Racial profiling and discrimination of Romani minorities are still a problem in many European countries, including Switzerland. In order to fight discrimination against Roma, researchers call to analyze power imbalances in which Romani actors are involved in (Maeso 2015; Van Baar 2012; Steindl-Kopf 2019). Furthermore, there is little discourse analytical research of the political discourse on Roma. To follow the scientific call, this study examines the Swiss government's discourse on Roma specifically and is the first to do so yet. How are Romani actors constructed by the Federal Council? What argumentation strategies does the Federal Council use to justify its politics and decisions concerning Roma? Based on the methodology of the discourse-historical approach (Wodak/Reisigl 2016), the study combines a context analysis together with a linguistic analysis where nominations and predications concerning Romani actors and argumentation strategies are examined. The data are derived from a small corpus containing statements made by the Federal Council between 2016 and 2019. The study exposes patterns such as a discursive construction of Romani actors as a foreign, homogenous, ethnic group with an itinerant lifestyle. Moreover, a lack of Swiss origins and citizenship is ascribed to Romani actors. Categories such as origins, ethnicity, and an itinerant lifestyle appear as important elements within the Federal Council's argumentation, and the Swiss political discourse on Roma. The results of this small study focusing on Switzerland show similarities but also differences to Simhandl's (2007) larger study of the discourse on Roma within the European Union's institutions.
References
Maeso, Silvia R. (2015): „Civilising" the Roma? The Depoliticisation of (Anti-)Racism within the Politics of Integration. In: Identities 22 (1), 53–70.
Reisigl, Martin/Wodak, Ruth (2016): The Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA). In: Wodak, Ruth/Meyer, Michael (eds.): Methods of Critical Discourse Studies. 3rd ed. London: Sage, 23–61.
Simhandl, Katrin (2007): Der Diskurs der EU-Institutionen über die Kategorien „Zigeuner" und „Roma". Die Erschliessung eines politischen Raumes über die Konzepte von „Antidiskriminierung" und „sozialem Einschluss". Baden-Baden: Nomos. (= Democracy, Security, Peace 183).
Steindl-Kopf, Sabrina (2019): From the Principles of Tolerance and Equality to the Reproduction of Marginalisation. Discussing European Roma Policies. In: End, Markus/Gómez, Ismael C. (eds.): Dimensions of Antigypsyism in Europe. Brussels: European Network Against Racism, Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, 89–106. (= Anti-Racism in Focus 3).
Van Baar, Huub (2012): Socio-Economic Mobility and Neo-Liberal Governmentality in Post-Socialist Europe. Activation and the Dehumanisation of the Roma. In: Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 38 (8), 1289–1304.
