Seminar Series in Romani Studies: The “Darker Side” of East European (post)Coloniality: The Case of Lost Roma Signifier

Via Zoom only: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81673111559?pwd=ytXwKGILoGkvn0DQy5Lk7GSUxcj8Dq.1

This talk revisits the early (post)colonial thinking present in the work of Eastern European authors, with a particular focus on seminal literature discussing racialization and Orientalism within the Western Balkans. It discerns a prevalent symptomatic absence and marginalization of racialized Roma voices, typically relegated to what may be termed "epistemic slums" within footnotes or secondary references, often confined to mere single-sentence mentions. Notably, authors addressing issues of race in the Western Balkans frequently disregard, or more concerningly, exploit the racialization of Eastern-European Roma, utilizing color-blind Roma signifier as symbolic fodder to bolster victimhood narratives of the gadje(non-Roma) Eastern Europeans. Based on the content and discourse analysis, this exploitation is scrutinized and interpreted through the lens of the sociology of absence, unveiling mechanisms of epistemic colonization such as de-ontologization, epistemic silencing, and finally epistemic devouring of Roma subjectivity.

Jelena Savić is currently a Ph.D. candidate enrolled in the GENHDI program at Uppsala University's Centre for Gender Research (Sweden), where she investigates digital inequality through a Critical Romany Perspective. She obtained her Master's degree in Philosophy from Central European University in Budapest (Hungary) and her Bachelor's degree in Adult Education from the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Belgrade (Serbia). Jelena's scholarly pursuits primarily revolve around Roma studies, digital humanities, epistemic injustice, and the theoretical underpinnings of race and whiteness in Europe.