Lessons from the margins: roma hidden identity politics and social distance management

Abstract

The research presented in this paper seeks to explore, identify and map, within the respondents' narratives, the hidden strategies used by the members of Roma ethnic community for overcoming the frustrating social setting of (forced and/or voluntary) social distancing. These strategies are, antiintuitively, understood in our research as hidden potential/specific forms of socio-cultural capital, induced by the socio-historical subcultural experience of this ethnic community, with significant transformative potential. Adequate political articulation and proper social support could contribute to the transformation of this potential into tools for empowering Roma ethnic community and to its structural repositioning within the existing societal context of Serbian society. Empirical material was collected through 60 semi-structured in-depth interviews with Roma citizens, conducted in all four geographical-administrative areas of Serbia: (a) Vojvodina, (b) Belgrade region, (c) Sumadija and western Serbia, and (d) southern and eastern Serbia. The research sample was stratified according to: the geographical area in which the respondents live, the type of settlement (urban or rural), gender and age of the respondents. One third of the interviews from the sample were conducted with Roma respondents that were recognized by the members of Roma community as outstanding and/or successful individuals who overcame structural challenges in their personal lives. With reference to the narrative structure of respondents, the analysis identified five most frequent positive identity markers (nonviolence, non-vengefulness, solidarity, family cohesion, openness to other cultures), and the three most frequent negative identity markers (emphasized patriarchy, experience of social isolation and shame on the basis of ethnic origin). These specified identity markers could be interpreted as possible hidden potentials which if relocated to other fields of society, would enable members of the Roma ethnic community to improve their personal and collective structural position within the wider social system, but also as frustrating mechanisms that emphasize the element of isolation and prevent members of Roma ethnic community from integrating into the wider social system. Paradoxically, respondents perceive both identity markers as important elements of their own ethnic identity.