Constructing, Commodifying, and Consuming Invented Ethnic Provenance Among Romanian Roma

Bibliographic Data

ID2277992
AuthorsPéter Berta (0000-0002-7540-4718, Hungarian Academy of Sciences)
Year2011
Volume34
Issue2
Pages128-141
Publication date2011-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMuseum Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0892-8339 • E-ISSN: 1548-1379
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1548-1379.2011.01113.x
OpenAlexW2067347505
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited14

This article deals with contemporary examples of fraud in the trade of silver beakers and tankards that are defined as valuable prestige goods by two Roma groups living in central Romania-the Gabor Roma and the Cărhar Roma. It demonstrates how some Gabor Roma construct an invented ethnic provenance for silver objects purchased on the European antiques market to sell them for profit to wealthy Cărhar Roma as precious Gabor family heirlooms. I discuss the techniques of fabricating a history of ownership for these pieces (symbolic patina), aging their surfaces (material patina), and manipulating the context of these transactions. The analysis reveals how the politics of object authenticity function and how the artificially created ethnic provenance attributed to commodities has been converted into financial gain in socialist and postsocialist Romania

Anthropological Studies and Insights · Archaeological Research and Protection · Romani and Gypsy Studies

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub