Roma and humanitarianism in the Eternal City

Abstract

This article examines the recent evolution of Rome's city administration's policies for Roma after the Italian government's declaration of a ‘nomad emergency’. We analyze the policies as they are formulated by the city government and examine ambiguities in their application and their effects in various Roma communities. We focus on two elements, which, we argue, introduce a new political paradigm not only for the capital but for the management of Roma issues in the country generally. By using a human rights discourse and involving new social actors such as the Italian Red Cross, Rome's mayor, Gianni Alemanno, is redefining the Roma issue as a humanitarian problem. This process supports a new form of political representation from within Roma communities. But in contrast to the discourses of both Alemanno and the Roma leadership, we argue that these new developments in practice result in the erosion of Roma citizenship, legitimizing instead experimental forms of segregation within Italian society.