Storying Dreams, Habits and the Past: Contemporary Roma/Gypsy Narratives

My dissertation seeks to explore the experiences, existing narratives, and the role of intertwined stories of the Roma/Gypsy community in Bodvalenke, in the economically and socially most underprivileged region of Hungary. Bodvalenke is a unique place, where contemporary painters of Roma/Gypsy origin have created large murals on the back walls of the houses in the frame of a permanent outdoor exhibition. In the visual storytelling of these murals about the Roma/Gypsy mythology, past and present uniquely work together, entwined with oral narratives and everyday stories in the village. My research examines the nature of storytelling in Bodvalenke in its many layers and performances, and analyzes its effects as well as probing the relationships between the stories told by the Romani people and stories circulated by others about Roma/Gypsy peoples in Hungary and Europe.