On the trail of banal racism: a Gypsophile genealogy of Romaphobia

Abstract

ABSTRACT Based on a concern to study historical forms of racism that usually fall under the radar of histories of racism that focus on the peak moments of regimes such as Jim Crow laws in the United States, Nazi racial politics and the apartheid system in South Africa, this article proposes a definition of the concept of banal racism to be applied in situations where the explanation of racism involves long-standing cultural phenomena and social practices rather than legal norms and official policies. A dialogue is established with concepts borrowed from the social sciences, such as “cordial racism,” “prosaic racism” and “benevolent racism,” to underline the banality (in Arendt’s sense) of these forms of discrimination and social hierarchisation, which can entail a high degree of violence compatible with their declared innocence. Together with the conceptual proposal, a case study is presented as an example, in which the racist undercurrent underlying the Gypsyophile discourse of three Anglo-Saxon travellers who visited Spain between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries is analysed.