The Gypsy Menace

"The focus here is how the Roma are portrayed in the modern media, notably the prejudice and incitement that is spread. The book also examines the new right in Europe and how it scapegoats Romani people, and how their narrative is finding resonance among governing institutions. It has a particularly strong focus on central and eastern Europe. Each chapter has a different author – they are mostly early career researchers who have entered the area of Romani studies in the last decade or so. In the past, researchers in Romani studies were primarily interested in ethnography and linguistics. Now we have a generation who are more interested in how society deals with Gypsies as a minority, and what that treatment says about that society as a whole. The book’s editor, Michael Stewart, has had a very important role nurturing this generation of early career researchers from all across Europe. He has organised annual summer schools in Romani studies and many of the book’s contributors are graduates of these. The authors show how EU expansion has sparked the search for a new nationalist ideology in many new member states. There is a sense of disappointment with EU membership and there is a frustration and anger, which has been feeding the rise of the new right, with a type of political correctness being imposed on them with its stress on human and minority rights. This frustration often leads to aggression against the Romani minority. They are often the first to lose their jobs because they tend to be less skilled, and also because of general discrimination. Having lost their job they are then accused of being dependent on benefits and a burden on the state and society. Resentment is fuelled further by the traditional image of the Romani people as being work shy. While on this topic – though this is not explicitly discussed in the contributions to the book – we might add that paradoxically, Roma can also be seen as objects of envy. They are perceived to be free from the mundane routines and sexual morality of mainstream society, and their music and lifestyle is perceived as creative and colourful. So, they can be seen as the “other” in a positive rather than just a negative sense – except that positive is exoticised way beyond reality. For example, their supernatural powers are exaggerated. Personally, I know a number of Roma who do, or have in the past, make a living from telling fortunes. But not one of them actually believes there is any truth in their fortune telling, it’s just a business. The people who are actually superstitious are their non-Romani clients. It’s an irony that society projects supernatural powers onto the Roma, but it’s actually an expression of society’s own superstition."