Mediators, protectors and pathfinders: invisible players in mobility approaches

E. Hemelsoet and P. Van Pelt have criticised how the "ethnicisation" of Roma identity in policy measures influences the way mediators like academics and activists contribute to the construction of Roma identity and how the use of these connotations reinforces stigmatisation schemes. This chapter demonstrates how bridging actors shape our ideas about the Roma minority and shows the recent implications of these narratives in the host society. It discusses the role of those who indirectly frame the interaction and recognition of the Roma in the network of welfare provision and then go on to the role of academics and professionals. Although the Roma themselves are generally blamed for their marginal position, it has hardly ever considered how stigmatising assumptions have lined the mobility path of Roma migrants. The advocacy groups are seen as the protectors of criminals in an effort to destroy the nation state.