Music/Folklore paper by Kertész Wilkinson, Irén
The Role of Singing and Dancing in the Creation of Roma Men and Women in two Hungarian Roma groups
Type of Abstract (select):Abstract (max. 250 words):
A number of Roma/Gypsy/Sinti and Traveller groups seem to distinguish themselves from the non-Gypsy population through a complex set of moral rules which collectively add up to what they refer to as the "Gypsy way of being,", who enact their specific femininity and masculinity with sensitivity for age and locality. Having the non-Gypsies as a counterexample, the Gypsies focus on creating and performing their present inter-subjectivity, which they perpetually remake and reinterpret in different situations. In this paper, I shall make use of the above ideas, as put forward by Paloma Gay y Blasco (1999), and illustrate how musical expressions are one of the best ways to generate distinct Roma selves, male and female, who see their superiority not so much in a strict adherence to, or passive acceptance and reproduction of, already set moral ideals but in their active creation and performance of always alternating and affecting selves. I shall draw on my research among two different Hungarian Roma groups, the Vlach Gypsies and the Romungro, and refer to my own research/performance experience when appropriate.
Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
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