Stigma spillover and beyond: Resistance, appropriation, and counter-narratives in stigmatized consumption

• In Event: 3551 - Section on Sociology of Culture Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: 5. Culture Section Network: Consuming and Resisting Hate

Abstract

The Roma are Europe’s largest minority, and pervasively marginalized throughout the continent. In Romania, manele, an updated version of traditional Roma music, enjoy great popularity but are never played on mainstream radio stations, and are derided by most critics. A content analysis of the country’s largest newspapers reveals negative perceptions of manele. Moreover, all listeners, no matter their ethnicity, are cast in an unfavorable light. Stigma spillover has resulted in negative portrayals of manele listeners by the media, regardless of whether ethnic markers are used as part of the portrayal. Manele consumption therefore becomes an opportunity to construct who belongs and who does not, with the stigma of this ethnic cultural product expanding beyond those of Roma ethnicity. But there are emerging spaces of Romanian society where manele are more openly consumed, or even influence mainstream media consumption. This presentation expands on the content analysis to feature interview data from two such social spaces where manele are involved and brought into the mainstream. In one space, manele consumption is an explicit and political act meant to actively resist the stigmatization of the genre and, by extension, the denigration and marginalization of the Roma. In the other, manele are brought into musical production through less explicit, more hidden means, but achieve considerable commercial, mainstream success. In the process, we explore both the stigmatization that can be involved in cultural consumption and the ways through which actors work to commercialize or even suppress stigma.

Authors

• Ioana Sendroiu, University of Toronto

• Andreea Mogosanu, University of Toronto