Experiences of and resistance against everyday racism: Roma migrants and social work(ers) in Norway

This article addresses how Roma migrants in Norway are subjected to and experience both subtle and blatant forms of anti-Roma racism, i.e. antiziganism, as well as resistance against antiziganism. Its data derives from ethnographic fieldwork in Oslo. The study demonstrates that the Roma are perceived as undesirable and unwelcome and are racialized in terms of being associated with crime, begging and littering in public places. I employ the concept of ‘everyday racism’ to capture both experiences of racism and the macro-societal conditions that produce and shape such experiences. The article first examines how racialized perceptions of Roma migrants manifest in public discourse, policies and legal documents in Norway. Next, the everyday experiences of racialization and resistance among Roma migrants, including in encounters with the social service system, are explored. I subsequently ask how social workers encountering Roma migrants relate to and address such experiences and dynamics. The analysis shows that while social workers become entangled in subtle processes of racialization, they also actively challenge and resist overt racial discrimination through advocacy work and micro-level acts of resistance, thus engaging in antiracist social work.