Making a difference without creating a difference: Super-diversity as a new direction for research on Roma minorities

Abstract

Academic and policy discourses recognise the diversity of Roma minorities, frequently using the word ‘Roma’ as an umbrella term that is meant to capture the inherent plurality of such populations. However, ‘heterogeneity’ can still prove to be an inadequate approach to diversity, as it categorises people and still positions them on an essentialising template of what it is to be ‘Roma’, which can discount their linguistic, cultural, socio-economic and identification hybridities, or ‘super-diversity’. ‘Super-diversity’ is a relatively new concept that is seen as a way to better represent the types of diversities that are normal amongst contemporary populations. This article looks at the trajectory of research on Roma minorities and examines the opportunities and challenges for using super-diversity as a way of articulating a new direction.