Field Report The “ Palaces ” of the Romanian Rroma : A Claim to Citizenship

The eclectic language of " Gypsy palace " settlements in Romania has to date been largely defined through an essentialist understanding of the Rroma's oppositional relationship with the cultural norms of the majority. This report proposes an alternative reading of the mansions built by the formerly nomadic Rroma, one that accounts for a more reciprocal relationship between hetero-representation and auto-representation. It argues that the conspicuous consumption associated with the " palaces " should first be attributed to social rituals taking place within the Rroma clans, and second to a desire by owner/builders to broadcast respectability to the outside world. In examining Rroma built space, this report emphasizes and qualifies the discursive implications of auto-representation through the account of owner/builders, and of hetero-representation through the lens of the architecture profession and the Romanian mass media. Gypsies (" Roma " in Romani, " Rromi " in Romanian 1), constitute one of Romania's major ethnic groups. According to the 2002 national census, they represent 2.5 percent of the country's total population, although unofficial sources claim they may number as many as two million, or approximately 8 percent. 2 The Rroma are also Romania's most socially and economically disadvantaged minority, and most continue to live in slums to which the authorities in post-Communist Romania remain indifferent. However, a minority of well-to-do Rroma have garnered considerable attention in recent years by building settlements of so-called " palaces. " These peri-urban communities have triggered an indignant, derisive backlash in the national media. The production of such housing does mark a turning point in the history of the Rroma. But I propose to examine it here against a Elena Tomlinson is a Romanian architect residing in California. She is completing a Masters degree in Architecture at the