Staging Citizenship: Roma, Performance and Belonging in EU Romania (Dance and Performance Studies Book 11)

Based on over a decade of fieldwork conducted with urban Roma, __Staging Citizenship__ offers a powerful new perspective on one of the European Union’s most marginal and disenfranchised communities. Focusing on “performance” broadly conceived, it follows members of a squatter’s settlement in Transylvania as they navigate precarious circumstances in a postsocialist state. Through accounts of music and dance performances, media representations, activism, and interactions with both non-governmental organizations and state agencies, author Ioana Szeman grounds broad themes of political economy, citizenship, resistance, and neoliberalism in her subjects’ remarkably varied lives and experiences. "Based on over a decade of fieldwork conducted with urban Roma, Staging Citizenship offers a powerful new perspective on one of the European Union's most marginal and disenfranchised communities. Focusing on 'performance' broadly conceived, it follows members of a squatter's settlement in Transylvania as they navigate precarious circumstances in a post-socialist state. Through accounts of music and dance performances, media representations, activism, and interactions with both non-governmental organizations and state agencies, the author grounds broad themes of political economy, citizenship, resistance and neoliberalism in her subjects' remarkably varied lives and experiences"--Publisher's description

Based on over a decade of fieldwork conducted with urban Roma, Staging Citizenship offers a powerful new perspective on one of the European Union's most marginal and disenfranchised communities. Focusing on "performance" broadly conceived, it follows members of a squatter's settlement in Transylvania as they navigate precarious circumstances in a postsocialist state. Through accounts of music and dance performances, media representations, activism, and interactions with both non-governmental organizations and state agencies, author Ioana Szeman grounds broad themes of political economy, citizenship, resistance, and neoliberalism in her subjects' remarkably varied lives and experiences.

Contents 5 Illustrations 6 Acknowledgments 7 Introduction 9 1 ‘We Will Build a Beautiful Future Together’ 35 2 Living in the Citizenship Gap 57 3 Too Poor to Have Culture? 80 4 Performing Bollywood 100 5 Consuming Exoticism/Reimagining Citizenship 124 6 The Ambivalence of Success 150 Conclusion Unlearning the Forgetting 170 Bibliography 175 Index 195 Staging Citizenship explores a wide range of Roma performances and representations-from live music and cultural performances to Gypsy soaps and reality TV shows, demonstrating how disenfranchised urban Roma claim cultural citizenship and belonging in music, dance, activism and everyday encounters.