The role of religion in the social inclusion of Roma: past and present

International Conference

Sibiu, 13.3.2024 – 15.3.2024

Location: ASTRA County Library – 5, George Barițiu Street, Sibiu, Building A, Auditorium

 

Wednesday 13.3. – Opening Day

17.00

Opening Session

Welcome and presentation of the participants

Greetings

Introduction to the PARI project

18.00

PARI Exhibition: Vernissage

(ASTRA County Library – 7, George Barițiu Street, Sibiu, Building B, lobby)

Presentation by the curators: Bogdan Andriescu and Roxana Ionescu

Reception

 

Thursday 14.3 – Researchers` Day

09.00

Opening

09.15

Keynote lecture and discussion

Viorel Achim, Romanian Academy, Bucharest: Historical Look at the Relations of the Roma in Romania with the Church and Religion

 

10.15

Coffee break

 

Sessions in the Auditorium (Building A) with English-Romanian translation

Sessions in the Seminar room (Building B) only English

10.45

Session 1a

·         Laszo Foszto: Worship at Home in Roma communities and online Communication

·         Daniel Caraivan: Mixed marriages and religious conversion in Roma communities in Romania

·         Camelia Badea, Ligia Scărlătescu, Inger  Marie Lid: Participatory approaches in empirical international research on minority inclusion and social justice

·         Bjørn Hallstein Holte, Sabina Luca: Religious actors and Roma inclusion in five localities: Five case studies

Chair: Stephanie Dietrich

Session 1b

·         Fanni Maszlag: Modernization of traditional communities and the role of churches in this process

·         Anne-Marie Kool: Analysis of Theological Concepts of Hope in Selected Popular Roma Worship Songs

·         Stefan Tobler: The inclusive potential of religious faith

·         Marian Zăloagă: Exploring Romanies’ Religious Choices and Religiosity. An Analytic Scrutiny of the Past and Present Sources

Chair: Tor Slettebø

12.30

Lunch break

14.00

Session 2a

·         Fanni Mária Puskás: Role of Small Denominations in Roma Social Mobility in a Hungarian Small Town

·         Leni Mjåland: Policy discourses of diaconal actors in Norway regarding the mobility of Roma

·         Sorina Corman, Alin Croitoru: Community-Led Development in Four Romanian Roma Communities: An In-Depth Analysis of Local Initiatives, in Terms of Resources

·         Sabina Luca, Tor Slettebø, Annette Leis-Peters: The Participatory Research Approach (PRA) in the Mapping Process

Chair: Bjørn Hallstein Holte

Session 2b

·         Adriana Cupcea: Practicing Islam among a Double Minority. A case study on Turkish Muslim Roma in Dobruja (Romania)

·         Tomáš Hrustič: Roma converts to Jehovah’s Witnesses in Slovakia

·         Stephanie Dietrich, Sorin Boica: Religion, religious actors and social issues: A diaconal approach to Roma inclusion

·         Marius Crișan: A Roma Community at the Heart of the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church. Inclusion through Education in the Roma Community of Blaj. History and Present

 

Chair: Marian Zăloagă

15.45

Coffee break

16.15

Session 3a

·         Rafael Năstase: The role of the evangelical church in the transformation of Roma communities from the south-east of Romania after 1990

·         Valerie Judith Mitwali: More Than

Just a Missed Opportunity: Anti-Romani Racism in the Post-Conciliar

Roman Catholic Church

·         Camelia Badea, Dorin Buda, Crăciun Lăcătuș: Our daily bread: between solidarity and community development projects of religious actors for and with the Roma people

·         Julieta Rotaru: O soćǒ-semantikano rodipen pal-o alavipen vaś i robía le rromenqi (The organization of vocabulary for the institution of slavery in Romani ćhib)

Chair: Daniela Popescu

 Session 3b

·         Anca Enache,  Iuliana Baldovin: Urban violence in Finland against Roma migrants

·         Anatolie Coșciug: The role of religion and religious identity among migrants upon return

·         Sorina Corman, Alin Croitoru: Current Roma Inclusion Policies in Romania: A Thematic Analysis

·         Annette Leis Peters, Stefan Tobler, Marius Crișan: Theology as resource of social inclusion

·         Jakob Mirwald: Network Sinti Roma Churches. Meeting as equals to face past and present challenges

Chair: Manuela Marin

18.00

Short conclusions

 

Friday 15.3. – Open Science Day

 

09.00

Opening

 

 

09.10

Keynote lecture

 

Tatiana Podolinská, Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology of SAS, Bratislava:

Possibilities of Social inclusion of Roma via Religious path: lessons from the field”

09.55

“Good practice” – session

 

Pétur Thorsteinsson (Germany)

On the road for Roma, Churches and Diakonia since 2008 – and now?

Fr. Athenagoras (Greece)

“The intercultural education of the Roma of Dendtropotamos – The Light House of the World as a good practice for education and social integration”

10.40

Coffee break

11.00

Panel – Dialogue with the society:

 

Lines of a good policy

 

 

Liliana Chiriac, Cluj

Cristina Muntean, Sibiu

Gruia Bumbu, Alba Iulia

Marius Parno, Timisoara

Marius Anescu, Râmnicu Vâlcea

Moderator: S. Tobler

12.30

Lunch break

14.00

Workshop with students and practitioners

Inger-Marie Lid (Oslo), Camelia Badea (Sibiu):

 

Participatory approaches. Dissemination of experiences from the PARI project

 

15.30

Coffee break

16.00

Concert by Roma children

Orchestra Matias, Jilava

 Download program as .pdf