New Soviet Gypsies: Nationality, Performance, and Selfhood in the Early Soviet Union

“Gypsies” threatened the Bolsheviks' ideal of New Soviet Men and Women, but Roma actively engaged with Bolshevik nationality policies, assimilating Soviet culture, social customs, and economic relations. OKeeffe's book provides a unique history of Roma, focusing on their social and political lives in the early Soviet Union and exploring the intersection between nationality, performance, and self-fashioning.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 344 pages
Publication date: 03 November 2020
Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Gypsies, perceived as symbols of marginality, disorder, indolence, and parasitism, posed a threat to the Bolsheviks' vision of New Soviet Men and Women. The early Soviet state, fearing the cultural "backwardness" of its Romani population, sought to sovietize Roma through various nation-building projects. However, as Brigid OKeeffe reveals in her book, Roma actively engaged with Bolshevik nationality policies, assimilating Soviet culture, social customs, and economic relations. They played a crucial role in transforming the image of "backward Gypsies" into conscious Soviet citizens. "New Soviet Gypsies" offers a comprehensive history of Roma, a largely overlooked and misunderstood diasporic community, by highlighting their social and political experiences in the early Soviet Union. OKeeffe demonstrates how Roma utilized and performed "Gypsiness" as a means of advancing their social, cultural, and economic status as Soviet citizens. She explores the intersection between nationality, performance, and self-fashioning, highlighting that Roma defy easy categorization and deserve recognition as agents of history.

Weight: 530g
Dimension: 151 x 229 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781487528294