‘They tried to exterminate us for 600 years, would you trust them?’ Antigypsyism and the post-racial use of intersectionality in state response to Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract

This paper is an invitation to critically interrogate the ‘post-racial’ understanding of intersectionality in European policy work on Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), through a focus on Antigypsyism in Spain’s specialised institutions. Spain’s ‘gender violence’ law has inspired international admiration for introducing measures aimed at the protection of all women regardless of their status or situation. However, its criminal justice system is marked by centuries of legislation constructing Romani women as innately suspicious. Semi-structured interviews conducted in IPV specialised courts, local police, and support services in Madrid indicate that practitioners reject legal colour-blindness and support intercultural mediation but refuse to address this racist legacy. Their intervention exposes Romani plaintiffs to harm by (1) promoting their cultural assimilation, (2) questioning their victim status, and (3) turning against their community support networks.