Link to register for in-person or Zoom attendance – here
Since 2013, the annual Roma conference at Harvard has served as a forum to examine and address anti-Roma racism, including its origins, history, major underpinnings and protectors, and manifestations worldwide, especially as it relates to children and youth. We have aimed to improve data collection related to Roma, particularly youth and children, enhance research methods, focus on participatory action research with Roma youth, and revisit and inform the histories, policies, and practices concerning Romani people. Additionally, the Harvard Roma conference has actively sought to amplify and center the voices and experiences of Romani individuals and young people within global scholarship.
On April 10, 2026, we will once again observe Roma Day with the 14th Harvard Roma conference, Mapping Romani futures: Connected local histories and global realities.
This year’s event examines Romani histories and realities with the aim of informing more equitable futures for Romani children, youth, and future generations. We will situate these within a global context marked by increasing human rights abuses, wars, extremism, climate and digital threats.
The conference features a keynote panel on global and regional trends and threats affecting children and youth and their futures, especially amid escalating human rights abuses, wars, extremism, climate and digital threats. This will be succeeded by two subsequent panels. The first panel, Connected futures, histories, and realities, will explore connections and continuities in Romani histories and realities, examining how these shape lives, inequities, and identities of Romani children, youth, and future generations. The second panel, Intersectionality and intersecting stories, will unpack typically overlooked and peripheral axes of inequity in the narratives of Romani histories, realities, and futures. Finally, following a tradition established in recent years, the conference will include a book talk featuring recent monographs about Romani people, with particular attention to works that advance global scholarship.
Click here to view more about this event.