A Policy to Sedentarize ‘Nomads’: The ‘ Tsigane Hamlet’ in Plan-de-Grasse,France,1966

Abstract

This article seeks to tshed light on the history of twentieth-century sedentarization policies in metropolitan France. It analyses the implementation of the so called ‘Tsigane Hamlet’, completed in the town of Plan-de-Grasse in the Alpes-Maritimes in 1966. This Hamlet concerned Roma and Sinti families that, even in the 1960s, were continuing to experience the harsh after-effects of the War and had been unable to reestablish their previous patterns of mobility and circulation. The first part describes the circulation patterns of the ancestors of Hamlet residents and discusses some of the World War II-era persecutions inflicted on them. The second part then analyses the principles of sedentarization on which this collective residential project was founded. This article reflects on the freedom of movement of Romani communities in post-war France.