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• Be familiar with the history of Roma migration from Asia, across Africa and the Balkans into Europe.

• Develop a good sense of Roma history in the European context and their migration to the Americas.

• Understand the discrimination they have faced in Europe over the past thousand year as well as in current times.

• Experience firsthand the life of the Roma in Innsbruck through their field trip to Waldhüttl.

• Be aware of the ways in which Roma civil society is empowering itself in recent times.

• Gain an insight into Roma culture and language and learn to differentiate different Roma groups.

• Be able to critically evaluate ethnocentric biases that lead to stereotyping marginalized populations.

This course critically examines and deconstructs the negative and damaging cultural stereotype of “Gypsy.” It reconceptualizes the Roma peoples as the largest ethnic minority of Europe that is quintessentially European but has its own language, social mores, and cultural norms. The course materials move students through and beyond the socio-economic marginalization of Roma in Europe to a “thick” ethnographic understanding of their history (their migration from India, subsequent enslavement in the Balkans and the Roma Holocaust) and culture (purity beliefs, music), without romanticizing or essentializing them. The course also allows students to learn about the systemic discrimination faced by the Roma and the work of Roma activists. 

The University of New Orleans International Summer School program has a mandatory class attendance policy. All students are required to attend class for all morning classes and any required afternoon and/or weekend fields trips and lectures. No unexcused absences are allowed. However, LFU students who have to miss a UNO class due to LFU examinations in the first two weeks of our program, can receive one excused absence for this. Any further unexcused absences will result in an academic penalty. Each faculty member determines the penalty for missed classes. Most professors deduct a letter grade for each additional missed class day. For details, please refer to your course syllabi, which will be distributed on the first day of class. The listed ECTS credits are a recommendation by the University of New Orleans Innsbruck Summer School, based on contact hours, anticipated out-of-classroom requirements such as field trips, and projected workload for readings, assignments, and exam preparation. Mail: Center-New-Orleans@uibk.ac.at