MARG-IN

The research aims at analysing the social effects of anti-poverty policies on Romanian Roma migrants in around twenty cities in France, Italy and Spain. We will focus on migrants’ residential mobility, survival practices, economic integration, socialization patterns and territorialisation. Looking at modes of living, our goal is to find new methods of analysis and evaluation of policies against poverty. Indeed, today's prevalent micro-economic approach does not allow to contextualise, and to grasp the interactions between policies and recipients’ practices. However, these interactions play a major role in the inclusion and "empowerment" of people living in precarious situations. Comparison will be mobilised to identify similarities and differences in the observed phenomena with emphasis on contextual effects. For data collection, our choice is to privilege ethnographic fieldwork. In order to implement the comparative approach, we will realize 200 interviews too, on modes of living and life stories. These data will be aggregated in a database (the Marg-In Dataset). Biographical analysis will be preferred but we will also mobilize techniques of personal network analysis, and of mobility mapping. Our research faces two main challenges: access to the field, because of poor living conditions and marginality of Roma migrants, and the impossibility of a representative sampling, due to the absence of census information. This is why our research team is composed by researchers having already done fieldwork with Roma migrants for several years, with a deep understanding of people and situations. This will help having an easier access to the field, and improve the quality information. Concerning the sample, we aim representativeness less than exemplarity. The sample selection will be based on the main types of observed residential situations - ordinary housing, shanty houses and slums, accommodation in shelter and other social services, forced mobility, eviction and forced return to Romania - while taking into account other variables too: gender, the migration experience and the involvement in special local welfare housing service. Sample will be refined on the basis of information provided by respondents (Respondent Driven Sampling). Besides the specialists of Roma minorities, our team (31 researchers) includes experts of housing careers, social and economic integration, and public policy analysis. Almost all the researchers have already worked together, and are part of the URBA-ROM network. This research represents a new stage, quite innovative compared to what has been studied so far in Europe. The first two years of the research are devoted to fieldwork and data analysis, and the third one to writing, mainstreaming and presentations in scientific international conference. We expect important findings: studying the effects of policies in promoting integration or, conversely, marginalization will allow to learn how to design and implement public policies for the future. MARG-IN findings will be a major contribution to the fight against prejudice and discriminations, as in the last years, in Europe, Roma are the target of many racist and xenophobic discourses.