Pamięć i tożsamość. Przemiany współczesnych tożsamości Romów w kontekście doświadczenia zagłady
Memory and Identity. Transformations of Contemporary Romani Identities in the Context of the Holocaust’s Experience

Summary/Abstract: The author divides the existing standpoints regarding Romani identities into substantive, relational and those referring to historical process. According to the first standpoint Roma are a people who possess a particular cultural essence which defines its identity. According to the second approach, Romani identities are constructed in relation to the other – in particular to the non-Romani world. The third perspective emphasizes identity as a process of building the links between the past, the present and the anticipated future of a group. According to the author, each of these approaches presents an important aspect of Romani identity, a full depiction of which thus requires taking into account all the three perspectives. Based on the interviews conducted with mid-rank Romani activists, the author argues that the memory of the Romani suffering during WWII has weakened the substantive aspect of Romani identities, lead to the contradictory processes in the frame of relational identity (assimilation and isolationism), but, most of all, it contributed to the development of the historical approach to Romani identity, supported by the Romani political organizations and their ambitions for the Roma to achieve a status of a nation in its own right.

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