Tackling Negative Representation: The Use of Storytelling As a Critical Pedagogical Tool for Positive Representation of Roma

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29098/crs.v3i2.79

Keywords:

Critical pedagogy, Multiculturalism, Romani representation, Self-fulfilling prophecy, Storytelling

Abstract

This article focuses on the negative representation of Roma in Greece in the early twenty-first century. It investigates how negative feedback takes the form of a self-fulfilling prophecy that suppresses the self-esteem of young Roma and maintains a distance between Romani identity and education despite several positive yet little known examples of Romani scientists and scholars. The article questions how negative Romani images can
be reversed in order to enhance Roma’s educational success. The importance of innovative educational activities based on Romani literature, critical multiculturalism, and the parameter of Romani bilingualism is highlighted. Particularly, the article focuses on the power and the echo that stories can have (storytelling),
where protagonists have a Romani connection or identity and are portrayed as positive models, both within classrooms with Romani students and within a society where the idea of Romani literature is a fantasy.

Author Biographies

  • Georgia Kalpazidou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

    Georgia Kalpazidou is a Greek philologist and a postgraduate student of Historical and Balkan Linguistics at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki. Her Romani origins prompted her to specialize in Romani Linguistics. She has worked as an educator and cultural mediator. Since 2019 she is assistant researcher in the project Areal Typology with Emphasis on Balkan Data of the Institute of Modern Greek Studies. She is a member of Alternative Innovative Development (AID).

  • Dimitris Alexandros Ladopoulos, Alternative Innovative Development, Larisa, Greece

    Dimitrios Alexandros Ladopoulos, co-founder and member of Alternative Innovative Development, studied Rural and Survey Engineering. He has supervised several projects in multiple management and administrative roles. His main topics of interest are new technologies, adult education through non-formal learning methods, environment, and youth entrepreneurship, with a special focus on vulnerable groups.

  • Theofano Papakonstantinou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

    Theofano Papakonstantinou, co-founder of Alternative Innovative Development, is a PhD candidate at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in the School of Early Childhood Education, Faculty of Education. She was a member of the Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe from 2017 to 2019. Among her multiple interests are adult education, non-formal learning methods, entrepreneurship, and the implementation of innovative action plans with an emphasis on supporting Roma and other vulnerable social groups.

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Published

06/23/2021

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 2 (2020): Exploring Romani Literature from Theory to Practice

Section

Articles

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How to Cite

Tackling Negative Representation: The Use of Storytelling As a Critical Pedagogical Tool for Positive Representation of Roma. (2021). Critical Romani Studies, 3(2), 58-70. https://doi.org/10.29098/crs.v3i2.79