Winter School "Antigypsyism and Critical Whiteness" 2025
5.–7. December 2025 | at Europa-Universität Flensburg
The Winter School aimed to engage ethically with critical questions surrounding the agency and reparation of Sinti and Roma, including self-representation, self-articulation, and emancipation, which have frequently encountered structural antigypsyism in academia and public perception. This transhistorical and transnational phenomenon has manifested itself in structural racism, cultural appropriation, as well as the scholarly denial of the lived realities, knowledge production, and collective memories of Sinti and Roma.
As part of the Winter School, participants learned from internationally recognized scholars from Europe and the United States about topics including eugenics, racism, Orientalism, Gypsyology, as well as theories of Whiteness, intersectionality, and queer feminism. By bridging temporal and epistemic gaps, the Winter School pursued an interdisciplinary approach that brought together history, sociology, anthropology, education, and cultural studies.
Another key focus was the examination of representations of Sinti and Roma, critically questioning dominant cultural narratives that reproduced harmful stereotypes. Critical Whiteness served as an analytical perspective for examining how Eurocentric viewpoints and unreflected privileges have shaped historical knowledge, social hierarchies, and public perceptions.
By placing the agency and lived experiences of Sinti and Roma at the center, the Winter School contributed to making visible suppressed memories, neglected historical events, and emancipatory actions that constitute an integral part of Europe’s cultural heritage, values, and collective memory.