Recent reports of tension between Roma migrants and other residents in UK cities, alarming as they were, did not surprise anyone who has studied the Romani people's experience of life in Britain.
At the Romani Project at the University of Manchester we have done exactly that, documenting the language and culture of the largest European minority over the past 15 years.
The various reports appearing in the media highlighted two issues. First, how age-old stereotypes about "the gypsies" being work-shy and supporting themselves through crime still permeate the public opinion; and second, how local authorities regularly struggle when faced with the task of integrating Roma communities.
The two issues are related, as Manchester City Council pointed out in their recent . Faced with allegations of child trafficking in the Roma community, the council and local police investigated the issue and found no evidence of any such activities. However, in the words of MCC investigating these allegations "delayed some of the other work on integration".
MCC first asked us for assistance in engaging with the local Roma community in 2009, when they noticed issues similar to the ones reported in Sheffield a month ago. Our strategy, which was adopted in full, included involving private sector organisations who could offer training to young Roma, which helped them to find work as interpreters and classroom assistants.
This lifted many of the linguistic barriers present between the Roma, their neighbours and local services. It also gave the younger generation of the community positive role models, and many are now pursuing their education at secondary and college level.
As part of our MigRom research project, two Roma interpreters have joined the Romani Project as outreach workers. Through regular drop-in sessions held at a community centre, they assist Roma families in finding school places, obtaining licences and permissions for self-employment and responding appropriately to communications from public bodies.
They also help us gather information for our research mapping needs, desires and aspirations within the Roma community, which is then fed back to the council to better tailor their interventions.
This two-track approach gives the Roma community a much needed boost to their understanding of the mechanics of British society, as well as allowing their voice to reach key local policy makers.
By combining rigorous academic research with the involvement of the Roma community, Manchester City Council have implemented measures that have completely avoided the escalation of concerns voiced by local residents when the Roma first settled in Manchester.
In addition to that, the Roma are reacting positively to our efforts to reach them in their own neighbourhoods. According to the Roma Strategy, the school attendance rates of Roma children are now outstripping the attendance rates of non-Roma children and Roma families are able to "observe neighbourhood standards".
Our Manchester model provides a clear example of how university researchers and local authorities can fruitfully collaborate. If, like us, researchers spend years engaging with a particular culture to acquire an in-depth knowledge of them, it can prevent stereotypical views from being unconsciously held by policy makers and civil servants and encourage them to work with target communities in an appropriate way.
However, the direct involvement of the migrant communities themselves is crucial. If the Roma – or any other migrant group – receive demands to change their culture from an institution which seeks to impose its view on them and are given no say in the process at all, then success will be elusive.
And, if migrant communities must change, it is the responsibility of the host communities to think again about the newcomers.
Daniele Viktor Leggio is a PhD student working on the Romani Project at the University of Manchester
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