‘Inadaptable Gypsies’ and ‘Dangerous Antiziganists’: Struggling and Mirroring Folk Devils
Ondřej Slačálek
Chapter from the book: Frederiksen M. & Harboe Knudsen I. 2021. Modern Folk Devils: Contemporary Constructions of Evil.
Part of
Chapter from the book: Frederiksen M. & Harboe Knudsen I. 2021. Modern Folk Devils: Contemporary Constructions of Evil.
Based on a study of anti-Roma mobilizations in the Czech Republic, this chapter examines how the image of the Roma as a folk devil exhibits not only stigmatizing characteristics but also complicated relationships in terms of tension and expectations between the ‘decent and productive majority’ and the ‘inadaptable minority’. Through this, the article states that given that decency means complying with norms defined by the behaviour of the majority, the minority is at the very least an object of suspicion from the start.
Slačálek, O. 2021. ‘Inadaptable Gypsies’ and ‘Dangerous Antiziganists’: Struggling and Mirroring Folk Devils. In: Frederiksen M. & Harboe Knudsen I (eds.), Modern Folk Devils. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33134/HUP-13-10
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Published on Dec. 13, 2021