Struggles and ambiguities over political subjectivities in the camp: Roma camp dwellers between neoliberal and urban citizenship in Italy

What is the political subjectivity of the Roma living in Italian camps? Although the camp prevents the Roma from enjoying a series of rights, it does not fully determine their citizenship status. Indeed, citizenship is always contested and evolving through the interaction of a plurality of actors. By understanding the camp as an ‘assemblage space’, this article aims to unpack the complex political subjectivities of Roma camps-dwellers and to reflect on the struggles and ambiguities characterising the citizenship-making process in camp spaces. Through in-depth interviews conducted with members of non-governmental organisations and social movements in the city of Rome, I investigate the contention over meanings produced around the space of the camp and the Roma political subjectivities. I finally identify and discuss two framing strategies constituting the Roma as right bearers and supporting their demand to housing inclusion: a neoliberal and a ‘right to the city’ discourse that generate entrepreneurial and urban subjects.