Dr Giovanni Picker

  • Lecturer in the Sociology of Inequalities (Sociology)

Biography

I am currently a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the Sociology of Inequalities. I received my Ph.D. in Sociology and Comparative Urban Studies from Milan-Bicocca University (2009), and a B.A. + M.A. in Political Sciences and Cultural Sociology from the State University of Milan (2004). 

Prior to joining Glasgow University, I was Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Research Fellow in the Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology at Birmingham University (2016-2018), and before that I received a number of research fellowships in Romania, Russia, Hungary and Germany (2010-2016).


Research interests

As an urban ethnographer interested in urban life, politics, economy and culture, I draw on participant observation, archival and other research methods to examine dominant logics and shared understadings of belonging, moral worth, incorporation and exclusion. I am especially interested in race as a principle of social organization, and the ways in which racism plays out at the crossings of everyday life and urban politics.

Giovanni Picker

From 2006 to 2015 I carried out field research in a number of European medium size cities, analysing multiple social dynamics in and around segregated and stigmatized "Gypsy urban areas". The most comprehensive result of this research is Racial Cities: Governance and the Segregation of Romani People in Urban Europe [Routledge, 2017], a monograph which ethnographically and historically explains the genesis and persistence of these urban areas in both Eastern and Western Europe. The book argues that it is necessary to recognize race, in its various historical and present-day forms, as one of the main principles behind the social organization of European cities.

My current book project, entitled Planning White Europe, builds on Racial Cities and continues the effort towards dissecting and explaining the contextual ways in which race contributes to structuring urban societies in continental Europe. Through an ethnographic and historical study of three planning projects in as many European capitals, the book aims at contributing historical and ethnographic knowledge to both academic and policy debates on "diversity", urban marginality, relational racism and planning. 

 

Related research interests

  • Ethnographic Theory
  • Anthropology of Policy
  • Camps for Civilians 
  • Global and European Histories of the Left (esp. Italy)
  • Socialism and Postsocialism - Theory and History (esp. Central and Eastern Europe)
  • Colonialism and (Post)Colonial Urbanism

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2006 | 2005
Number of items: 38.

2020

Ghebremariam Tesfau', M. and Picker, G. (2020) The Italian postracial archive. Ethnic and Racial Studies, (doi: 10.1080/01419870.2020.1730924) (Early Online Publication)

2019

Murji, K. and Picker, G. (2019) Race and place. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 39(11/12), pp. 913-922. (doi: 10.1108/IJSSP-10-2019-0203)

Picker, G. (2019) Sovereignty beyond the state: exception and informality in a Western European city. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 43(3), pp. 576-581. (doi: 10.1111/1468-2427.12704)

Picker, G. , Murji, K. and Boatcă, M. (2019) Racial urbanities: towards a global cartography. Social Identities, 25(1), pp. 1-10. (doi: 10.1080/13504630.2017.1418606)

Picker, G. and Vivaldi, E. (2019) Racial segregation: camps for Roma and slums in Italy. In: Cortés Gómez, I. and End, M. (eds.) Dimensions of Antigypsyism in Europe. Series: ENAR Anti-Racism in Focus, 3. European Network Against Racism aisbl (ENAR) and the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma: Brussels, Belgium, pp. 180-197. ISBN 9782960130829

2018

Vincze, E., Petrovici, N., Raț, C. and Picker, G. (Eds.) (2018) Racialized Labour in Romania: Spaces of Marginality at the Periphery of Global Capitalism. Series: Neighborhoods, communities and urban marginality. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham. ISBN 9783319762722

Picker, G. (2018) Conclusion: (re)centring labour, class, and race. In: Vincze, E., Petrovici, N., Raț, C. and Picker, G. (eds.) Radicalized Labour in Romania: Spaces of Marginality at the Periphery of Global Capitalism. Series: Neighborhoods, communities and urban marginality. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, pp. 207-226. ISBN 9783319762722 (doi:10.1007/978-3-319-76273-9_8)

Picker, G. (2018) Kristina Graaf and Noa Ha (eds). 2015. Street Vending in the Neoliberal City: A Global Perspective on the Practices and Policies of a Marginalized Economy. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books. Urbanities, 8(1), pp. 80-81. [Book Review]

2017

Picker, G. (2017) Social inclusion/exclusion. In: Turner, B. S., Chang, K.-s., Epstein, C. F., Kvisto, P., Ryan, J. M. and Outhwaite, W. (eds.) The Wiley Encyclopedia of Social Theory. Series: Wiley Blackwell encyclopedias in social sciences (2908). Wiley-Blackwell: West Sussex, United Kingdom. ISBN 9781118430866 (doi:10.1002/9781118430873.est0532)

Picker, G. (2017) Post-socialist Europe and its “Constitutive Outside”: ethnographic resemblances for a comparative research agenda. In: Krase, J. and Uherek, Z. (eds.) Diversity and Local Contexts: Urban Space, Borders, and Migration. Series: Palgrave studies in urban anthropology. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, pp. 39-53. ISBN 9783319539515 (doi:10.1007/978-3-319-53952-2_3)

Pasquetti, S. and Picker, G. (2017) Urban informality and confinement: toward a relational framework. International Sociology, 32(4), pp. 532-544. (doi: 10.1177/0268580917701605)

Picker, G. (2017) Rethinking ethnographic comparison: two cities, five years, one ethnographer. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 46(3), pp. 263-284. (doi: 10.1177/0891241614548105)

Picker, G. (2017) Racial Cities: Governance and the Segregation of Romani People in Urban Europe. Series: Routledge advances in sociology. Routledge: London ; New York. ISBN 9781138808782

2016

Picker, G. (2016) ‘That neighbourhood is an ethnic bomb!’ The emergence of an urban governance apparatus in Western Europe. European Urban and Regional Studies, 23(2), pp. 136-148. (doi: 10.1177/0969776413502659)

Picker, G. (2016) Christopher D. Lloyd, Ian G. Shuttleworth, and David W. Wong (eds), Social-spatial segregation. Concepts, processes and outcomes. Urban Research and Practice, 9(2), pp. 226-228. (doi: 10.1080/17535069.2016.1190511)[Book Review]

2015

Picker, G. (2015) Expulsions: Brutality and Complexity in the Global Economy. Urban Studies, 52(9), pp. 1742-1745. (doi: 10.1177/0042098015580755)[Book Review]

Picker, G. (2015) Sedentarizzazione e 'diritto al nomadismo': la genesi dei campi nomadi. Historia Magistra: Rivista di Storia Critica, 18, pp. 73-84.

Picker, G. , Greenfields, M. and Smith, D. (2015) Colonial refractions: the ‘Gypsy camp’ as a spatio-racial political technology. City: Analysis of Urban Trends, Culture, Theory, Policy, Action, 19(5), pp. 741-752. (doi: 10.1080/13604813.2015.1071123)

Picker, G. and Pasquetti, S. (2015) Durable camps: the state, the urban, the everyday. City: Analysis of Urban Trends, Culture, Theory, Policy, Action, 19(5), pp. 681-688. (doi: 10.1080/13604813.2015.1071122)

2014

Picker, G. (2014) Gypsies and Travellers in Housing: the Decline of Nomadism, by David Smith and Margaret Greenfields. Bristol: Policy Press, 2013. Roma Rights, 2014(1), pp. 113-114. [Book Review]

Picker, G. and Roccheggiani, G. (2014) Abnormalising minorities. The state and expert knowledge addressing the Roma in Italy. Identities, 21(2), pp. 185-201. (doi: 10.1080/1070289X.2013.854719)

2013

Picker, G. (2013) “Ţiganu-i ţigan”: verbal icons and urban marginality in a post-socialist European city. Civilisations, 62(1 & 2), pp. 51-70. (doi: 10.4000/civilisations.3271)

Picker, G. (2013) Policy logic and the spatial segregation of Roma in Europe. The cases of Florence and Cluj-Napoca. In: Zincone, G. and Ponzo, I. (eds.) How European Cities Craft Immigrant Integration: Something to Learn. Foundation for European Progressive Studies, pp. 40-57. ISBN 9788889988688

Picker, G. (2013) Sedentarisation and 'the right to nomadism': the urban and regional fabric of nomad camps in Italy (1967-1995). Zeitgeschichte, 40(5), pp. 276-286.

2012

Picker, G. (2012) Racial Criminalization of Migrants in the 21st Century by Salvatore Palidda. Critical Sociology, 38(2), pp. 333-335. (doi: 10.1177/0896920511435762)[Book Review]

Picker, G. (2012) Left-wing progress? Neo-nationalism and the case of Romany migrants in Italy. In: Stewart, M. (ed.) The Gypsy ‘Menace’: Populism and the New Anti-Gypsy Politics. Hurst & Co.: London, pp. 81-94. ISBN 9781849042192

Picker, G. (2012) Policy Worlds: Anthropology and the Analysis of Contemporary Power. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 35(4), pp. 780-781. (doi: 10.1080/01419870.2011.639792)[Book Review]

Picker, G. (2012) Territori postcoloniali ai limiti. I campi per rom in Italia e Francia tra doxa e storia. In: Ceva, E. and Galeotti, A. E. (eds.) Lo spazio del rispetto. Series: Ricerca. Bruno Mondadori: Milano, pp. 96-121. ISBN 9788861598126

2011

Picker, G. (2011) Rom e Sinti in Italia. Tra stereotipi e diritti negati, and Politiche possibili. Abitare le città con i Rom e i Sinti. Modern Italy, 16(3), pp. 398-401. (doi: 10.1080/13532944.2011.586546)[Book Review]

Picker, G. (2011) Inclusione, esclusione, enclusione. Per un'etnografia della governance di rom migranti in Italia. In: Baldin, S. and Zago, M. (eds.) Il mosaico Rom: specificità culturali e governance multilivello. Series: Collana ISMU (46). Franco Angeli: Milano, pp. 77-87. ISBN 9788856844719

Picker, G. (2011) Nomads’ land? Political cultures and nationalist stances vis-à-vis Roma in Italy. In: Stewart, M. and Rövid, M. (eds.) Multi-Disciplinary Approaches to Romany Studies. Central European University Press: Budapest, pp. 211-227. ISBN 9786155053160

Picker, G. (2011) Tra inclusione ed esclusione. Una storia sociale dell'educazione dei rom e dei sinti in Italia. Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 16(5), pp. 735-737. (doi: 10.1080/1354571X.2011.622488)[Book Review]

Picker, G. (2011) Welcome ‘in’. Left-wing Tuscany and Romani migrants (1987–2007). Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 16(5), pp. 607-620. (doi: 10.1080/1354571X.2011.622469)

2010

Picker, G. (2010) Romani Politics in Contemporary Europe. Poverty, Ethnic Mobilization and the Neoliberal Order. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 33(9), pp. 1677-1679. (doi: 10.1080/01419870.2010.510902)[Book Review]

2009

Picker, G. (2009) Inclusionary Rhetoric / Exclusionary Practices. Left-wing Politics and Migrants in Italy. Davide Però, New York: Berghahn Books, 2007, ISBN: 978-1-84545-157-8. Anthropology in Action, 16(3), pp. 69-70. (doi: 10.3167/aia.2009.160307)[Book Review]

Picker, G. (2009) Inclusionary Rhetoric / Exclusionary Practices. Left-wing Politics and Migrants in Italy. Davide Però, New York: Berghahn Books, 2007, ISBN: 978-1-84545-157-8. [Italian Translation]. Studi Emigrazione, XVII(3), pp. 56-57. [Book Review]

2006

Picker, G. (2006) Fieldwork between distance and intimacy: reflections on a photo exhibition on the streets. Achab: Rivista di Antropologia, 9, pp. 33-42.

2005

Picker, G. (2005) Le due rive di Mitrovica: il ponte sul fiume Ibar/Ibër come frontiera interna. Conflitti Globali(2), pp. 119-129.

This list was generated on Thu Jun 4 23:15:43 2020 BST.
Jump to: Articles | Books | Book Sections | Book Reviews | Edited Books
Number of items: 38.

Articles

Ghebremariam Tesfau', M. and Picker, G. (2020) The Italian postracial archive. Ethnic and Racial Studies, (doi: 10.1080/01419870.2020.1730924) (Early Online Publication)

Murji, K. and Picker, G. (2019) Race and place. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 39(11/12), pp. 913-922. (doi: 10.1108/IJSSP-10-2019-0203)

Picker, G. (2019) Sovereignty beyond the state: exception and informality in a Western European city. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 43(3), pp. 576-581. (doi: 10.1111/1468-2427.12704)

Picker, G. , Murji, K. and Boatcă, M. (2019) Racial urbanities: towards a global cartography. Social Identities, 25(1), pp. 1-10. (doi: 10.1080/13504630.2017.1418606)

Pasquetti, S. and Picker, G. (2017) Urban informality and confinement: toward a relational framework. International Sociology, 32(4), pp. 532-544. (doi: 10.1177/0268580917701605)

Picker, G. (2017) Rethinking ethnographic comparison: two cities, five years, one ethnographer. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 46(3), pp. 263-284. (doi: 10.1177/0891241614548105)

Picker, G. (2016) ‘That neighbourhood is an ethnic bomb!’ The emergence of an urban governance apparatus in Western Europe. European Urban and Regional Studies, 23(2), pp. 136-148. (doi: 10.1177/0969776413502659)

Picker, G. (2015) Sedentarizzazione e 'diritto al nomadismo': la genesi dei campi nomadi. Historia Magistra: Rivista di Storia Critica, 18, pp. 73-84.

Picker, G. , Greenfields, M. and Smith, D. (2015) Colonial refractions: the ‘Gypsy camp’ as a spatio-racial political technology. City: Analysis of Urban Trends, Culture, Theory, Policy, Action, 19(5), pp. 741-752. (doi: 10.1080/13604813.2015.1071123)

Picker, G. and Pasquetti, S. (2015) Durable camps: the state, the urban, the everyday. City: Analysis of Urban Trends, Culture, Theory, Policy, Action, 19(5), pp. 681-688. (doi: 10.1080/13604813.2015.1071122)

Picker, G. and Roccheggiani, G. (2014) Abnormalising minorities. The state and expert knowledge addressing the Roma in Italy. Identities, 21(2), pp. 185-201. (doi: 10.1080/1070289X.2013.854719)

Picker, G. (2013) “Ţiganu-i ţigan”: verbal icons and urban marginality in a post-socialist European city. Civilisations, 62(1 & 2), pp. 51-70. (doi: 10.4000/civilisations.3271)

Picker, G. (2013) Sedentarisation and 'the right to nomadism': the urban and regional fabric of nomad camps in Italy (1967-1995). Zeitgeschichte, 40(5), pp. 276-286.

Picker, G. (2011) Welcome ‘in’. Left-wing Tuscany and Romani migrants (1987–2007). Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 16(5), pp. 607-620. (doi: 10.1080/1354571X.2011.622469)

Picker, G. (2006) Fieldwork between distance and intimacy: reflections on a photo exhibition on the streets. Achab: Rivista di Antropologia, 9, pp. 33-42.

Picker, G. (2005) Le due rive di Mitrovica: il ponte sul fiume Ibar/Ibër come frontiera interna. Conflitti Globali(2), pp. 119-129.

Books

Picker, G. (2017) Racial Cities: Governance and the Segregation of Romani People in Urban Europe. Series: Routledge advances in sociology. Routledge: London ; New York. ISBN 9781138808782

Book Sections

Picker, G. and Vivaldi, E. (2019) Racial segregation: camps for Roma and slums in Italy. In: Cortés Gómez, I. and End, M. (eds.) Dimensions of Antigypsyism in Europe. Series: ENAR Anti-Racism in Focus, 3. European Network Against Racism aisbl (ENAR) and the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma: Brussels, Belgium, pp. 180-197. ISBN 9782960130829

Picker, G. (2018) Conclusion: (re)centring labour, class, and race. In: Vincze, E., Petrovici, N., Raț, C. and Picker, G. (eds.) Radicalized Labour in Romania: Spaces of Marginality at the Periphery of Global Capitalism. Series: Neighborhoods, communities and urban marginality. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, pp. 207-226. ISBN 9783319762722 (doi:10.1007/978-3-319-76273-9_8)

Picker, G. (2017) Social inclusion/exclusion. In: Turner, B. S., Chang, K.-s., Epstein, C. F., Kvisto, P., Ryan, J. M. and Outhwaite, W. (eds.) The Wiley Encyclopedia of Social Theory. Series: Wiley Blackwell encyclopedias in social sciences (2908). Wiley-Blackwell: West Sussex, United Kingdom. ISBN 9781118430866 (doi:10.1002/9781118430873.est0532)

Picker, G. (2017) Post-socialist Europe and its “Constitutive Outside”: ethnographic resemblances for a comparative research agenda. In: Krase, J. and Uherek, Z. (eds.) Diversity and Local Contexts: Urban Space, Borders, and Migration. Series: Palgrave studies in urban anthropology. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, pp. 39-53. ISBN 9783319539515 (doi:10.1007/978-3-319-53952-2_3)

Picker, G. (2013) Policy logic and the spatial segregation of Roma in Europe. The cases of Florence and Cluj-Napoca. In: Zincone, G. and Ponzo, I. (eds.) How European Cities Craft Immigrant Integration: Something to Learn. Foundation for European Progressive Studies, pp. 40-57. ISBN 9788889988688

Picker, G. (2012) Left-wing progress? Neo-nationalism and the case of Romany migrants in Italy. In: Stewart, M. (ed.) The Gypsy ‘Menace’: Populism and the New Anti-Gypsy Politics. Hurst & Co.: London, pp. 81-94. ISBN 9781849042192

Picker, G. (2012) Territori postcoloniali ai limiti. I campi per rom in Italia e Francia tra doxa e storia. In: Ceva, E. and Galeotti, A. E. (eds.) Lo spazio del rispetto. Series: Ricerca. Bruno Mondadori: Milano, pp. 96-121. ISBN 9788861598126

Picker, G. (2011) Inclusione, esclusione, enclusione. Per un'etnografia della governance di rom migranti in Italia. In: Baldin, S. and Zago, M. (eds.) Il mosaico Rom: specificità culturali e governance multilivello. Series: Collana ISMU (46). Franco Angeli: Milano, pp. 77-87. ISBN 9788856844719

Picker, G. (2011) Nomads’ land? Political cultures and nationalist stances vis-à-vis Roma in Italy. In: Stewart, M. and Rövid, M. (eds.) Multi-Disciplinary Approaches to Romany Studies. Central European University Press: Budapest, pp. 211-227. ISBN 9786155053160

Book Reviews

Picker, G. (2018) Kristina Graaf and Noa Ha (eds). 2015. Street Vending in the Neoliberal City: A Global Perspective on the Practices and Policies of a Marginalized Economy. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books. Urbanities, 8(1), pp. 80-81. [Book Review]

Picker, G. (2016) Christopher D. Lloyd, Ian G. Shuttleworth, and David W. Wong (eds), Social-spatial segregation. Concepts, processes and outcomes. Urban Research and Practice, 9(2), pp. 226-228. (doi: 10.1080/17535069.2016.1190511)[Book Review]

Picker, G. (2015) Expulsions: Brutality and Complexity in the Global Economy. Urban Studies, 52(9), pp. 1742-1745. (doi: 10.1177/0042098015580755)[Book Review]

Picker, G. (2014) Gypsies and Travellers in Housing: the Decline of Nomadism, by David Smith and Margaret Greenfields. Bristol: Policy Press, 2013. Roma Rights, 2014(1), pp. 113-114. [Book Review]

Picker, G. (2012) Racial Criminalization of Migrants in the 21st Century by Salvatore Palidda. Critical Sociology, 38(2), pp. 333-335. (doi: 10.1177/0896920511435762)[Book Review]

Picker, G. (2012) Policy Worlds: Anthropology and the Analysis of Contemporary Power. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 35(4), pp. 780-781. (doi: 10.1080/01419870.2011.639792)[Book Review]

Picker, G. (2011) Rom e Sinti in Italia. Tra stereotipi e diritti negati, and Politiche possibili. Abitare le città con i Rom e i Sinti. Modern Italy, 16(3), pp. 398-401. (doi: 10.1080/13532944.2011.586546)[Book Review]

Picker, G. (2011) Tra inclusione ed esclusione. Una storia sociale dell'educazione dei rom e dei sinti in Italia. Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 16(5), pp. 735-737. (doi: 10.1080/1354571X.2011.622488)[Book Review]

Picker, G. (2010) Romani Politics in Contemporary Europe. Poverty, Ethnic Mobilization and the Neoliberal Order. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 33(9), pp. 1677-1679. (doi: 10.1080/01419870.2010.510902)[Book Review]

Picker, G. (2009) Inclusionary Rhetoric / Exclusionary Practices. Left-wing Politics and Migrants in Italy. Davide Però, New York: Berghahn Books, 2007, ISBN: 978-1-84545-157-8. Anthropology in Action, 16(3), pp. 69-70. (doi: 10.3167/aia.2009.160307)[Book Review]

Picker, G. (2009) Inclusionary Rhetoric / Exclusionary Practices. Left-wing Politics and Migrants in Italy. Davide Però, New York: Berghahn Books, 2007, ISBN: 978-1-84545-157-8. [Italian Translation]. Studi Emigrazione, XVII(3), pp. 56-57. [Book Review]

Edited Books

Vincze, E., Petrovici, N., Raț, C. and Picker, G. (Eds.) (2018) Racialized Labour in Romania: Spaces of Marginality at the Periphery of Global Capitalism. Series: Neighborhoods, communities and urban marginality. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham. ISBN 9783319762722

This list was generated on Thu Jun 4 23:15:43 2020 BST.

Supervision

I would like to hear from students considering a Ph.D. on subjects relating to any, or a combination, of the following areas:

  • Urban Sociology (housing; urban informality; urban marginality; urban social movements; urban cultures; urban political economy; colonial and postcolonial urbanism)
  • Race Critical Theories (everyday racism; the racial state; nationalism; racial neoliberalism; the postracial)
  • Socialism and Postsocialism in Europe (post-1989 "transitions"; urban history and sociology; Postsocialism in Western Europe)
  • Ethnographic Theory (reflexivity; comparison; emic vs. etic; ethnographic selves)
  • Anthropology of the State (decision-making processes; street-level bureaucracy; socio-legal studies)

On my website there are additional information which might be helpful. I am happy to informally discuss via email on a possible Ph.D. research idea.


Teaching

2019-2020

Global Inequalities (UG) - Semester 1

Racial Justice and the City (PGT) - Semester 1

Ethno-graphing Race and Racism (SH) - Semester 2


Additional information

 

  • I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • I am the coordinator for Central and Eastern Europe and Russia of the Summer School on Black Europe: Interrogating Citizenship, Race and Ethnic Relations. The 13th edition of the Summer School will take place June 21st-July 3rd, 2020. Applications open in October 2019. For any information on the Summer School, please email me. All details here: blackeurope.org
  • More information on my work is available on my personal website.


Giovanni Picker