of life. This reason is also why I doubt that students will be learning about Roma anytime soon, as no politician would ever endorse that if they want to make it in politics in this country. I’ve actually noticed this mentality in the Romani community as well to some extent, but it seems to be a reaction to the racism that Roma have endured.
I believe that educating people about Roma will make others see them as part of our society, instead of standing outside of it, as Mr. Ort mentions. It could break down that us vs. them mentality and it would also enable the majority to understand the Romani cultural context and lead to mutual understanding between the majority and Roma. However, the prejudice against Roma is very prevalent in Slovakia, so I think a lot of people would still cling to their racism. I seems that it will take a long time before racism disappears from society, but I don’t think that we should be discouraged by this. Who knows, one day we might have a Romani history month.
- Sofia
For the most part I agree with you and especially your point about how difficult it is to change the opinion of Slovaks on Romani. I think that we can slowly but surely beat the us vs. them mentality by our individual choices. Such as not having prejudices, educating yourself about Romani and perhaps even be willing to spend some time with them. However, a more effective way would be to, as you and the article mention, provide this type of education in schools. But in order for that to happen I think the politicians need to start being more acceptive of minorities. You mentioned that such politicians are likely to be unsuccessful in Slovakia but I do not completely agree with this statement. In recent months we can see that Progresívne Slovensko is getting a large amount of supporters and is among the top 3 most voted political parties in Slovakia. They aim to make the lives of minorities in Slovakia better and advocate for them. To me this is the first sign that at least some part of our nation is starting to accept minorities and among them also the Romani.
Delete- mária