The confrontation of education and customary law at school: The case of roma girls

Abstract

Aim. The main goal of this article is to generalise and describe the aspects which were revealed during the ethnographic research conducted in 2018 and which are related to the gender of Roma girls as representatives of an ethnic group. The findings have influence on the process of education in the context of school community. Concept. During the ethnographic research conducted in one of the schools in Lithuania in 2018, the fragments of Romani customary law were revealed, which are directly related to the female gender and show how belonging to a certain gender can have impact on the process of education at school. The present research used anthropological methodology and was mainly focused on one case-study. Results and conclusion. The Roma girls are accompanied by the pressure of community to start a family early, and thus, to emphasise and confirm their own belonging to this ethnic group and continuation of traditions. The situation is exacerbated by the stereotypes in the society and the Roma community, which-in most cases-are ruthless towards Roma girls and women. Cognitive value. The patriarchate as the basis of Romani culture, and the unwritten customary law accompanying it, frequently become a source of ambiguity. Being a non-Roma researcher, i.e. gadje (non-Roma individual), one faces a difficult challenge-not to make mistakes interpreting various aspects of Romani culture, especially such sensitive ones as gender. However, Roma children (girls in particular) still abandon the system of education too early (from our, gadje, perspective). The academic discourse, feminist anthropology, allows for particularly critical evaluation of these processes.