True Grassroots Cosmopolitanism : The Case of the Roma and Sinti people within the European Union : A report on the cosmopolitan lifestyle of the Roma and Sinti people versus the cosmopolitan ambitions of the European Union
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2010-09-06
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en
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Let us start with two statements, the first being that Roma and Sinti people live scattered all over
the world. The second is that cosmopolitan theory has been around and debated for over
hundreds of years. Trying to relate the Roma and Sinti people to cosmopolitan theory demands
in-depth study of both the existing ideas on cosmopolitanism and the cultural characteristics of
the Roma and Sinti people. This is exactly what the core of my research project has been. Also, I
wanted to bring the European Union to the discussion, since the EU is often seen as the most
cosmopolitan political structure in the political world of today, and also, it inhabits the greater
part of all Roma and Sinti people (from now on the European Union will be referred to as the
EU). During my master studies in Nijmegen; the ‘Europe: Governance, Borders and Identities’
programme, a lot of time has been spend on thinking and talking about the EU. In the lectures
and debates we had, most of the questions or problems that were posed, concerned as one might
rightfully expect the fields of governance, borders and identities. Much is written about the
nature and characteristics of the EU. One thing is for sure: the EU evokes strong critical debates
amongst many social scientists. Most often, these debates are about the changing meaning and
functions of the EUs’ internal and external borders, new and still emerging forms of cross-border
governance and the need for a national identity, that many inhabitants of the EU member-states
share, despite their supposable blurring nation-state borders.
In case of this research project, the EU has been evaluated for its degree of cosmopolitan ideals
and characteristics. In line with this, the main question was to what extent you could say that we
live in a cosmopolitan EU. There are several scientists who have written about this question. As
one might argue, fading borders will evidently mean a growth of the cosmopolitan world. That
being a world where everybody inhabits the same planet, living within a local community on a
daily basis, but even more within a borderless, global community of human ideals. Sadly perhaps,
this assumption appears to be too easy. Common xenophobia, and the rise of neo-nationalism
that occurs in many EU member-states at this time, are two examples of social phenomena that
fire back against the growth of a cosmopolitan world. After reading this report, it will become
clear to what extent you could relate cosmopolitan ideas to both the Roma and Sinti people and
the EU. Needless to say, the research project that preceded this report started off with an
extensive literature study.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen