The The Roma Perspective and the Roma Question in the Media Mirror

Identity, Self-awareness and Self-view in an Environment of Racialization

Abstract

The representation of the Roma point of view and the Roma issue in the Bulgarian digital, media, public, cultural and political space is a topic that remains in the shadows even in the most recent history of Bulgaria. This publication will examine how the Roma point of view on the Roma issue falls into the relevant information spaces and whether the Roma point of view is taken into account in other socially significant topics that directly and indirectly affect the Roma as citizens of the country. I will also try to define the terms "Roma perspective" and "Roma issue". In parallel, I will try to examine to what extent the respective "Roma perspectives" on "Roma" and "non-Roma" topics influence the shaping of the narrative of the "Roma issue" and the "Roma perspective". The publication will try to examine how positive or negative stereotypes and expectations about these phenomena are built – both among the larger society and among the Roma community itself as internalized norms and practices. There will also be a specific focus on how Roma opinion leaders and authorities on Roma and non-Roma issues are formed and recognized. Whether popularity in specific digital dimensions or knowledge and experience on a specific topic prevails, whether proximity to the community or distance from it plays a role. A parallel will also be drawn how methods for the representation of the Roma point of view and the Roma issue are multiplied in a populist way on other topics and are applied to the whole society to shape attitudes for action or inaction.

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