Paper short abstract:

Making and reinforcement of a territorial stigma (Wacquant) is prior for this paper. Acknowledging capacities of place as border-maker, its influence on separating „Roma” from „non-Roma”, the „civilized” from the „uncivilized”, ghetto-residents from other district dwellers is followed. Giving a closer look to the site, a Romanian urban ghetto with a majority of Roma residents, fluidity in othering becomes salient: labels as „uncivilized” Roma are less connected to ethno-ratial belonging.

Paper long abstract:

Local institutions label them "violent", "aggressive" and "not cooperative", non-Roma and Roma residents from the neighbouring buildings see them as inhabitants of the "Gypsy area"; hence, dwellers of the Galilei Street "green block of flat" could be described by the notion of territorial stigma coined by Louïs Wacquant. True, the ghetto could be a typical image of mediatising Romanian urban poverty: bed smelling garbage, plaster falling down, misery in many apartments, hostility of the locals towards everyone from the "outer world". Coming closer to the isolated green-block-world, picture becomes nuanced: despite the homogeneous stigma, better-off Roma and non-Roma are meeting here poor Roma or non-Roma ghetto-dwellers, all categories having different attitudes towards the researcher. After tracing historical reasons on making and reinforcement of the territorial stigma, my paper raises the question of fluency in othering. Getting familiar with the "green block", one comes aware that categories discerning ghetto-people from the district into "poor", "aggressive" "Roma" (altering "civilized" "non-Roma") are reproduced in the green block, but act separately from ethno-racial belonging and material condition. Such internal differences are, too, examined in the context of mistrust towards the researcher: acceptance of a person - identified with NGO activists who "use" the locals - depends on how ghetto-people identify themselves with stigmas. The ones, who accept their "poor Roma"-labels are less eager to cooperate than ghetto-residents separating themselves from the "uncivilized neighbours".