Code unknown: Roma/Gypsy montage

Roma/Gypsies have rarely figured in mainstream social theory; they have, rather, been a topic of 'specialist’ interest. The aim of this feature is, in some small way, to address the issue of Roma culture and society in a mainstream context. More than considering a neglected group, it suggests that there is something positive and constructive to be learned from the Roma and their experiences—something to be learned from a people who have invariably been considered as problematical. Roma have a distinctive significance in the context of a changing Europe, and they also merit serious consideration in urban theory. Yet they have never figured in mainstream spatial politics. They have never received spatial justice. Through the assembling of a broad range of contributions, mostly concerning the eastern side of Europe, I have sought to bring out something of the broad range of perspectives and discourses concerning Roma culture. The aim has been to make an argument by way of a montage, and, moreover, to make the argument through ways of telling that expand the definition of 'academic’.