Creolizing subjectivities and relationalities within Roma-gadje research collaborations

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

“…In 2018, Silverman argued that 'collaboration provides more insightful critiques that better resonate with communities', but she also observed that '[i] n Romani Studies, many scholars have done the work of critique but have not necessarily embraced collaboration ' (2018, 83). 4 Post-pandemic, the number of publications co-authored by academics and interlocutors is slowly beginning to grow (Campos and Caldas, 2023;Flores Torres et al, 2023;Montañés Jiménez and Carmona, 2023;Peter and Hrustič, 2023;Țîștea, and Băncuță, 2023;Montañés Jiménez and Gómez Ávila, Chapter 4 this volume;Piemontese and Leoco, Chapter 8 this volume). These transformations are still in their infancy and here the work of Paloma and her collaborator Liria Hernández (Gay y Blasco and Hernández, 2020) has demonstrated potential avenues for others to consider.…”

“…Insights, theoretical tools and methodologies developed since at least the 1970s in connection with the ethics of research with other subaltern groups -especially by feminist ethnographers (for example, Carby, 1982;Spivak, 1988;hooks 1989;Abu-Lughod, 1996) -and with the movement to decolonize the social sciences and to critically engage with race and racialization (for example, Harrison, 1991;Rodríguez et al, 2010) began to be discussed in earnest by GRT and non-GRT scholars working on GRT issues in the years leading up to the pandemic (for example, Tidrick, 2010;Brooks, 2012;Gay y Blasco and de la Cruz, 2012;Mirga-Kruszelnicka, 2015;Stewart, 2017;Fremlova 2022). Key strands of debate coalesced around the so-called 'critical Romani studies' (Bogdan et al, 2018) and around the growing call for and acceptance of collaborative and participatory research (Kazubowki-Houston, 2015;Silverman, 2018;Dunajeva and Vajda, 2021;Piemontese, 2021;Țîștea, and Băncuță, 2023). These debates had already been reflected in our pre-pandemic work, for instance in Paloma's spearheading the development of collaborative ethnography in social anthropology through her reciprocal body of work with Liria Hernández from 2009 onwards (Gay y Blasco and de la Cruz, 2012; Gay y Blasco and Hernández, 2020).…”