Unraveling injustice and power structures
In partnership with the Romani Studies Program at Central European University, the Center on Forced Displacement at Boston University, the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Committee and the Women, Gender, and Health (WGH) Concentration and Working Group at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, the Harvard University Committee on Ethnicity, Migration, Rights (EMR), the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, the Religion, Conflict, and Peace Initiative at the Harvard Divinity School, the Palestine Program for Health and Human Rights, the International Human Rights Clinic at the Harvard Law School, and the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, the Roma Program for Health and Human Rights at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights will host a free, hybrid format conference at Harvard University’s Smith Campus Center (10th Floor) on Friday, April 4, 2025, to mark International Roma Day.
The event aims to unpack and reframe the enduring reproduction of the artificial hierarchy imposed between white Europeans and European Roma people, situating it within the broader global theoretical frameworks related to racism, casteism, racialization, and socio-cultural hierarchies and oppressions. Unraveling injustice and power structures will contribute to and expand upon ongoing global dialogues on racialization.
It will also create opportunities for new inquiries into how caste and/or racial hierarchies are upheld within educational systems beginning in childhood, in violation of several articles of the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
The conference will explore three broad and related topics and questions:
1. The whos, hows, what, and whys of benefiting from the construction and perpetuation of societal hierarchies based on race, ethnicity, ancestry, caste, and other social identities.
2. Is there a global agreement on which groups have historically been targeted by racism and racialization? Are there risks associated with appropriating or misunderstanding the concepts of racism and racialization?
3. In a world where educational systems increasingly undermine diversity, equity, and inclusion, how can we foster curricula and school environments that support all historically marginalized groups?
4. What might a display of global solidarity among historically racialized and oppressed groups look like?