Introduction: The Role of the Romanies: Images and Counter-Images

Summary

The history of the representations and self-representations of Romany culture can be seen in terms of a dramatic analogy, as a series of negotiations between the Romany actor or role-player and the gadzo (non- Romany) author (and vice versa). These negotiations result in the hybrid images under investigation in this volume and raise questions about the nature of roles and role-playing.

It might seem unorthodox to apply the notion of ‘role’ to the analysis and interpretation of the way in which Romany culture presents itself and is presented in a predominantly gadzo environment. For this is really an ethnic and cultural issue, whereas a ‘role’ tends to be a sociological rather than a cultural concept. Roles may be understood as ‘socially defined expectations that a person in a given social position follows’, or as sociology's fundamental tool for describing and analysing the behavioural interface between the individual and society. Yet roles in this sense are more than just repeated predictable behaviour patterns exhibited by individuals in a group or other context.

Definitions of role share a common origin in the world of drama. The role played may be viewed as the locus of conflicting energies. To play a role in society means to make a compromise between the constraints that a social system of roles imposes on the individual performer, and the ways in which self-realization is achieved. The actors, or role-players, may have varying degrees of freedom in the performance of the role, and the status of the (absent) author of the script will vary. Improvisation may dominate or be inadmissible.

In the English language the phrase ‘to play a role’ can be applied to two diametrically opposed activities. On the one hand it can mean ‘to be a significant part of an enterprise’, and on the other hand it can be used to mean ‘to act out a role imposed by a third party’. These two possible interpretations are of crucial importance when it comes to examining the role or roles played by the Romanies in Europe over the centuries. The matter is further complicated by the fact that it is possible for a person or group of people to be ‘playing a role’ in both senses outlined above.