Vicente Rodriguez Fernandez

Vicente Rodriguez Fernandez (b. 1988) is a Roma human rights activist, screenwriter, cartoonist, and pop culture enthusiast who has spent much of his life thinking about stories — who gets to tell them, who gets erased from them, and how they shape the world we live in. He currently serves as Co-Director of the Legacies of Empires program at the University of Washington, helping lead transnational academic programs across many European cities. His teaching explores political memory, Romani identity, emotions, and the power of cultural narratives. 

Vicente’s journey began in youth activism. Since 2010, he has been deeply involved in the Dikh He Na Bister initiative, advocating for the recognition of August 2nd as Roma Genocide Remembrance Day. In 2014, together with a small group of friends, he helped mobilize nearly one thousand Roma young people to participate in the official commemoration at Auschwitz-Birkenau — an experience that profoundly shaped his understanding of memory, dignity, and political responsibility. 

Between 2014 and 2015, Vicente traveled for seven months across 17 European countries, visiting Roma communities and conducting more than 140 interviews on hate crime, school segregation, post–World War II memory, faith-based organizing, and grassroots mobilization. Traveling alongside American journalist and psychologist Rebekah Ward, he encountered stories that would later inform both his academic work and his community organizing.
 
He later founded RomaPop, an initiative dedicated to challenging the representation of Roma people in mainstream media and American comics. Through this work, he engaged with members of the U.S. comic book industry and broader cultural institutions in conversations about narrative rights, stereotype, and cultural sovereignty. In 2016, he was recognized by Forbes in its 30 Under 30 list for European policy and social impact. 

Over the years, Vicente has worked to build bridges between Roma youth and other minority communities — including African American, Jewish, Armenian, and Muslim organizations — co-founding initiatives such as Europe of Diasporas. His work consistently moves between academic inquiry, cultural production, and grassroots organizing. 

More recently, he founded the Gitania Film Commission and has participated in the film markets of Berlinale and Cannes, working to connect Roma creators and communities with the international cinema industry and to expand spaces of representation. 

He currently lives in Valencia with his two children, Eddie and Vicky. When he is not teaching, organizing, or writing, he spends his time trying to figure out how to save the world against impossible odds while paying bills and fighting fascism. He sometimes attends his local Romani church — not as often as he should — sometimes a saint, always a rebel, Vicente is always ready for a little bit of chaos.