The presentation of social status on a social network: The role of Facebook among the Vlax Romani community of Eastern-Slovak origin in Leicester, UK

Hajská, Markéta

doi:10.3828/rs.2019.6

“…There are similarities in how Roma utilize this online space to other minoritized groups, for example, creating a place to cultivate shared identities and causes (Georgiou, 2006; Grant, 2017). Furthermore, the article contributes to the development of research related to social media use among Roma—an emerging area of research (Hajská, 2019). Through analysis of how Roma in the Czech Republic negotiate identities and expressions of spatial alienation online, the findings of this research provide ways to think through how social media may contribute to creating a sense of belonging among diverse and diffusely situated communities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“The Facebook is a state of Roma”: Negotiating identities, building communities, and belongingness online among Roma in the Czech Republic

Hatef

¹

2022

New Media & Society

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This article examines social media as a site for identity negotiation and community building among Roma in the Czech Republic. As Roma are continually denied authority over the construction of their identities, their Czech-ness, claim to physical spaces, and generally made to feel that they do not belong—both in the material and symbolic sense—this article examines how individual activists and community organizers utilize media as a resource to combat spatial alienation. This ethnographic study pays close attention to the cultivation of community through Facebook groups, the utilization of groups and event pages to organize, and the affordances and challenges of moving online efforts offline. At the same time, this article explores tensions and contradictions of these digital spaces that may involve issues like the lack of resources and the fragmentation of community—and of communal space—by such variables as age, language, and technological access and literacy. Ultimately, this article suggests that social media may embody both emotional and material places manifesting as additional/alternative places to negotiate identities and belonging for Roma in the Czech Republic. The findings of this research carry important implications for those with complicated relationships to home(lands), including geographically displaced people.

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“…A second dimension involves the recognition of the increasing relevance of online sociability for GRT communities, and of online arenas for GRT selfand community-creation, leading to the study of online lives through online participant observation, for example through WhatsApp or Facebook groups (Hajská, 2019). A relevant example here is the work produced by a team of GRT and non-GRT Polish scholars (Fiałkowska et al, 2023) to document and analyse the ways in which Polish Roma migrants dispersed across Europe used social media to construct and sustain kinship and community.…”

Section: Innovations In Research Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Innovation, Collaboration and Engagement: Proposals for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller-related Research

Fotta,

Gay y Blasco

2024

Ethnographic Methods in Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Research

0

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“…A second dimension involves the recognition of the increasing relevance of online sociability for GRT communities, and of online arenas for GRT selfand community-creation, leading to the study of online lives through online participant observation, for example through WhatsApp or Facebook groups (Hajská, 2019). A relevant example here is the work produced by a team of GRT and non-GRT Polish scholars (Fiałkowska et al, 2023) to document and analyse the ways in which Polish Roma migrants dispersed across Europe used social media to construct and sustain kinship and community.…”

Section: Innovations In Research Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethnographic Methods in Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Research

2024

0

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The presentation of social status on a social network: The role of Facebook among the Vlax Romani community of Eastern-Slovak origin in Leicester, UK

Cited by 9 publications

References 26 publications

“The Facebook is a state of Roma”: Negotiating identities, building communities, and belongingness online among Roma in the Czech Republic

“The Facebook is a state of Roma”: Negotiating identities, building communities, and belongingness online among Roma in the Czech Republic

Innovation, Collaboration and Engagement: Proposals for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller-related Research

Ethnographic Methods in Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Research

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