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Paper short abstract

The (im)mobilities of Roma populations have often been approached as fundamentally different from those of non-Roma. However, mobility and immobility are closely interconnected, and in many contexts of origin similarities emerge that transcend ethnic divisions.

Paper long abstract

Mobility and immobility have often been conceptualized as contrasting phenomena, and migration studies have tended to interpret them in mutually exclusive terms. By contrast, individual experiences are characterized by a complex interplay of mobility and immobility that must be understood ethnographically, and these intersections need to be situated within specific territorial contexts and historical periods.

In many settings, the mobility of Roma groups has been stigmatized by non-Roma and contrasted with the mobility of the rest of the population, which has conversely acquired a positive social valuation. Similarly, in analyses of return migration, Romani returns “home” have often been examined differently from those of non-Roma.

Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in Romania, this paper demonstrates that the (im)mobilities of Roma and non-Roma populations are far more interconnected than they are commonly represented or analytically treated. The analysis focuses in particular on return migration and on the social meanings of failure and success associated with return. By examining the return experiences of Roma and non-Roma individuals in several localities in eastern Romania, I discuss how return is lived and socially represented, highlighting how ethnic-based oppositions do not always persist. Return experiences—and the forms of immobility that often follow them—are shown to be closely interdependent.