Romania and EUrope: Roma, Rroma and Tigani as sites for the contestation of ethno-national identities

Patterns of Prejudice

Volumn 41, Issue 5, 2007, Pages 493-515

  Woodcock, Shannon ^a  

^a LA TROBE UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

Author keywords

Ethnicity; European Union; Human rights; Identity Formation; Nationalism; Roma; Romania; Rroma

Indexed keywords

EID: 35948993529     PISSN: 0031322X     EISSN: 14617331     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00313220701657294     Document Type: Article

References (108)

1. Lia Lucia Epure, 'Rromania', Ziua de Vest, 16 November 2002. All translations from the Romanian are by the author unless otherwise stated.
2. Epure's second article (Ziua de Vest, 27 November 2002) was entitled 'Tevez baftalo!', a misspelling of a Romanes-language phrase. For email protests, the organization of a campaign to combat racism in the Romanian mass media, an article concerning the legality of Epure's statements, and Epure's articles and letters of support from Romanian journalists, see the archives of the Forrom e-group, 16-29 November 2002, formerly freely available on the Romanothan website at www.romanothan.ro/cgi-bin/forrom, now accessible via the site's managers.
3. Epure, 'Tevez baftalo!'. Epure considers herself a veteran of free speech campaigns and, in her replies to protesters, she equates anti-discrimination legislation with governmental repression of the constitutional right to free speech. See Reporters without Borders, 'Annual report 2003', available at www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=6528 (viewed 28 July 2007).
4. I write 'EUrope' to signify the particular temporality of the political, conceptual and geographic entity of nations united in their mutual acceptance of each other in the European Union, a new stage in the signification of European civilization and culture. EUropean identity is produced through the articulation in institutional and social codes of who, and what kind of behaviour, is not EUropean enough to belong, through discourses consistent with historically developed tropes of Western European national civilizations as superior to other (Eastern) cultures in Europe. For a detailed study of EUropean discursive Othering of formerly socialist Eastern Europe, see József Böröcz and Melinda Kovács (eds), Empire's New Clothes: Unveiling EU Enlargement (Telford, Shropshire: Central Europe Review 2001), e-book available online at www.rci.rutgers.edu/~eu/Empire.pdf (viewed 28 July 2007).
5. See also József Böröcz, 'Goodness is elsewhere: the rule of European difference', Comparative Studies in Society and History, vol. 48, no. 1, January 2006, 110-38.
6. The research for this paper was conducted as part of my doctoral dissertation that traced the catalytic role of the Ţigan Other at crucial moments of the Romanian ethnonation, from the formation of the modern state in the nineteenth century, in the oral culture of Romanian-speaking peasants, under socialism and in gendered public space interactions in the post-socialist period. I do not italicize the word 'Ţigan' because my work takes this noun as a unique object. The Ţigan Other shares some stereotypical constructions with the English-speaking world's pejorative 'Gypsy', but it is not the same. For specific examples, see Shannon Woodcock, 'Gen, Etnie şi Spatiu. Discursuri despre Violenta sexualǎ asupra femeii în Bucureşti', in Alin Ciupalǎ (ed.), Despre femei şi Istoria lor în România (Bucharest: Editura Noua 2004), 180-93,
7. and Shannon Woodcock, 'Romanian women's discourses of sexual violence: Othered ethnicities and gendering spaces', in Janet Elise Johnson and Jean C. Robinson (eds), Living Gender after Communism (Bloomington: Indiana University Press 2007).
8. As this paper deals with Romanian discursive reliance on a fantastic projected Ţigan Other for ethno-national identity, I do not address except in passing the myriad dynamic ways that Romanian Romani activists deal with constant interpellation as Ţigani in Romanian stereotypical discourse. Organized and political Romani activism in Romania has a history dating back to the 1920s; for a thorough study of Romani activism on an international scale, see Ilona Klímová-Alexander, The Romani Voice in World Politics: The United Nations and Non-State Actors (Aldershot: Ashgate 2005).
9. Mircea Vasilescu, 'Nu este importantǎ viteza cu care are loe acest proces, ci calitatea lui', Dilema, no. 531, June 2003 (an interview with Jonathan Scheele).
10. Romani CRISS (Centrul Romilor pentru Intervenţie Sociala şi Studii), Raportul de la Punctul de contact al asociaţiilor romilor cu presa (Bucharest: Romani CRISS 2000), 8-18;
11. Project on Ethnic Relations (PER), Images and Issues: Coverage of the Roma in the Mass Media in Romania (Princeton, NJ: PER 1997).
12. Under EU pressure, the Romanian government adopted Ordinance 137 on the Prevention and Punishment of All Forms of Discrimination in August 2000, but did not provide funding for the formation of a body to implement the legislation until 2002 when the National Council against Discrimination was established. Despite its being grossly underfunded and overtaxed, the existence of this body caused a major public (opposition) debate and enabled NGO protests against media racism to carry some weight. The legislation fails to address a range of discriminatory practices and is impeded by a lack of legal professionals well versed in its particulars. See Romanita Iordache and Andreea Tabacu, 'Not yet viable: anti-discrimination action in Romania', Roma Rights Quarterly, no. 1-2, 2003.
13. See also Ina Zoon, La Periferia societǎtii: Rromii şi serviciile publice în România (Cluj-Napoca: Centrul de Resurse pentru Comunitǎtile de Romi 2001), 23-48.
14. The survey was conducted in 2001 (referred to hereafter as 'University of Bucharest Survey') and is available in electronic form from the author.
15. Adrian Favell and Randall Hansen, 'Markets against politics: migration, EU enlargement and the idea of Europe', Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, vol. 28, no. 4, October 2002, 581-601.
16. Bogdan Chireac, 'Cerşetorii despart Parisul de Bucureşti?', Adevǎrul, 1 October 2002.
17. Ibid.
18. Mirel Bran, 'Les Tsiganes handicapés, de la Roumanie à l'Europe des riches', Le Monde, 13 July 2002.
19. A search of the electronic archives of La Tribune showed that there were 7 articles in 2002 that concerned the deportation of Romanians or Romanian human trafficking in France, and none using the search term 'Tsiganes'. The 26 articles found in Le Figaro were listed using the heading 'Romanian' and the search term 'Tsiganes' recovered only 3 articles concerning illegal activities in France. The French right-wing press included articles on many cultural topics (music, film, dance, festivals) under the heading 'Tsiganes', as did the other newspapers.
20. The articles in the French press usually noted the fact that 'les Tsiganes' found this term offensive and preferred to be called 'Rom', even as they continued to use 'les Tsiganes'.
21. 'Huit cents Roumains bientôt expulsés d'Ile-de-France', Le Figaro, 16 October 2002.
22. '800 de ţigani romani, trimisi acasa din Franta', Libertatea, 17 October 2002.
23. The quotes, in order, were taken from: 'Romania ca o satra de Ţiganii?', Evenimentul Zilei, 18 October 2002;
24. 'Dictionarul "Petit Robert 2002" prezirlta Romania printr-o poza cu satra de ţigani', A.M. Press, 20 December 2002;
25. Senator Gheorghe Pruteanu, quoted in Mirel Bran, 'Grosse colère de la Roumanie contre Le Petit Robert', Le Monde, 9 February 2003.
26. 'Romania ca o satra de Ţiganii?'.
27. Thereby 'othering' Ţigani the same way that EUrope 'others' candidate countries. There is, however, an awareness of European anti-racism literature among Romanian elites.
28. This has been acknowledged at various conferences and meetings between Roma and journalists.
29. See the discussions by Vasile Ionescu and Nicolae Gheorghe in Romani CRISS, Raportul de la Punctul de contact al asociatiilor romilor cu presa.
30. Newspapers with correspondents in Paris were the first to publish articles about the repatriations. The seven articles were: 'Circuitul rromilor in Europa', Cotidianul, 4 December 2002;
31. Dan Burlac, 'Ghetoul Ţiganilor romani, "ras" de politia franceza', Evenimentul Zilei, 4 December 2002;
32. Oana Mihai, 'Ieri a inceput evecuarea unei tabere de Ţiganii romani din Franta', Ultima Orǎ, 4 December 2002;
33. '22 de Ţiganii au fost expulzati din Franta', published in both Azi and Curentul, 5 December 2002;
34. Dan Vacile, 'Franta a mai expulzat 22 de Ţiganii romani', Gardianul, 5 December 2002;
35. E. N., Ţiganii usuiti din Franta', Curierul National, 5 December 2002;
36. and 'Escala speciala pentru ţiganii trimişi din Franţa', Curierul National, 5 December 2002.
37. 'Se-ntoarce acasa diaspora interlopa', Jurnalul National, 17 December 2002;
38. and Nicolae Militaru, 'Pentru infractiuni comise in lumea larga', Adevǎrul, 23 December 2002.
39. 'Circuitul rromilor in Europa'; Mihai, 'Ieri a inceput evacuarea unei tabere de Tiganii romani din Franta'; '22 de Tiganii au fost expulzati din Franta'; Vacile, 'Franta a mai expulzat 22 de Tiganii romani'; 'Escala speciala pentru ţiganii trimişi din Franta'. See also PER, Roma and the Law: Demythologizing the Gypsy Criminality Stereotype (Princeton, NJ: PER 2000).
40. Eugen Ciufu, 'Doar trei tari au ramas "neatacate"; Suedia, Danemarca şi Norvegia', Curentul, 17 October 2002.
41. University of Bucharest Survey, 2001, respondent no. 100.
42. Andrei Badin, '81 de Ţiganii vor fi expulzati din Franta', România Liberǎ, 13 February 2003, and Burlac, 'Ghetoul Ţiganilor romani "ras" de politia franceza'.
43. Lucian Boia, Romania: Borderland of Europe, trans. from the Romanian by James Brown (London: Reaktion 2001), 219.
44. See the author's unpublished paper, 'The Ţigan bişnitari as post-revolutionary thief, 2005.
45. Sorin Cehan, "Ţiganii román urmarit de carabinieri cu elicopteru', Evenimentul Zilei, 17 January 2003.
46. Mirel Bran, 'Une communauté fracture e dans un pays mal en point', Le Monde, 13 July 2002,
47. and Bran, 'Les Tsiganes handicapés, de la Roumanie à l'Europe des riches'.
48. Marin Nicolae, 'Metodologia de investigare a infractiunilor de trafic de persoane, avand ca scop exploatarea activitatii de cersetorie', paper presented at the Eighth Conference of Criminology, Busteni, 31 October 2002.
49. 'Ţiganii nu se repatriaza nici daca primesc bani', Libertatea, 22 January 2003.
50. Eugen Ciufu, 'Pasapoarte trimise din vest pentru a fi falşificate in scopul unor noi migrari: Ţiganii expulzati din europea se reorganizeaza', Curentul, 16 October 2002.
51. Adrian Bucurescu, 'Sondaj de opinie', România Libera, 1 November 2002. The author asked people on the street 'their opinions concerning national minorities in Romania'. 38 Ibid.
52. Quoted in Dragos Popa, 'Romani - Romania - Romanian. The Roma: a challenge to the EU enlargement', unpublished paper presented at the European Community Studies Association-Canada conference, 'Bigger and better? The European Union, enlargement and reform', Toronto, 31 May 2002, 15-16. Also quoted in James A. Goldston, 'Roma rights, Roma wrongs', Foreign Affairs, vol. 81, no. 2, March-April 2002, 146-62.
53. Quoted in 'Problema ţiganilor nu este doar a României, ci a intregii Europe', România Libera, 10 September 2002. See also Nastase's speech 'Romania in the European Union and the future of Europe', delivered at the European Policy Centre, Brussels, 6 June 2002, 5, in which he positions Romania as the external eastern borderland of the EU.
54. Ana Blandiana, 'Criza de Incredere', in Ana Blandiana, Ghicitul in mulţimi (Bucharest: Editura Atlas 2000).
55. Minister for Foreign Affairs Teodor Meleşcanu, Memorandum No. H03/169, January 1995, as cited in Jennifer Tanaka, 'Rroma in Romania struggle for self-identification', 1995, available on the Patrin Web Journal at www.geocities.com/~Patrin/rroma.htm (viewed 29 August 2007).
56. Boia, Romania, 219.
57. University of Bucharest Survey, 2001, respondent no. 32.
58. University of Bucharest Survey, 2001, respondent no. 57.
59. University of Bucharest Survey, 2001, respondent no. 79.
60. Prime Minister Mugur Isǎrescu, Memorandum No. D2/1094, 29 February 2000. It is noteworthy that this memorandum was issued under the Constantinescu government, before Ion Iliescu's return to power later that year. The suggestion of spelling 'Rroma' with the extra (silent) 'r' came from the Romani community at the height of the debate over naming in 1994.
61. Gheorghe Trica, quoted in Bucurescu, 'Sondaj de opinie'.
62. Achim's study is aptly titled, his reading of archival material and numerical facts through the Romanian stereotypical discourses of the Ťigan Other indicates that he has indeed written a history of 'Ţigani in Romania', rather than a history of Roma. Viorel Achim, Ţiganii în istoria Romäniei (Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedicǎ 1998). The English translation of this text was published with the title The Roma in Romanian History, although the contents remained the same as the Romanian edition. In my opinion, the English translation of 'Ţigani' as 'Roma' obfuscates the historically developed context and meaning of the word.
63. Achim, Ţiganii în istoria României, 192. Recognizing Roma as a social group rather than an ethnic group is common in contemporary Europe. Goldston notes that the EU itself chooses to understand Romani communities in this way, as citizens of particular countries who need to be recognized only as minorities discriminated against in a social sense. This approach avoids a discussion of the nature of the stereotypes of the Ţigan as a racial and ethnic Other that are widely used to blame the Roma themselves for their social marginalization.
64. Melanie H. Ram, 'Minority relations in multiethnic societies: assessing the European Union factor in Romania', Romanian Journal of Society and Politics, vol. 1, no. 2, November 2001, 63-90.
65. Protecţia Minoritǎţilor în România (Budapest and New York: Central European University Press 2001), 103.
66. Metro Media Transilvania, Barometrul Relaţiilor Ethnice (Cluj-Napoca: Centrul de Resurse pentru Diversitate Etnoculturalǎ 2001), available online at www.edrc.ro/programe/Prezentare-BARE-2001.pdf (viewed 7 August 2007). The report included details of the project's methodology. The findings showed that 24 per cent of Romanians thought minorities (including Hungarians and Roma) had too many rights, 61 per cent that they had as many rights as they needed, 12 per cent that they had too few rights. For interest, 61 per cent of Roma and 64 per cent of Hungarians thought minorities had too few rights.
67. See the summary of the study in Viorel Anǎstǎsoaie, 'Imaginea Romilor în presa româneasca', in Viorel Anǎstǎsoaie and Daniela Tarnovschi (eds), Proiecte pentru Romii din Romania, 1990-2000 (Cluj-Napoca: Centrul de Resurse pentru Diversitate Etnoculturalǎ 2001), 163-5. As will be addressed, articles classified as 'positive' are often presented in ways that are negative in that Romani traditions are portrayed as primitive, and in opposition to 'civilized' customs.
68. Anǎstǎsoaie, 'Imaginea Romilor în presa româneasca'.
69. Romani CRISS, Raportul de la Punctul de contact al asociaţiilor romilor cu presa, 29-31.
70. For example, the recurring reports that Roma received payments from Germany as compensation for their systematic deportation during the Second World War. These reports not only obfuscated the struggles of Romani NGOs for recognition of the Porrajmos (Holocaust) against Romanian Roma (a struggle that continues with little success), but also generated uncertainty and distrust within the Romanian Romani community. Romani NGO Internet forums are often used to debunk media attacks on individual leaders; see Florin Cioaba's refutation of allegations published in three major newspapers that he received 250 million lei in compensation, 14 February 2003, available in the archives of the Forrom e-group, formerly freely available on the Romanothan website at www.romanothan.ro/cgi-bin/forrom, now accessible via the site's managers.
71. Alina Comşa Durbacǎ, 'Ţigǎncile din Iveşti învaţǎ alfabetai ca sǎ-şi conducǎ decapotabilele', Evenimentul Zilei, 7 November 2001, 3. There was an accompanying photograph showing traditionally dressed women sitting crammed together on undersized benches surrounded by six standing non-Romani men and women, whom we can assume were supervisors or teachers.
72. Ibid.
73. Razvan Popa, 'Satra "metalurgistilor" din Sinteşti nu s-a inchişit de ordonanta lui Nastase', Adevǎrul, 17 December 2002.
74. Epure, 'Tevez baftalo!'.
75. "Ţiganii, o problema doar in Estul Europei: Experimental Speranţa', Cotidianul, 19 October 2001.
76. Dan Oprescu, 'Un pas greşit în directia cea bunǎ: Romania şi minoritǎţile nationale (1990-2000)', Sfera Politicii, no. 87/88, 2001, 46-56.
77. The European Commission concluded in 2002 that Romania did not yet have a functioning market economy; Commission of the European Communities, 2002 Regular Report on Romania's Progress towards Accession, SEC (2002) 1409 (Brussels: European Commission 2002), 129.
78. For the unemployment rate, see the CIA World Factbook 2003, available at www.umsl.edu/services/govdocs/wofact2003/goes/ro.html (viewed 4 October 2007); for the net monthly wage, see 'Earnings 1991-2005', available on the Institutul National de Statistica website at www.insse.ro/cms/rw/pages/ castiguri1991.en.do (viewed 9 August 2007).
79. Katherine Verdery, What Was Socialism, and What Comes Next? (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 1996), 216-20.
80. Teodora Georgescu, 'Prioritate guvernamentalǎ a anului viitor, Nǎstase bagǎ rromi în poliţie', Evenimentul Zilei, 20 December 2001, 6. The headline of the article ('... Nastase wants to recruit Rromi to the police') is quite misleading, as the text itself makes only one reference to Roma being encouraged to enter the police force.
81. Tudor made the remark on a talk show broadcast on Pro TV, 14 November 2000.
82. Andrei Pleşu, 'Unitatea Europeana trebuie reinventata', Revista 22, no. 934/19, 7-13 May 2002.
83. Epure, 'Rromania'.
84. See Vasile Ionescu's comments and the ensuing debate in issues of the daily e-newsletter InfoRrom, formerly freely available on the Romanothan website at www.romanothan.ro, now accessible via the site's managers. In fact, Epure is in a sense correct to claim that Peter Schneider, the President of the European Parliamentary Commission, says the same thing as she does; to paraphrase her article, the difference is that Schneider understands how concepts such as human rights and minorities interact in EUropean discourses so he is able to mobilize them without inviting criticism as readily as a Romanian journalist would. In this way, Epure's argument actually exposes the gap between institutional and legal structures that exclude certain groups from belonging to EUrope and the rhetoric of inclusion and accession to EUrope at the heart of EUropean identity formation. Masked/ embodied in the language of civil society, EUrope is loudly anti-racist even while developing new practices and structures of discrimination.
85. Epure, 'Tevez baftalo!'.
86. Prime Minister Mugur Isǎrescu, Memorandum No. D2/1094, 29 February 2000.
87. Viorel Chita, 'Hai, da ţigane ceva şi lu' asta micu!', Gardianul, 2 October 2002.
88. Ibid.
89. Marian Chiriac, 'De la rrom la om', Dilema, no. 460, 2001.
90. The district was to be named 'Spera', meaning 'Hope'.
91. Livia Cimpoeru, '"The Guardian" din nou despre Români: Ghetoul ţigǎnesc de la Piatra Neamţ comparat cu lagärele de exterminare', Evenimentul Zilei, 5 November 2001, 2.
92. Vaşile Dancu on the Marius Tuca show, 12 October 2001, quoted in Cristian Ghinea, 'Între noi fie vorba, rromii tot ţiganii sînt' Dilema, no. 451, 19 October 2001, 3.
93. Quoted in Ghinea, 'Între noi fie vorba, rromii tot ţiganii sînt'.
94. Ibid.
95. Petru Popovici, 'Dupa modelul Piatra Neamţ: cartier pentru Ţiganii şi la Deva' and 'şi romii din Baia Mare vor fi mutati', Adevǎrul, 13 October 2001, 12 (note the interchanging use of 'Ţigani' and 'Roma').
96. See also Adevǎrul, 16 October 2001, 1;
97. Sergiu Miat, 'Scut viu in jurul palatelor tiganesti', Evenimentul Zilei, 16 October 2001, 6 and Pro TV news broadcasts, 13 October 2001.
98. C. D., 'Adrian Nastatse gloseaza pe tema Ţiganiimii', Adevǎrul, 15 October 2001, 15.
99. Ibid
100. 'Note Bune', Libertatea, 15 October 2001,4. Mädälin Voicu, a Romanian Rom, has been prosecuted by a coalition of Romani NGOs for racism against Roma.
101. Ghinea, 'Între noi fie vorba, rromii tot ţiganii sînt'.
102. Ibid.
103. For a wonderful study of the nature of jokes in post-socialist Russia, see Anna Krylova, 'Saying "Lenin" and meaning "party": subversion and laughter in Soviet and post-Soviet society', in Adele Marie Barker (ed.), Consuming Russia: Popular Culture, Sex, and Society since Gorbachev (Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press 1999), 243-65.
104. For a specifically Romanian discussion of jokes, see the recent number of Dilema dedicated to the theme of socialist-era joke-telling, 'Bulǎ: Trecut, prezent, viitor', Dilema, no. 117, 21 April 2006, available online at www. dilemaveche.ro/index.php?cmd=numar&nr=117 (viewed 9 August 2007).
105. Mihaela Miroiu, Societatea Retro (Bucharest: Editara Trei 1999), 128. Note that the Romanian political scientist Alina Mungiu-Pippidi has also attempted to differentiate between Roma as an authentic ethnic group (with jobs and education) and Tigani as 'a kind of social etiquette' (as beggars and thieves), an approach to this issue that seems confused and problematic.
106. Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Politica dupǎ Comunism (Bucharest: Humanitas 2002), 208.
107. Lucian Dobrater, 'Rromul tot ţigan ramine', Evenimentul Zilei, 12 August 2002.
108. Romani women are simultaneously stereotyped as devoid of maternal instinct, promiscuous whores and as the site of hyper-reproduction, threatening to tip the population balance in favour of the Romani community.