Roma in Ukraine between Past and a Future

Project description:

On February 24, 2022, the world was shocked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which triggered unprecedented acts of support for Ukraine itself and its refugees. A part of the Roma living in Ukraine remained in their native places, while other parts joined the mass refugee flows. Both parts constantly demonstrate in public their Ukrainian patriotism. Roma share the fate of other Ukrainians, but there are alarming reports of the segregation and discrimination of Roma refugees.

Recent scholarly work on Ukraine has pointed to a shift towards a more civic form of national identity in the country. The project’s main hypothesis is that this shift also applies to Roma. The lack of comprehensive studies that could help to understand the past and present of the Roma of Ukraine in terms of developing their identity prompted the preparation of the present project.

The main method to apply in the proposed study of Ukrainian Roma is based on the theoretical concept of the multidimensional simultaneous existence of different types of Roma identities, mainly their ethnic and civic national identity. The aim is to explore, document, analyse and explain the processes of transformations of Roma civil national identity in Ukraine, embracing the complexity of their internal diversity against the background of the current societal upheaval and specific to Roma difficulties, including answering the research question of how war and emigration affect the development of different kinds of identities.

The project will be the first study of the Ukrainian Roma through the prism of the processes of development of their identities in the context of war and emigration, placed in a more general historical context, bearing in mind the complex historical fate of Ukraine itself, as well as of the Roma, living on Ukrainian lands for centuries. The project will add to a better understanding of the civic-nation identity developments of Roma and contribute to theories of citizenship and civic identity.

Project aims:

The main aim of the project is to analyse the historical formation and contemporary transformation of Roma civic national identity in Ukraine under successive political regimes and in the context of war and emigration. Specifically, the project will:

1. Reconstruct historical trajectories of Roma–state relations in Ukrainian territories under diverse imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet governance;
2. Analyse how Roma actors articulated civic belonging alongside internal ethnic identification;
3. Examine how war, displacement, and transnational mobility reshape these identity configurations;
4. Test and refine a multidimensional theoretical model of Roma identity across historical and social contexts.

The project will produce the first comprehensive account of the formation of Roma civic identity in Ukraine, drawing on integrated historical, ethnographic, and linguistic evidence. It contributes to Romani studies and nationalism research by moving beyond paradigms focused solely on marginality and exclusion, and by demonstrating mechanisms of civic identity formation under structural disadvantage.