'Talking about institutionalised racism or racism in institutions?' A case study on Roma segregation

Abstract

This chapter engages with different notions of racism – from the understanding proposed in the so-called ‘UNESCO tradition’ in the early 1950s to the critiques by Black intellectuals, decolonial thought and postcolonial studies – as well as their reverberations in the European context over the last decades. Highlighting conceptual advances brought by the notion of institutional racism, and the challenges it continues to pose, the chapter presents and analyses a case study paradigmatic of the perpetuation of racism in democratic societies. The case relates to the (school) segregation of the Roma population in Portugal and reveals how the normal functioning of institutions continues to legitimate racial injustice despite anti-discrimination legislation. Grounding the reflection in empirical research (archival work, media analysis, interviews with institutional representatives, decision-makers, and professionals), the chapter challenges common notions in public debate (e.g. ‘racist subject’, ‘isolated event’, or ‘intent to discriminate’), pointing to the limits of a liberal, positivist, Eurocentric approach to racism, which evades both its historicity and routine expressions in contemporary Western democratic contexts.