Research spotlight: The effects of Covid-19 on the Roma community

In the second episode of the CEU Review of Books Podcast Series, we sat down with Andreea Cârstocea and Raul Cârstocea to talk about their research on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on Roma communities on the borders of the European Union in: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Ukraine. In the podcast we discuss how the pandemic and the first lockdown impacted the Roma communities in the areas of education, healthcare, employment, housing and the increase in hate speech and racist incidents.

Andreea is Senior Researcher and Head of the Cluster Equality & Inclusion at the European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI). Andreea is also a co-editor of the ECMI Minorities Blog.

Raul is Lecturer in Twentieth-Century European History at Maynooth University, Ireland, and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Leicester.

To learn more about Andreea’s and Raul’s research you can read their blogpost on the ECMI blog: https://www.ecmi.de/infochannel/detail/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-roma-communities-in-non-eu-countries-in-eastern-europe

A special issue entitled “Marginality on the Margins of Europe – The Impact of COVID-19 on Roma Communities in Non-EU Countries in Eastern Europe” edited Andreea and Raul was published in the Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority issues in Europe (Vol. 21, No 2), which is available Open Access here: https://www.ecmi.de/JEMIE/index.php/journal/issue/view/4

Andreea has also published an article entitled “Hygienic Boundaries: Roma Communities and the Racialisation of Public Health Discourses during the COVID-19 Pandemic”, which appeared as part of the special issue “Critical Perspectives on the Impacts of (Post) COVID-19 Pandemic on Roma” in the journal Social Sciences, which is available Open Access here: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/12/3/188

The CEU Review of Books Podcast Series explores the questions that affect us all through in-depth talks with researchers, policy makers, journalists, academics and others. We bring the most current research linked to Central Europe through these discussions.

At the CEU Review of Books, we encourage an open discussion that challenges conventional assumptions to foster a vibrant debate.

Visit www.ceureviewofbooks.com to read our latest reviews, long reads and interviews.

Write for us! Our aim is to showcase new and established voices. If you have an idea for the CEU Review of Books, please contact us at ceureviewofbooks@press.ceu.edu.

Subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify and on any of the major podcast platforms so you do not miss out on any of our new episodes!