Between Two Fires: Gypsy Performance and Romani Memory from Pushkin to Post-Socialism

Since Tsarist times, Roma in Russia (known to others as Gypsies) have been portrayed as rebels, isolated from society and excluded from mainstream history. In Soviet times, Russians harboured two opposing views of Roma, exalting Romani theatre and song but believing Gypsies in the street to be liars and thieves. This work examines how Roma themselves have negotiated such dualities, in both everyday interactions and in stage performances. Alaina Lemon's ethnographic study is based on fieldwork in Russia during the 1990s, focusing on Moscow Romani Theatre actors as well as Romani traders and metalworkers. Drawing from interviews, observation, archival work, literature and media, Lemon analyzes the role of performance and theatricality in Romani social life and memory. Racial and social prejudice against Gypsies runs so deep in part because of the very ways their stage performances have been culturally formed and positioned, allowing Gypsies to be typecast as "natural" performers. In addition to her focus on Romani performance and memory, Lemon discusses racial categories, gender, class and the economic changes in post-Soviet Russia.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Notes on Orthography and Transcripts Introduction 1. Pushkin, The Gypsies, and Russian Imperialist Nostalgia 2. Roma, Race, and Post-Soviet Markets 3. “What is Your Nation?” Performing Romani Distinctions 4. The Gypsy Stage, Socialism, and Authenticity 5. The Hidden Nail: Memory, Loyalty, and Models of Revelation 6. “Roma” and “Gazhje”: Shifting Terms 7. Conclusion: At Home in Russia Appendix A. Roma and Other Tsygane in the Commonwealth of Independent States Appendix B. Dialect Differences Appendix C. Vlax-Lovari Romani Glossary Notes Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Alaina Lemon is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Review :
"This is an extraordinarily insightful account of the performance of being 'Gypsy' in Russia. Theoretically sophisticated, it illuminates Russian as well as Romani culture, and delves into issues of naming, mobility, transgression and authenticity. This book is a must for anyone interested in advances in anthropology as well as contemporary Russian culture."--Caroline Humphrey, co-author of The End of Nomadism?: Society, State, and the Environment in Inner Asia "[Lemon] is imaginative and insightful in her analysis of Pushkin, whose fleeting, romanticized observations on Gypsies have stifled alternative understandings of the Roma in Russia... [a] valuable contribution to the field."--TLS, June 8 2001