UCL Anthropology

BA in English
Berzsenyi College, Hungary. 1998

MA in Sociology
Central European University, Poland, 1999

Ph.D Working Title, expected 2004
"Creating a Gypsy national culture in the Budapest VIII district"

+44 20 7679 1380
+44 20 7679 7728

Current Research/Academic Interests

I am currently finishing my PhD at UCL, Anthropology Department where I am writing my dissertation on Gypsies/Roma living in the 8th district of Budapest, where I lived between 2000 and 2002, and which has the reputation of being the Hungarian "Harlem".

From July 2004, shortly after Hungary joins the European Union, I am slated to become a Member of the European Parliament as a candidate of the "Federation of Young Democracts" (Fidesz), a Hungarian Civic Party. My primary concern will be to help those living in the most difficult areas of modern Hungary, and those suffering the worst discrimination to achieve more bearable lives. This seems the minimum to work towards for people who will, by then, be officially "equal Europeans." As part of my work, I want to raise awareness about the ways Roma live in Europe and hope that my work as an MEP of Romany descent will also contribute to the demystification of the "fog" around being a Gypsy. Maybe I can help exorcise some of the bad spirits as quite a few of the serious problems that appear to be rooted in racism.

My academic work at UCL underpins my political work and has provided me with many of my insights into contemporary Romany lives. My thesis partly focuses on a group of youngsters involved in making rap music, similar to that which exists in many Eastern and Central European Roma communities. The rap lyrics, which recall economic deprivation, unemployment, school segregation and the anti-Roma, discriminative atmosphere in the country, show the reality of Gypsy life in post communist societies. But they also say a lot about the process of redefinition of Gypsy identity.

In Central and Eastern Europe, where many of the countries will be joining the European Union in May 2004, post-socialist changes, beside many other changes in the society, resulted in profound changes in how people, (Roma and non-Roma) think about "Gypsiness". The response of the Roma youth groups to the present situation, their rap movement and the unique 'Gypsy and proud' attitude has a great effect on present Gypsy communities. It also marks a radical shift from the earlier attempts of their parents to accept the path offered by the Hungarian majority and accept forced assimilation. Of course, this idea has not entirely disappeared even today, and finds adherents also among many Roma. Quite where the Roma will be in ten or twenty years time, nobody knows for sure, but using my research here at UCL, I hope to be part of the process that determines the destination.

Thesis Supervisor: Michael Stewart