Negotiating Identity Politics:Emerging Roma Ethnogenesis in the Post-Socialist States of South Eastern and Central Eastern Europe
Negotiating Identity Politics:Emerging Roma Ethnogenesis in the Post-Socialist States of South Eastern and Central Eastern Europe

Summary/Abstract: This article examines how the Roma population, currently Europe’s largest minority, has fared since the collapse of communism. It also considers how Roma elite throughout South Eastern and Central Eastern Europe are attempting to address the diverse challengesRoma communities face through local and international political mobilization.There is an effort underway to construct a new identity, or ethnogenesis, among the Roma elite which will effectively distance the negative and stereotyped images that have existed historically. This, in turn, could bring about a sense of empowerment both at the local, national and regional levels of society. In conclusion, a critique of Roma ethnogenesis will question its effectiveness and whether areas for further concrete action exist for Roma activists to embark upon.

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