Hol a helye a romáknak az erdélyi egyházakban?: Vallási intézmények és társadalmi integráció

Ebben az írásban arra keresek választ, hogy az erdélyi magyar nyelvű egyházak miként járulhatnak hozzá a társadalmi szolidaritás és a lokális kapcsolatok fejlődéséhez azokban a közösségekben, ahol a gyülekezeteik és segélyszervezeteik révén jelen vannak. A lokális csoportok vallási és nyelvi közössége miként válhat a társadalmi integráció és a békés együttélés alapjává olyan közösségekben, ahol etnikai és kulturális határok húzódnak, illetve olyan helyzetekben, ahol a vallási és nyelvi különbségek is fennállnak? Vizsgálatom fókuszában az erdélyi magyarok és romák kapcsolata áll, az erdélyi történelmi egyházak által működtetett intézményi keretekben

A Generational Divide? Coping With Ethnic Prejudice and Inequality Among Romanian Roma Transnational Returnees

Roma people are likely Europe’s most discriminated and marginalized minority. In the past years, increasing attention has been paid to their migration to Western Europe and their limited social mobility in their countries of destination. Our article focuses on the "post‐return" experiences of Roma and the changes generated by return migration in their communities of origin, a topic largely neglected so far. We build on recent debates around post‐return positionality, asking how adult and old Roma returnees experience return. We thus contribute to the growing literature on return migration and lifecourse that distinguishes between the return migration of children and youth, that of adults, and that of older migrants. Focusing on Roma returnees, we employ an understanding of migration not just as a means of generating resources, but also as a learning process where the Roma population acquires new ideas and a sense of agency and dignity. Informed by long‐term fieldwork in ethnically mixed localities in Romania (including participant observation and 76 semi‐structured interviews), we inquire into the ethnic relations and negotiations between Roma and non‐Roma populations. Migration results in a weakening of the economic dependency of the Roma on the non‐Roma. In this new context, which is still marred by ethnic prejudice and inequality, we analysed how local interethnic relations were reshaped by the returned Roma’s new consumption practices, new modes of communication, and new claims for equality. While adult Roma tend to demand equality and decent treatment, setting in motion a process of ethnic change, older returned Roma tend to maintain more submissive practices

Returnees and their neighbors: Migration of the Romanian Roma, networks, social distance, and local development

Migration has a significant impact on the home communities of the migrants through financial and social remittances. There is an ongoing debate about the effects of migration on local development between proponents of approaches inspired by “development optimism” on the one hand, and those that are focused more on the negative consequences. Our study is focused on the ways mobile Roma are repositioning themselves within two ethnically mixed localities in Transylvania. Returnees take advantage, reorient and navigate between local social categories, challenging them to rely on the resources at their disposal to improve the situation of their families and communities. Social networks facilitate migration and also serve as support for the renegotiation of social categories at home. We distinguish between two main patterns of network development. On the one hand there are localities where network ties crosscut ethnic boundaries and facilitate intense exchanges and communication between different segments of local society. In the other case, network ties tend to be tight between members of the same ethnic category, but ties that cut through ethnic boundaries remain weak. We discuss the implications of these patterns for the local development paths of the home localities of the migrants

Quantitative tales of ethnic differentiation: measuring and using Roma/Gypsy ethnicity in statistical analyses

This paper analyzes the use of ethnicity in quantitative models, focusing on Roma / Gypsy ethnic affiliation. Three research models are identified, together with characteristic measurement and model specification issues. A path model is estimated as a methodological example in order to explore the association of Roma / Gypsy ethnic affiliation with church attendance in Romania, using data from two surveys with national and Roma samples. Direct, mediated and moderated relationships involving ethnic affiliation are highlighted and discussed in relation to the processes of ethnic differentiation. [author's abstract

Was There a ‘Gypsy Problem’ in Socialist Romania? From Suppressing ‘Nationalism’ to Recognition of a National Minority

After the fall of the socialist bloc some authors celebrated the advent of Romani nationalism, emphasising its Eastern European roots and its potential force to foster emancipation among an ethnic minority oppressed for so long. There is another perspective on the community organisation among the Roma from actors who had much less sympathy towards collective claims on behalf of the ‘Gypsies’. Recently published documents from the archive of the secret police testify that Gypsy nationalism (“naționalism țigănesc”) was systematically denounced in Romania. Roma leaders suspected of being its proponents were persecuted during the late period of the Ceaușescu era. This article is an attempt to interpret a contested category in the context of late socialist Romania