Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: The archival documents I work with concern Sinti (“Gypsy”) families belonging to the Austrian Empire, stopped by the Italian authorities between 1908 and 1912. By following Anna Laura Stoler's proposition, I read the police records through an ethnographic lens, connecting the anti-Gypsy policy of both states with the strategies adopted by the Sinti families to inhabit and/or cross borders. Thus, the border becomes the space where the sovereignty of the state came into play and where the categories of “citizen” and “foreigner” become explicit through the daily controls on those who attempt to cross. Intertwining research in the archives with anthropological literature and fieldwork, this article presents a historical ethnography of those Sinti families who experienced the borders as “Gypsies,” a category that calls for critical analysis because it goes beyond the foreigner/citizen dichotomy.
Source: Focaal
Author: Paola Trevisan
Language: English
Topic: Romani and Gypsy Studies
Subfield: General Health Professions
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
Funder: Agence Nationale de la Recherche
OpenAlex ID: W3011152573