Across time and political regimes, European sovereigns, States, and other powerholders have habitually pushed Roma people into and as an absolute periphery, trapping our communities between the politics of ‘must die’ and ‘let die.’ Moreover, during war and peace, the bodies of Roma women and girls have become the targets of specific forms of structural, symbolic, and interpersonal violence. In EU countries with large Roma populations, Roma women live 11 years less than their non-Roma counterparts (FRA, 2021). Largely, structuralracism continues to harm Roma people’s health and well-being severely.

In this lecture, I will examine several manifestations of anti-Roma racism that seem unrelated, disparate, sporadic, isolated, or even chaotic yet form the parts of a steady structure of oppression. I will also explore the bond between structural racism and other systems of oppression and engage with the global scholarly literature on racism, racialization, and reparations through a Roma lens, suggesting possible ways towards reparations, anti-racism, and solidarity.

Dr. Margareta (Magda) Matache is a Lecturer on Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the co-founder and Director of the Roma Program at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University. She is also a member of the O’Neill-Lancet Commission on Racism, Structural Discrimination and Global Health.Dr. Matache’s research and teaching focus on the manifestations and impacts of racism and other systems of oppression in different geographical and political contexts. Her research examines discrimination, reparations, social determinants of health—including education and social and economic disparities—and their nexus with the historical past and contemporary public policies, with a particular focus on anti-Roma racism.