Conditional Participation. Interactive Practices of Differentiation and Boundary Drawing in 'Intercultural Mediations'

In her thesis “Conditional Participation. Interactive Practices of Differentiation and Boundary Drawing in 'Intercultural Mediations'”, Maria Klessmann deals with issues of social exclusion of Rom:nja and Sinti:zze. Against the background of boundary theory, the author examines the linguistic organization of interactive boundary-drawing processes. The empirical basis of the study was the European initiative ROMED, short for Mediation for Roma, which is dedicated to combating discrimination and improving the opportunities for participation of Europe's most marginalized ethnic minority. The initiative established a Europe-wide network of mediators to act as intermediaries between local Rom:nja communities and public institutions. Maria Klessmann accompanied ROMED in Germany for several years, focusing on so-called Roma School Mediations and Community Action Groups. The various discussion formats formed a complex and multilingual structure that opened up two fundamental perspectives: On the one hand, participation in interaction was examined. In other words, the question was how the interactions were designed in such a way that participation was made possible for the participants.

The second focus, on the other hand, was the perspective on talking about participation. How is participation addressed as a topic in the conversations? What ideas and knowledge about societal participation do the participants have or create together?

By interweaving the two perspectives on participation in interaction and talking about participation, the study was able to show how the lack of opportunities for participation affected the framing of the topics. The reconstruction of the interactively consolidated conversational roles, the established discursive power, the explicit knowledge of institutional practices and a unidirectional understanding of integration has shown how existing vulnerable positions are perpetuated, social boundaries stabilized, and unequal power relations underpinned.

The study also shows the need for differentiated and difference-sensitizing mediation and participation formats in the context of social differentiation. In particular, mediators who deal with questions of inclusion and participation must sensitize and be sensitized to the topics of difference and differentiation. This in turn reveals how the participation of self-organizations which deal with authorities, as well as students and their parents who deal with teachers can be improved and the positions of those affected by discrimination can be strengthened.

The dissertation will be published in 2025 by NOMOS Verlag in the series Border Studies. Cultures, Spaces, Orders.