Misrecognition and Reinvention of Stigmatised Cultural Heritages. The case of the 'Romani People'.

Abstract

In contemporary European societies, rhetoric and practices of cultural stigmatization, reductionism and discrimination may, by putting them at risk, deeply affect arts, traditions, customs and competences of several cultural and ethnic groups. From this viewpoint, this paper takes into account the situation of «Romani People» as an emblematic, and maybe the most durable example of cultural construction based on prejudices and marginalisation. This ‘case study’ serves as a particularly good representative in order to question the actuality of the dynamic and inclusive assumptions which the Faro Convention places at the very basis of the processes of patrimonialization of cultural heritage.