Envy, Corruption and ‘Hard Racism’: Studying Antigypsyism as an Ideological Fantasy

Abstract

Antigypsyism has been frequently said to be a racist ideology. However, although some studies have engaged with the ‘racist’ component of the thesis, almost no work has been done in terms of specifying what ideology is and how a certain conception of it can enhance the understanding of antigypsyism both as a concept and empirical phenomenon. This paper explores the potential of the Lacanian theory of ideology as exemplified by Slavoj Žižek for developing antigypsyism research. Overcoming the problem of false consciousness, Žižek’s conception offers an analytical framework that allows re-examining and elaborating on certain issues from the perspective which weaves social and psychic realities without falling into the traps of psychological reductionism. To illustrate this, this paper presents a Žižekian analysis of three issues that correspond to different aspects of the antigypsyist phenomenon identified via ethnographic research among the non-Roma inhabitants of a declining neighbourhood with a significant Roma presence in Czechia. The issues are called envy, corruption and ‘hard racism’.

Gang in translation: Official and vernacular representations of a “Roma” drug gang in Czechia

“…The case of the Novák collective, where the Bulgarian ethnicity of some of its members was emphasized while the Roma identity of others was eclipsed, demonstrates how ascribing certain ethnic or racial categories to gangs reflects existing symbolic hierarchies. In this regard, racialization (Alexander, 2004; Hallsworth and Young, 2008) represents a complex process in which the use value of certain ethnic or racial attributes is assessed regardless of the (self) identification of the individuals being defined (see also Walach, 2020).…”

“…First, a homogenising and essentialising perception of specific social groups under the stigma of ‘Gypsies’ or other related terms; second, the assignment of characteristics to those stigmatised in the manner underlining their deviance from the majority society; third, structural discrimination and subjection to violence resulting from general ascendancy to the attributes discerned above’ (End, 2014: 77; cf. Walach, 2020).…”