Applying Anthropology to the Situation of the Roma

What are the practices and discourses involved in a project that aims to develop the knowledge and skills of networks of young Roma in seven countries in Central and Eastern Europe to enable them to influence public opinion and practice? How are differences and universals between social groups and persons perceived and addressed? And what does it mean for the anthropologist to participate in an area where culture, difference and universals are already discursive currencies? This book is based on ethnographic fieldwork and writing for a M.Phil. Thesis in Social Anthropological Analysis, which has been revised and complemented with earlier and later writings in autumn 2004. After looking at how "the Roma," and "the situation of the Roma in Central and Eastern Europe," are currently generated, the book focuses on one exemplary project initiated and carried out by a minority rights NGO. The description and analysis of this project afford a perspective on the permutations of universals that contemporary Europeans grasp in two categories: (1) universal human rights and (2) bureaucratic practices such as organisational management, generating standardised data and objective procedures. The ethnography leads to reflections on cooperation, culture, networks and systems, and applied anthropology.
About the Author: SABINE A. DEIRINGER studied cultural sciences at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany (1998-2001). She was awarded her M.Phil. in Social Anthropological Analysis (2002) and in Social Anthropological Research (2003) by the University of Cambridge, England. She is currently a PhD candidate in social anthropology at the University of Cambridge and carries out fieldwork on the island of O'ahu (Hawai'i), where she teaches cultural anthropology as visiting scholar at the College of International Studies of Hawai'i Pacific University. Sabine Deiringer has carried out research in several European countries, and has area interests in Europe, North America, the Pacific and social arenas such as the United Nations. Her research interests include post-socialist and similar transformations, formal organisations (esp. the non-profit sector), law and legal anthropology, science and technology, the anthropology of politics, and social theory. Her current fieldwork furthermore sparked an interest in history and education.