The shifting contours of the notion of “family” in migrant Roma integration policy: A case study

This case study retraces the experience of a Bulgarian Roma family enrolled in a French “integration project.” The purpose of the study was to explore the impact of the political and institutional treatment of Roma migrants on immediate family groupings and extended relatives by critically examining several dimensions of one family’s experience—the evolving impacts of participating in the program on their sense of identity on the couple’s daily lives, and on their relationships with their peers. The study concludes that the subjectivities of these Bulgarian Roma and their contacts with program staff raise significant questions about the institutional construct of “integration.”