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Becoming Roma: The Impact of Liberalization Policies in Turkey on Gypsy Identity and Civic Engagement
Abstract
Economic and political shifts in Turkey resulting from ongoing liberalizing reforms are producing major social changes, observable in the pluralization of cultural identities, urban development, and the proliferation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The contradictions that result from the confluence of these changes have broad implications; my research analyzes these implications for one of Turkey’s most vulnerable populations, the Roma (Gypsies). This paper will interrogate the interface between NGOs and Roma communities and how this both reflects and informs larger processes going on in Turkey. It draws from 14 months of ethnographic research in Turkey, including an in-depth case study of one dislocated Roma community, a review of the activities of several NGOs across Roma communities in three cities, and fieldwork with policy makers and community leaders regarding broader state processes in the area of Roma Rights and the Roman Acilimi (Gypsy Initiative) that was declared by Prime Minister Erdogan in 2010. My research builds on existing anthropological and interdisciplinary work in theories of identity and the cultural politics of liberalization. Recent research traces changes in the perceptions of identity amongst the Turkish Roma over the past decade under the AKP (Justice and Development Party) and suggests that there will be major social repercussions for notions of Turkish citizenship if the government decides to recognize the Roma as an ethnic minority (Marsh and Strand 2006), a decision that is heavily influenced by Turkey’s European Union integration process. At the same time, political and economic liberalization is shaping new class formations, generating capital growth, private initiatives, and private property, and restructuring the relation between state and citizen. These processes intersect and are magnified in Turkey’s Roma neighborhoods, where urban renewal projects are dislocating Roma communities and NGO involvement is increasing. This paper addresses the following questions: How do NGOs and recent state initiatives impact the role of Roma in the nation and in the city? How do global rights discourses effect what it means to be ‘appropriately Roma,’ shaping the limits of Roma collective identity and acceptable and effective ways to engage with civil society? I argue that, while the changes resulting from liberalization are typically posed as either positive or negative, the advantages and disadvantages for the Roma are actually produced simultaneously and mutually constitutive. While Turkey’s Roma are being integrated into the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, they are facing the dissolution of their communities, traditional occupations, and cultural life.
Discipline
Anthropology
Geographic Area
Turkey
Sub Area
Ethnic Groups