Social and life aspects of Roma migration

David Urban ¹, Alena Kajanová ²
¹ College of Polytechnics Jihlava, Department of Social Work, Jihlava, Czech Republic ² University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Institute of Social and Special-pedagogical Sciences, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

Korespondenční autor: David Urban (david.urban@vspj.cz)

ISSN 1804-7181 (On-line)

Full verze:

Submitted:18. 8. 2019
Accepted: 11. 12. 2019
Published online: 31. 12. 2019

Summary

The article describes and analyses factors that influence the migration of the Roma from Slovakia to the Czech Republic. The qualitative study was conducted via an interview method and with help of biographic interview techniques with specified target groups. The research set consists of Roma females and males (N = 12) who moved from Slovakia to the Czech Republic between 2008–2018. The interviews were recorded on a recording device with the respondents’ consent. The results were analysed through open and axial coding in the Atlas.ti program. The results show that the main motivation to leave their current location is a vision of a better life and that the decisions are mostly impulsive. The results also show that the migrants face a number of problems, primarily financial ones. From the migrants‘ perspective, the Czech Republic constitutes a transit country, but due to financial problems and the language barrier, it also becomes the country of their final stay. After arriving, the migrants often find themselves in an adverse social situation which may lead to living on the street.

Keywords: Coping strategy; Migration; Mobility; Motives for migration; Roma people

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