Parallel to the interest in Roma at the social and political level, Antiziganism has rapidly gained the interest of social sciences since 2000. A copious literature has contributed to decisive breakthroughs in defining the concept and identifying its roots in the history of Europe. However, the debate has mostly developed with “Antiziganism” in singular declension, with the frequent merging together of cases originating in different contexts. After a speedy evolution, theorization shows signs of entering conceptualization redundancy. This thematic section wishes to move beyond the currently prevailing top-down reflection on Antiziganism. It offers the results of public anthropology and interdisciplinary research-actions, carried on in local contexts, in spaces of interaction between the Roma and the non-Roma, and by ethnographers intervening to promote a change. Ethnography of “Antiziganisms” and of the practices which counteract them offer opportunities for revealing the link between antiziganism and other forms of racism, the cognitive and emotional experience of the subjects at play in the specific field and the fuzziness of the dividing lines between their agency. It is finally a chance to experiment with the applicability, adaptability and transferability of disciplinary knowledge.
The migration of Romanian Korturare is analyzed with a focus on the transformation of three aspects of their funerary practices: place of burial, multi-sited funeral celebrations, and the use of communication technologies. This ‘mortuary focus’, which has not previously been applied to studies of international Romani migration, provides a better understanding of the interaction between territorial attachment and international mobility patterns. Observations based on ethnographic fieldwork are complemented by an analysis of social media use, audiovisual materials and a sample of 69 deaths. Localities of origin continue to be the preferred place for burial and collective memorialization, while funerals become multi-sited, involving both host towns and hometowns. The mediatization of death practices reinforces both of these tendencies. The transformation reflects the role of Korturare social organization in the migration process. The broad and densely nested family networks of the Korturare keep the possibility of multidirectional migration open and act as an adaptive resource by reproducing community life abroad. At the same time, they preserve the localities of origin as the common and privileged territory of the symbolic reproduction of family ties.
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