Title: The multidirectionality of Romani identity in Damian Le Bas' The Stopping Places
Source document: Brno studies in English. 2022, vol. 48, iss. 2, pp. 159-176
Extent
159-176
-
ISSN0524-6881 (print)1805-0867 (online)
Persistent identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/BSE2022-2-8
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/digilib.77882
Type: Article
Language
License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
The romanticised and stereotyped construction of the Romani people absorbed by mainstream society has contributed to the obliteration of their cultural complexity and their ensuing alienation. The present article analyses how the memoir The Stopping Places (2018), by the British Romani writer Damian Le Bas, makes a case for the borderlessness of his people. It is the main purpose of this study to underscore Romani identity as inherently multidirectional, hence allowing for a relational, intercultural dialogue aimed at transcending the long-standing Romani vs. non-Romani tension. For this purpose, Le Bas' network-like journey across some key stopping places is read as an endorsement of the synchronicity and interconnectedness characterising our present world. His narrative is an empowering attestation that foregrounds the fruitful interactions between the Roma and other cultures and sets the assumedly distrustful and protective Romani as an example of cultural flexibility.
Note
Research funds for the completion of this article have been provided by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (PID2021-124841NB-I00). The author is also thankful for the support of the Government of Aragón (H03_20R).
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[7] Glissant, Édouard (1997) Poetics of Relation. Translated by Betsy Wing. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
[8] Hancock, Ian (2002) We Are the Romani People. Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press.
[9] Hancock, Ian (2010) Danger! Educated Gypsy: Selected Essays. Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press.
[10] Henderson, Hamish (1992) Alias MacAlias. Edinburgh: Polygon.
[11] Hübschmannová, Milena, Valdemar Kalinin and Donald Kenrick (2000) What Is the Romani Language? Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press.
[12] Kenrick, Donald (2004) Gypsies: From the Ganges to the Thames. Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press.
[13] Lapage, Ginny (1999) The English folktale corpus and Gypsy oral tradition. In: Acton, Thomas and Gary Mundy (eds.) Romani Culture and Gypsy Identity. Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press, 18–30.
[14] Le Bas, Damian (2018) The Stopping Places: A Journey Through Gypsy Britain. London: Vintage.
[15] Leggett, Bianca (2016) Teaching Translit: An unsettled and unsettling genre. In: Shaw, Katy (ed.) Teaching 21st Century Genres. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 149–165.
[16] Liégeois, Jean-Pierre (2007). Roma in Europe. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing.
[17] Matras, Yaron (2015) I Met Lucky People: The Story of the Romani Gypsies. London: Penguin.
[18] O'Sullivan, Simon (2002) Cultural studies as rhizome – Rhizomes in cultural studies. In: Herbrechter, Stefan (ed.) Cultural Studies, Interdisciplinarity, and Translation. Leiden: Brill, 81–93.
[19] Okely, Judith (2017) Gypsy intermediaries guide the stranger: Bringing reciprocity, some misunderstanding but protection from outsiders. Journal of Gypsy Studies 1 (1), 65–84.
[20] Preston, Victoria (2020) We Are Pilgrims: Journeys in Search of Ourselves. London: Hurst & Company.
[21] Reid, Willie (1999) Scottish Gypsies/Travellers and the folklorists. In: Acton, Thomas and Gary Mundy (eds.) Romani Culture and Gypsy Identity. Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press, 31–39.
[22] Rothberg, Michael (2009) Multidirectional Memory: Remembering the Holocaust in the Age of Decolonization. Stanford, California: Stanford UP.
[23] Ryder, Andrew, Marius Taba and Nidhi Trehan (2021) Introduction: Romani communities in a New Social Europe. In: Ryder, Andrew et al. (eds.) Romani Communities and Transformative Change: A New Social Europe. Bristol: Bristol UP.
[24] Silverman, Carol (2012) Romani Routes: Cultural Politics and Balkan Music in Diaspora. New York: Oxford UP.
[25] Sutherland, Anne H (2017) Roma: Modern American Gypsies. Long Grove, Illinois: Waveland Press.
[26] Taylor, Isabel (2019) "The Stopping Places by Damian Le Bas: Review and author interview." Albion Magazine Online. 2019. Accessed on: http://www.albionmagazineonline.org/albion-summer-2019-the-stopping-places-by-damian-le-bas-review-and-author-interview.html
[27] Timbers, Frances (2016) 'The Damned Fraternitie': Constructing Gypsy Identity in Early Modern England, 1500–1700. New York: Routledge.
[28] Toninato, Paola (2014) Romani Writing: Literacy, Literature and Identity Politics. New York: Routledge.