The Moldavian Csángós (.. useful strategies ) Don Handelman describes such groups as ‘ethnic networks’ when they display the kind of traits that he observed amongst the Franco-Mauritians: ,,..a small numerical minority in a parliamentary democracy, they lack shared political organisation and do not function as a visible interest group, but there remains a strong sense of solidarity and cultural uniqueness.,, In the case of contacts with the majority ethnic group, the Csángós, endeavor to assert their ‘Romanianess’, as do the Lapps their ‘Norweginaness’. Under the disability of a stigmatised ethnic identity, members of the coastal Lappish population in question seek to qualify themselves as full participants in Norwegian society. In order to obtain this membership they have to develop techniques, ‘to avoid or tolerate sactions from the local Norwegian population.,, In the case of the Csángós the avoidance of sanctions generally entails, not using the Csángó-Hungarian dialect in the public sphere, not showing support for or even condemning the politics of the Hungarian national minority in Transylvania and declaring and demonstrating ones credentials as a patriotic Romania. But, when Moldavian Csángós come into contact with Transylvanian Hungarians a different set of rules governs inter-ethnic relations. The ethnic stigma attached to them in Moldavia for being perceived as being Hungarians is switched to a new set attached to them for being the opposite, for being too like Romanians. To avoid sanctions in this new set of circumstances Csángós often employ the same strategy, that is to over communicate their ‘Romanianess’. This is done in the hope of shedding the stigma of being a minority and, in interactions with Transylvanian Hungarians, of swinging the power balance in their favour. This strategy is nominally more successful in that in a Hungarian ethnic environment they have more hope of passing as ‘genuine’ Romanian. Under such circumstances it is easy to see how it has been argued by Hungarians and Romanians alike that the Moldavian Csángós don’t form a distinct ethnic group. However, ‘The organisational potential of ethnic identities is conditioned by local circumstances’,it is their local environment, in their everyday relations with their neighbours that differences are most evident and relevant. It is this that allows us to categorise the Moldavian Csángós alongside the coastal Lapps, in their respective environments, as ,,…a population where institutionalised inter-ethnic relations are not organised with reference to the respective ethnic status directly, but which nevertheless are shaped by them.,, This outline of the ethnic relations of a non-institutionalised local ethnic group contrasts sharply with the situation in Transylvania where the Hungarian minority’s relations with the Romanian majority are highly institutionalised and create quite a different pattern on inter-ethnic relations. (J.A.K)
Posted on: Fri, 04 Oct 2013 22:30:21 +0000
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