Representing Roma: Politics and Culture
Representing Roma: Politics and Culture
Fantasies about Gypsies affect the ways Roma actually live. Stereotype is sometimes dismissed as “only” imagery, but it affects the formulation of state minority policy as well as everyday communication, and thus daily life. The first article in this thematic section, co-written by English sociologist Thomas Acton and Romani activist Nicolae Gheorghe, deals with the political significance of how Roma are categorized or named. It covers both the complexities and advantages of defining Roma as either a national minority or as a transnational one. The authors also emphasize that Roma have had to develop their own group identities within the structures of nationalism, often reproducing them, because this was the only way they could lay claim to any kind of discursive power or bargaining ground. Acton and Gheorghe also suggest that it is time to abandon old notions about nations and national unity to make room for diasporic identities.
The second article is by an American literary critic who compares images of “Gypsies” in German, English and American literature during the last two centuries, up to and including the time of the Second World War. Katie Trumpener argues that Gypsies have been portrayed in much of European literature as if they break the frames of time, exist outside history and thus outside of society. Therefore, picturing Gypsies, as a group, as innately “free” or “resisting” becomes another form of racism. Trumpener makes a chilling argument about ways romantic stereotypes circulated by non-Roma mask, or at least unintentionally elide, atrocities. The fact remains, however, that some romantic images – especially those stressing horses, music or fire to give a few examples – are a source of pride and enjoyment for many Romani people.
In the third essay, Alaina Lemon addresses some of the tensions in reproducing images. Set in present day Moscow, the article traces historical continuities in the reproduction of “Gypsy” stereotypes in film and theatre production. It discusses situations where Roma perform romantic roles as “Gypsies” while Russians direct them: rehearsals and filmshoots. The paper shows that depending on the concrete context, Roma may or may not find pleasure in performing the assigned roles, may resist them by a symbolic exclusion of the Russian director, or may assert Russian identities on the basis of being familiar and intimate with Russian national history, taking pride in their command of Russian language, or experiencing and living Russian popular culture.
The last piece is an interview with Ágnes Daróczi, the editor-in-chief of Hungary’s only nationwide Romani television program, and János Bársony, human right lawyer. In their conversation with Alaina Lemon and Miklós Vörös, they reinsert into the Hungarian context many issues discussed in the previous articles: the politics of representation in teaching history, in creating Roma political organizations, in making documentary films about Romani lives. Ágnes Daróczi also recounts how various filmic representations of Roma affected her life and how she became the chief editor and anchor of the most popular minority television program in Hungary.