Occupation and Ethnicity: Constructing Identity among Professional Romani (Gypsy) Musicians in Romania

Abstract

Based on fieldwork (primarily in southern Romania), this article treats identity-construction among professional male Romani musicians, investigating in particular the discourse that they generate as they maintain their exclusive vocational niche on the boundaries of intersecting ethnic communities. Seeking to establish the influence of Romani musicians as agents in the construction of their own identity, Beissinger discusses notions that Romani musicians provide of non-Roms and other Roms (including other musicians), as well as how they portray surrounding cultural and political phenomena as expressions of their syncretic occupational and ethnic sense of self. Beissinger argues that Romani musicians are unquestionably enclosed by socially inflicted boundaries but are themselves also agents of boundary-making as they articulate connections with and distinctions from the world around them. Throughout, she draws pertinent comparisons with Romani musicians in other east European countries.

Thoroughly Mixed Yet Thoroughly Ethnic: Indexing Class with Ethnonyms

“…Anthropologists often commence their studies of culturally complex communities with explorations of the semiotics of labels associated with the classification of populations (Beissinger ; Galaty ). Even single ethnonyms merit close analysis, with key terms taking on different meanings depending on conversational context (Galaty ; Larson ; Proschan ).…”

“…Because ethnicities exist in systems and salient identities may range in any one setting beyond what in the literature is termed “ethnic” to include or blur into other distinctions and social institutions such as “kinship, clanship, and perhaps even nationality” (Galaty :2; see also Beissinger ), analysis must start with local usage, “grounded in indigenously meaningful categories of social classification” (Galaty :2). While we rarely heard the term “ethnicity,” our interviewees sometimes used the term “ethnic,” especially as a label for the neighborhood as a whole, as when Gloria was talking about it in contrast to other parts of town.…”

Enchanting spaces: echo and reverberation at Romanian popular parties

“…For general data on the l utari, see Beissinger (1991Beissinger ( , 2001, Bonini-Baraldi (2013), Ciobanu (1969), Lortat-Jacob (1994), R dulescu (1984,1988,1997,2004) and Stoichi (2008).…”

“…For a recent discussion see Olivera (2012). For an analysis of l utari's specific position in relation to other Roma groups, see Beissinger (2001).…”

“Good Romanian Gypsy Looking for a Home”. Housing Policies and Politics of Identity among Roma and non-Roma in Turin, Italy

“…In Romania mostly the Roma lautari practice as musicians; this art is based on an informal education, passed on from generation to generation. In musical repertoires there is music that is specifically Roma, popular songs of non-Roma culture, and hybrid musical genres like "manea" which represents a blend of Roma, Balkan, Oriental, and Occidental effects(Beissinger, 2001). …”