Känslan av att aldrig passa in : En kvalitativ studie om unga finska romers erfarenheter av att tillhöra en minoritetsgrupp

Sammanfattning: Romanies have long lived outside the fabric of society and have long been exposed to discrimination in Sweden as well as the rest of Europe. The purpose of this study is to elucidate the experiences of young Finnish romanies in their everyday lives as well as their perceptions of living as a minority group in Stockholm today. Previous scientific researchers have often concentrated their studies on the romanies as a group, so we, the authors have chosen to concentrate our research on the individual’s own experiences. We, the authors have chosen to use a qualitative approach, to give us the opportunity through using open ended interview techniques to comprehend and interpret the individuals own accounts. In this study we separately interviewed four men and four women, between the ages of eighteen and twenty two years old. The theoretical starting point comes from Lundströms (2007) problematizationof national identity, Beckers (2006) theory of deviation and Goffman (2011) theory of social stigma, where the focus lies on identity, deviation and group membership. The empirical data were analyzed by the theoretical approach and with earlier research including Rodell Olgac (2006). The authors have found through their studies that young Finnish romanies live under negative discrimination, which affects their everyday lives in several different ways. They feel segregated from mainstream society, which leads to difficulty at school and in their creation of self-identity. The study also showed that the Finnish romanies interviewed thought that wearing their traditional costumes was a contributing factor in suffering discrimination.