Incorporating “Romanian Roma” children into the republican school

This article looks at the schooling of children known as Romanian “Roma” in France, by questioning the attitudes of actors in the national education system in light of the ethnic and social otherness attributed to this population. It decodes the ways in which these actors tend to respect the republican injunction to ignore individual particularities, while also taking into account what is considered the transnational culture of this population, in order to better neutralize it. After looking at how Roma culture is stigmatized in France, at the highest level, the author shows how the stereotypes of this population form a backdrop to the way teachers see their students. Far from being an explicitly racist attitude, the analysis argues that this ethnicization is benevolent. However, it nevertheless contributes to reinforcing a social barrier within a school system that seeks to be inclusive.