The Struggle for Anti-racist Environmental and Housing Justice: A View from a Militant Research Project in Cluj-Napoca, Romania

This article presents the struggle for anti-racist environmental and housing justice in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and argues for militant research that provides knowledge and arguments to transform political thinking and practices. In discussing their activist research, the authors offer a methodologic...

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Main Authors: Enikő Vincze, George Iulian Zamfir, Vasile Gâlbea
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Romani Studies Program at Central European University 2025-04-01
Series:Critical Romani Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://crs.ceu.edu/index.php/crs/article/view/183
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author Enikő Vincze
George Iulian Zamfir
Vasile Gâlbea
author_facet Enikő Vincze
George Iulian Zamfir
Vasile Gâlbea
author_sort Enikő Vincze
collection DOAJ
description This article presents the struggle for anti-racist environmental and housing justice in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and argues for militant research that provides knowledge and arguments to transform political thinking and practices. In discussing their activist research, the authors offer a methodological toolkit for activist knowledge production that might serve actions for social justice beyond the Pata Rât case discussed – a place in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, where Romani residents are forced to live in proximity to toxic landfills. The article presents how a local movement, of which the authors are part, conducted multidisciplinary militant research to support actions against racist environmental and housing injustice. The article discusses different understandings of these concepts and describes the formation of the residential area and Romani residents’ health conditions in the toxic environment of Pata Rât. The article also offers an interpretive synthesis of various types of empirical materials. In other words, militant research links environmental justice and housing justice via an anti-racist stance in the context of Romania. It stresses that without changing the structural  conditions created by capitalism that force racialised people to live in polluted environments, legal recognition of housing and environmental rights will not mitigate intersectional injustice. 
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spelling doaj-art-8924311b28bb428ca6fef4fa4fde8b742025-08-20T02:20:16ZengRomani Studies Program at Central European UniversityCritical Romani Studies2560-30192630-855X2025-04-017110.29098/crs.v7i1.183The Struggle for Anti-racist Environmental and Housing Justice: A View from a Militant Research Project in Cluj-Napoca, RomaniaEnikő Vincze0George Iulian Zamfir1Vasile Gâlbea2Professor at Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, RomaniaTeaching assistant at Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, RomaniaHuman rights researcher and activist, Cluj-Napoca, Romania This article presents the struggle for anti-racist environmental and housing justice in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and argues for militant research that provides knowledge and arguments to transform political thinking and practices. In discussing their activist research, the authors offer a methodological toolkit for activist knowledge production that might serve actions for social justice beyond the Pata Rât case discussed – a place in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, where Romani residents are forced to live in proximity to toxic landfills. The article presents how a local movement, of which the authors are part, conducted multidisciplinary militant research to support actions against racist environmental and housing injustice. The article discusses different understandings of these concepts and describes the formation of the residential area and Romani residents’ health conditions in the toxic environment of Pata Rât. The article also offers an interpretive synthesis of various types of empirical materials. In other words, militant research links environmental justice and housing justice via an anti-racist stance in the context of Romania. It stresses that without changing the structural  conditions created by capitalism that force racialised people to live in polluted environments, legal recognition of housing and environmental rights will not mitigate intersectional injustice.  https://crs.ceu.edu/index.php/crs/article/view/183anti-racismenvironmental justicehousing justicemilitant researchPata RâtRomanian Roma
spellingShingle Enikő Vincze
George Iulian Zamfir
Vasile Gâlbea
The Struggle for Anti-racist Environmental and Housing Justice: A View from a Militant Research Project in Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Critical Romani Studies
anti-racism
environmental justice
housing justice
militant research
Pata Rât
Romanian Roma
title The Struggle for Anti-racist Environmental and Housing Justice: A View from a Militant Research Project in Cluj-Napoca, Romania
title_full The Struggle for Anti-racist Environmental and Housing Justice: A View from a Militant Research Project in Cluj-Napoca, Romania
title_fullStr The Struggle for Anti-racist Environmental and Housing Justice: A View from a Militant Research Project in Cluj-Napoca, Romania
title_full_unstemmed The Struggle for Anti-racist Environmental and Housing Justice: A View from a Militant Research Project in Cluj-Napoca, Romania
title_short The Struggle for Anti-racist Environmental and Housing Justice: A View from a Militant Research Project in Cluj-Napoca, Romania
title_sort struggle for anti racist environmental and housing justice a view from a militant research project in cluj napoca romania
topic anti-racism
environmental justice
housing justice
militant research
Pata Rât
Romanian Roma
url https://crs.ceu.edu/index.php/crs/article/view/183
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