On pride, shame, passing and avoidance: an inquiry into Roma young people’s relationship with their ethnicity

Abstract

Roma ethnicity is one of the most stigmatised identities of today’s Europe. An emerging discourse on ‘Roma pride’ aims to reshape this widespread perception, especially among the educated youth. Drawing on 57 interviews with young people with/in higher education in Romania, this article looks into their experiences of self-identification as Roma. On the one hand, this article identified a tendency for young people to move in a conceptual space, dominated by an understanding of ethnicity as bounded and static. On the other hand, it identified an emerging tendency for flexible, hybrid identifications that deliberately avoid reifying ethnicity (e.g. being a Roma of a different kind and living beyond ethnic labels). The article calls for more informed approaches addressing ethnic identification, which avoid assumptions of stable identification and embrace more complex understandings of the social dynamics involved.

Keywords:

• ethnicity
• Roma minority
• youth
• stigma
• ethnic pride
• Roma middle class

Notes

^1. The history of genocide and slavery was not similar for all Roma, as large groups from Transylvania did not experience it (Gheorghe and Rostas 2012).

^2. Also known as non-profit organisations.

^3. The research was supported by author’s own resources.

^4. Expressions like ‘to affirm/declare/assume ethnicity’ were habitually used by respondents. Yet, such formulas may appear as highly essentialising, failing to serve a constructivist approach. Thus, to avoid treating ethnicity as a ‘given phenomenon’ and not as a ‘process in the making’, this article will put such expressions in the brackets.

^5. A music genre associated with the Romani culture.

^6. Playing or not playing manele is a class and ethnic statement.

^7. Romania applies an affirmative action policy in the form of ‘special places’ for Roma.

^8. Nevertheless, assuming that all educated Roma embrace this attitude is a great injustice done to those growing up in poverty and who resonate with the life situation of their home communities.

^9. Interviewees recalled such experiences in early childhood

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Maria-Carmen Pantea

MARIA-CARMEN PANTEA is Lecturer in the Department of Social Work at ‘Babeş-Bolyai’ University.