Research Center on Antigypsyism
Research Center on Antigypsyism (RCA)
About us
The interdisciplinary institution is Europe's first and so far only university research centre on the topic of antigypsyism. Since its foundation in 2017, it has been located in the heart of Heidelberg's Old Town.
Research
Sinti and Roma are among the largest minorities in a socially diverse Europe. However, members of these communities are subject to massive discrimination. This is based on persistent stigmatisation, which has a long history that has received little attention to date, but is still effective today.
Knowledge transfer
The RCA makes its research findings available to the public, society, politics and prevention work in the form of publications, workshops, (online) lectures, educational materials and counselling. We also attach particular importance to communicating our main areas of focus in the context of university teaching.
Critical Film & Image Hub
Films and images play a key role in the manifestation of antigypsyism. Since January 2025, the project has been analysing the portrayal of Sinti and Roma in visual culture. An interdisciplinary team analyses structures of prejudice in various formats such as feature films, documentaries, videos and computer games and offers workshops and digital materials on the topic. The aim is to develop tools for identifying visual antigypsyism and to make its expertise available to the media, politics and society.
The project is funded by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth as part of the Cooperation Network against Antigypsyism in the federal programme ‘Live Democracy!’.
Promoting young academics
Two doctoral scholarships and the annual ‘Romani Rose Fellowship’ serve to continuously promote young academics. Other dissertation projects, bachelor's and master's theses supervised at the RCA open up new subject areas and sources.
