Where the men disappear, and the women survive: the gendered dynamics of incarceration of Roma migrants in France

In the framing of the Roma migrants as a public problem, criminality and security have been recurring themes (van Baar 2011; Legros 2009; Sardelić 2017; Yıldız et De Genova 2018) . However, little attention has been given to the experience of incarceration by migrants living in precarious housing (the bidonvilles). In my ethnographic fieldwork in Seine-Saint-Denis in 2018, issues related to police, justice, and prison, were at the heart of many day-to-day interactions. The residents of the bidonville I researched all know of someone in their family or immediate environment who has been sent to prison. The tension over police control and the possibility of being sent to prison for minor offense contribute to a climate of uncertainty. This is a gendered reality. There is a differentiated justice experience based on sex (Cardi 2007), and for adults, Roma are no exceptions. The majority of those residents being sent to jail are men: the men disappear, and the women must find a new organization for their daily lives. What can gender reveal in the securitization and criminal prosecution of Roma migration, as well as the experiences of Roma in penal institutions? How can prison, or the threat of prison, disrupt power relations in heterosexual couples (Comfort 2008)? In this presentation, I will explore the gendered dynamics of the criminal treatment and control of Roma migrants. Based on the stories of four women I spent these months with – Alina, Florentina, Tania and Lina – I will articulate interactions with the police and the justice system, occurring outside of the slum, with the organization of survival and daily life inside the slum. Within this difficult situation of being left behind, some women deploy and develop their agency, and challenge the roles offered to them.