Patterns of Inter-ethnic Relations with the Roma in the Carpathian Basin

Almost three decades of anthropological fieldwork on ethnic coexistence situations, completed by the author of the present volume, have revealed that in the multi-ethnic local communities of the Carpathian Basin, Roma-non-Roma coexistence practices are always based on opposition, regardless of whether the latter are Romanians, Saxons, Slovaks, Ukrainians or Hungarians.

After presenting the theoretical-methodological framework and historical processes, this book presents patterns of Roma-non-Roma coexistence that emerge through case studies, which can be directly applied in the fight against the exclusion and stigmatisation of the Roma today. Thus, the book discusses two applied anthropology projects where research results have been used in urban regeneration and development projects. It interprets cannibalism charges against Gypsies as a typical type of chimerical prejudice. Through the case studies, it contributes to existing research by interpreting the coexistence of different ethnicities in the local socio-historical context, in the local embeddedness of inter-ethnic relations, as a constantly evolving and changing phenomenon, focusing on the performativity, dynamic interaction and functional role of relations.