Klára Gulyás (37); Miskolc, Hungary
A PhD student, who is trying to improve the lives of Roma through her scientific and advisory work.
Klára Gulyás’s mother grew up in a small, segregated settlement populated by Roma only, and her father was raised in institutional care. When the father got a job in Miskolc, the small family was allowed to move to the use-to-be wood-shed of a house, which accommodated workers at the time. That is, where the parents took Gulyás home in 1980, after she was born. Two years later, as the family grew bigger and wealthier, they could afford to a flat in the inner city.
“I consider myself to be lucky in terms of my educational attainments. Contrary to the Roma kids of my age, I have never attended a segregated school. Usually I was the only Roma kid.” Since her parents found the education of their children to be crucial, contrary to Klára’s bad grades, they wanted to see her attending university. Therefore, she started to study social-pedagogy. This event completely changed her attitude towards knowledge and learning. “I think my thirst for knowledge is partly the result of the way, how I was trying to fight the stereotypes about the Roma students – having weaker abilities from their peers. It is very important for me, to achieve things truly due to my abilities, so people cannot claim them to be the results of positive discrimination.”
Simultaneously to her studies, Gulyás joined the mentor program of the local municipality. This program allowed her to visit Roma children, who attended segregated schools, while she was able to help their families as well. As she said, this experience made her recognize how complex the problem of integration is in these cases. It motivated her to gather even more knowledge and experience. “I do not see myself as a role-model. I consider it to be a really important message. It is not me, being special, but the circumstances of my life.” Right now, she is working on her PHD, with the main focus on Roma cultural anthropology, the Roma intelligentsia and its roles, and social city-rehabilitation, while holding a job at a family care centre. In her free-time, she tries to contribute to every civic initiative as a voluntary advisor, which concerns Roma.
“I see the re-discovery of my Roma identity as one of the most important events of my life, which firmly defined my everyday life. It gave a new sense to it. (…). I consider my biggest achievements to be the sensitivity, that I developed towards social problems, and the attainment of the ability to identify and analyse them in a complex system.”
Due to her studies and her work experience, Gulyás has a comprehensive overview on the legal regulations concerning Roma, their implementation, and on how these attempts transmit to reality. The rights of Roma – similarly to the other 12 national minority groups in Hungary– are legally secured. Nonetheless, the infrastructure for their implementation is not granted. For example, the official role of the municipalities, which represent minorities is to shelter the rights of people, and the transmission of their culture. However, they are not able to concentrate on the above-mentioned duties, since they must focus their resources on the genuine social problems Roma have to face.
Contrary to her proficiency, Klára Gulyás is still facing difficulties being accepted as an unbiased scientist, due to her Roma origin. As she said, she experienced it a number of times during academic discourses, that sharing the opinions of her colleagues was seen as some sort of a justification, assuming that she has a better understanding on the topic. On the other hand, her professional opposition was evaluated as an oversensitivity and bias, which is the result of her involvement in the issue. “It is not like this at all. It is really difficult to achieve in a scientific discourse, that my opinion is perceived as professional, independent from my origin.”
“I believe, that everyone should raise their voice against all forms of discrimination.”
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