Paper short abstract:

Italian recent policies towards Roma had a strong impact on their everyday life. Mobilizing concepts such as gender, age and generation, this paper explores children's experience of this period individually and in group. The aim is to link public policies to children's subjective experience.

Paper long abstract:

The major political and economical transformations since the 1990s are modifying the presence of Roma population in Europe. In Italy, the promotion of specific policies towards Roma has had a strong impact on Roma's everyday life : some communities are constantly evicted from their dwellings and others are without a legal confirmed status.

Based on an ethnography in Milan, I will link public policies to the subjective experience of Roma children. Firstly, this presentation will explore how children experience, imagine and express this period of crisis both individually and in group. Afterwards, I will critically discuss the theme of children's expression as non univocal category. On the contrary, a more complex theoretical framework may help to conceptualize childhood and expression, mobilizing the concepts of gender, age, social conditions and generation. Finally, the paper will suggest that expression is crucial to address the epistemological questions embedded in this field of studies.