ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND COMMUNITY EDUCATION IN A ROMA SETTLEMENT OF STARA LUBOVNA-PODSADEK IN EASTERN SLOVAKIA.

Abstract

This research is concerned with community education theorised and practised by Paulo Freire (1970) in disadvantaged communities. It aims to explore how Freire's tenets can be applied to the historically oppressed group of Slovak Roma in order to foster critical consciousness and mobilisation. Specifically, the research focuses on the various environmental injustices that the Slovak Roma face, drawing from the theory of environmental racism of Boullard (1983) and applied in Eastern European context by Filčák & Škobla (2012). During the research, I went to a Roma settlement of Stara Lubovna-Podsadek to attempt to introduce community education to its inhabitants and explore their views of environmental justice. Starting with a method of Photovoice, I later changed my approach to critical ethnography. My research argues that there are environmental justice issues in this settlement and that the inhabitants are well aware of them. I also argue that there is a potential for mobilisation and further development of critical consciousness there because the inhabitants expressed interest in solving the issues they face, and so the research can be taken further to explore the issues in more depth and support mobilisation.