Közvetítő kereskedelem, migráció és az etnicitás politikája
Intermediary trade, migration and politics of ethnicity

Strategies of subsistence among the Romanian Gabor Roma

Summary/Abstract: The study summarizes the author’s field experience regarding the most widespread strategies of subsistence among the Romanian Gabor Roma. Through a series of examples, it demonstrates how Gabor traders adapt themselves – most, successfully – to the new economic and social challenges that have emerged in the post socialist transformation. The study also delineates and analyzes how the politics of ethnicity is employed in their strategies of subsistence. It aims to make the economic practices through which the Gabors earn their living more “visible” (thereby demystifying the process of “production”) and counterbalancing and complimenting the dominance of “consumption” which characterized the author’s earlier studies concerning of the prestige economy of the Gabor Roma. Furthermore, the study may help to deconstruct negative ethnic stereotypes regarding the strategies of subsistence and work ethic of the Roma, such as “Roma are lazy”, and, as a result, it may contribute to the destigmatization of Roma in everyday – media and other – discourses.

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