Violeta Vajda
Research Student (Sussex European Institute)

Research

I draw on participatory action research methodology to open a window into the process of identity formations in and around a small community of like-minded Romani and non-Romani researchers and activists in a national and European context of increasing racism and anti-Gypsyism. My research starts from a theoretical framework of hermeneutics applied to critical social theory and borrows from feminist thinking. It seeks to demonstrate that striving for a profound, multi-faceted and non-essentialising understanding of the process of Romani and non-Romani identity formation is a key undertaking for Romani Studies in this historical period. Paradoxically for a non-essentialising view, the theoretical framework points the way to the salience of racial identity as an essential lens through which to approach Roma identity. 

To paraphrase an article I published in 2015, this research 'seeks to show that the project of Romani emancipation will have difficulty moving forward until the concept of critical whiteness is incorporated into it, both theoretically and practically.[...]

The task I propose therefore, is to reach for an understanding of what non-Romani identities mean, how they have emerged in Eastern Europe but also more widely, and how they could move from an ossified and unwitting set of assumptions towards a live, progressive and positive driver that can ultimately underpin the emancipatory efforts of the Romani movement. To do this, I use a theoretical model based on participatory approaches to research and development, philosophical hermeneutics, critical race theory and critical whiteness pedagogy.'