The Gypsy Motif

I i, if 114 THE GYPSY MOTIF David Nemeth University of California, Los Angeles 115 According to the Membership Directory (1983-1984) of this Society Chapter, many people consider the Gypsy in art and the Gypsy in literature to be their major areas of interest within Gypsy Studies. Exactly what the word "Gypsy" means in this context--to our membership, to the Gypsies themselves, or to non-Gypsies in general who respond to the Gypsy theme--can all be discussed under the topic of "the Gypsy Motif." Although many people seem interested in, and even motivated in their thoughts and actions by Gypsies, research on the Gypsy theme itself has not been much a part of North American Gypsy Studies. Why not? During conversations with other members of the Chapter I have heard it said that serious study of the Gypsy as a traditional cultural motif is "unnecessary" because such a study would appear to generate no "significant" questions. Some elaborate on this, saying that study of the Gypsy motif seems "frivolous" given the increasingly pressing issues of Gypsy genocide, human rights, and political action. This criticism appears unwarranted. A close inspection of the Gypsy motif suggests that 1) the motif may in fact generate substantial research questions, and 2) the motif may have value in the analysis of some of the more current problem areas within Gypsy Studies, including Gypsy human rights issues and the Holocaust. The "Real" Gypsy in the Popular Motif There Is remarkable similarity between the Gypsy form as it was perceived by non-Gypsies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the Gypsy concept that now prevails in North America. This concept is a permanent fixture of contemporary American popular culture, and it continues to spread with American cultural expansion, even into areas of non-Western culture where the Gypsy in the motif probably never ventured (e.g. China, Japan, etc.). It is widely accepted that an idea exists only by virtue of its form, and that all concepts of Gypsies originate from real Gypsies, whether through direct personal experience with them, or through those vicarious experiences of them indirectly provided by popular lore and the media° Exactly which Gypsies provide the archetype for the prevailing Gypsy idea, and therefore represent "real" Gypsies to most people, is an interesting and significant question. The "real" Gypsy in the motif is a composite image of a swarthy, stormy, and mysterious ethnic vagabond who, during the last century, appeared in thousands of stories and novels, on artists' canvases and on the silver screen. Never mind that in the present urban-industrial era many Gypsies in the United States belie the familiar theme of the enchanting rural ethnic wanderer by practicing citified, sedentary, and inconspicuous lifestyles. For most non-Gypsies, the romantic motif prevails and the "real" Gypsy remains the compelling wanderer of yore. 116 Among Gypsies, however, there are at least some who are dog- matically opposed to thinking of themselves as related to the "real" Gypsies depicted in the popular motif. But these are not many, and I venture to say that most present-day Rom Gypsies in the United States are eager to accept much of what appears in the "real" Gypsy image when it benefits them° Both non-Gypsies and Gypsies accept the "real" Gypsy in the motif. That image prevails exactly because it is popular. Such enduring popularity must also derive from social benefits that have accrued over a long period from the motif° Some of these social benefits are discussed below. Gypsy Activism versus the Endurinq Motif Does it not seem odd that although the arcadian Gypsy life- style captured in the motif has for the most part altered with time to become the contemporary urban Gypsy lifestyle, the public image of the Gypsy has meanwhile undergone no significant reformulation? Indeed, the popular Gypsy motif has been so resistant to change over the decades that recent Gypsy-organized political efforts intended to erase its influence over the public mind seem wasted. Consider, for example, what happened when urban-based Gypsy cultural brokers and human rights activists--recently soliciting for their causes in the United States--tried to establish credibility, first as Gypsies, and then as reliable spokespersons for all Gypsies. Often, where these activists have presented their claims, at the local, regional, and national levels, influential but uninformed non-Gypsies have typically measured their "Gypsyness" ÿgainst the touchstone of the ethnic rural wanderer of the nÿtif. Such educated and otherwise well-informed non-Gypsies may not even believe that Gypsies still exist, so they look to the motif for evidence that the persons in front of them are "real" Gypsies° As a result, contemporary Gypsies (who do not fit the stereotype) have often been disappointed during their meetings with non-Gypsy officials. Where Gypsies have been unable to dispose of the ominous cloud of skepticism hanging over themselves and their claims, they have blamed the motif rather than themselves for the outcome. For this reason, some Gypsy activists have been more than anxious to distance themselves from the stereotype of the motif, the false image that continues to be idealized in American society and disseminated by the non-Gypsy media. In essence, these activists are forced to plead "We are 'real' Gypsies, but we are not the Gypsies you think we are." However, this gambit renders a known quantity (the "real" Gypsy) into an unknown quantity (some kind of "new" Gypsy), and thus the tactic must fail because it only fuels non-Gypsy skepticism. Recently, however, some Gypsy activists have adopted a more sophisticated approach in their politicking. This new gambit allows them to successfully redefine their own group identity based on cultural forms and historical evidence that previously never conveyed the idea of Gypsyness to the non-Gypsy: They have begun 117 to educate non-Gypsy skeptics to the little-publicized tragic events of the Nazi Holocaust, when hundreds of thousands of Gypsies were the victims of the racist policies of German National Socialism° Thus, a more progressive and compelling Gypsy motif-the Gypsy as Innocent Victim of non-Gypsy racism--is offered by the Gypsy activists as a replacement for that romantic, wandering Gypsy in the motif. However, if you want people to believe something, you must make them want to believe ito Death camps, monuments to martyrs, atrocity museums, mortality statistics, survivors' testimony, and so on, are so melancholy and charged with guilt and politics that wide acceptance of the new idea by non-Gypsies is as yet far from certain. This uncertainty also persists because many ethnic Gypsies in the United States are accepting the long-popular Gypsy motif as harmless, amusing, and even as useful at times as a kind of smokescreen behind which they can continue to conceal their contemporary private lives from outsiders° More traditional Gypsy power brokers, for example, may still play up many aspects of the "real" Gypsy in the popular motif, thereby continuing to attract some wealthy and influential patrons. Also, such Gypsies may prefer being portrayed by the media as hustlers, and even as predators, than as the pathetic prey of Nazis and other racists. Who wouldn't? Like many non-Gypsies, Gypsies, too, may find the topic of their genocide morose. It should be clear by now that the discussion of the Gypsy motif bears on the,discussion of Gypsy politics and social change, and is therefore worth pursuing. Why Does the Popular Motif Endure? The discussion has thus far postponed explaining the durabil- ity of the popular motif. Although this motif is well entrenched in contemporary Western popular culture with all its distinctive icons--the crystal ball, the caravan, the golden earring, and the campfire, to name but a few--its interpretation is problematic because the motif has several levels of meaning, some with profound implications° It is possible that the range of meaning in the Gypsy motif is generally underestimated, perhaps because it is too familiar° Important social forces as yet unidentified may be responsible for the popularity of the motif. What might some of the more subtle, yet significant meanings in the popular motif be and how may they help to explain its durability? As suggested earlier, evidently owing to the continuing strength of the Gypsy motif, contemporary Gypsy activists and nationalists still have very limited control over who outsiders and they themselves think they are. This may be because their identity as Gypsies is based on an ideology, or on several ideologies, that operate to keep them defined as others see them; that ÿs, within the contextual parameters of the popular Gypsy motif. There is a pervasive conservative ideology among many members of both American Gypsy and non-Gypsy societies. This is a force that operates to perpetuate the traditional Gypsy in the motif, and makes that Gypsy a popular paragon for reasons that may 118 transcend any mystical human passion to return to the 19th century rural landscape. For example, some of the explanation for the successful Gypsy motif may be found in more dynamic social forces, including those generated by the conservative ideology of free enterprise. As is well known the Western Gypsy lifestyle, insofar as it has been perceived by totalitarian governments as representing unregulated, enterprising individualism, is anathema to their repressive ideologies° However, where the Gypsy inspires a pro- ductive idea like enterprising individualism within democratic industrial economies, the idea perpetuates itself° And, it is carried forward by the spread of Western capitalism° It seems that only infrequently is Gypsy nomadism depicted by the media of American popular culture as a trait isolated from other Gypsy traits and as an end in itself° Nor does the Gypsy nomad in the motif actually "wander," that is, where the Gypsy theme is sufficiently developed the Gypsy does not move pointlessly from place to place for obscure reasons. Rather, the Gypsy nomad more usually depicted in popular literature moves about with obvious purpose--economic purpose° Thomas Acton (1974) and Judith Okely (1982) have observed that Gypsy nomadism is usually not perceived apart from Gypsy self-employment. They have argued the importance of self-employment as an adaptive Gypsy economic strategy,'and suggested that the average citizens understood this long before the scholars. Acton (1974:246) writes: Two economic institutions . . . are perceived by both Gypsies and nonGypsies as being closely associated with the ethnicity of the Gypsies. These are self-employment and nomadismo It is impossible to measure exactly the extent to which the Gypsy motif continually reinforces popular understanding of the importance of independence and self-employment to Gypsies° Literature, of course, provides the most accessible qualitative evidence. There is, for example, the recent novel called Gypsy Gold (1983) in which the heroine, a non-Gypsy, adopts a nomadic existence and learns a Gypsy trade in order to find purpose in life-outside social expectations and limitations. Is not the opportunity to seek and to find purpose in life a highly motivating aspect of a democratic and mobile free enterprise system like that of the United States? But who in fact personifies the potential of the system? Who are the culture heroes of the free enterprise system? "Real" Gypsies as Enterprising Individuals and Entrepreneurs Amerlcan popular culture has actually accumulated a vast pantheon of culture heroes. These gods, goddesses, nymphs, and knaves range from Appleseed and Boop to Zorro. Many of them now serve to 119 personify the long prevailing ideology of American independent thought. What, for example, but free enterprise has put a reigning culture hero, the Marlboro Man, in the saddle? As Salter (1983:45) has pointed out, "Independence and freedom are the key qualities he evokes°" The Gypsy motif, of course, is not only capable of evoking the same qualities, but appeals also to people who like their heroes partly civilized, but unregulated by social or legal conventions--think, for example, of Robin Hood and Tarzan. However, when considering such "free and independent" heroes of American popular culture, the "rugged individualists" might well be classed apart from the "enterprising individualists°" The Gypsy in the motif, it seems, is more the "enterprising" than the "rugged" type of individual. Moreover, the enterprising Gypsy in the motif has special appeal to ambitious and disadvantaged minorities in America's multi-ethnic population looking for back doors and unregulated avenues as a means to successful futures° It may be because of its specific goal-oriented inspiration that the popular Gypsy motif does not usually result in non-Gypsies taking up a vagabond lifestyle and shunning responsibility during this present age of unparalleled urbanism and prosperity° Again, contrary to what is usually supposed, vivid images of itinerancy in the Gypsy motif may not be its primary motivating force effecting change and response in non-Gypsy society. The popular commitment to the Gypsy idea may actually serve to create and sustain a distinct brand of enterprising individual- 4 ism. The Gypsy may, in fact, epitomize the successful entrepreneur. One frequently reads of small-"g" "gypsy" loggers in the American Northwest, and of small-"g" "gypsy" cabbies in Brooklyn. Both these and many other examples of the popular use of small-"g" "gypsy" in the American economic landscape refer to independent, and unregulated, operators. It is instructive to observe how these independent operators are disliked by many of their fellow Americans because of their enterprising activities and spirit° Successful independent operators are accused of being parasites feeding on a status quo social system because many confederations of workers are hostile to newcomers° Thus, the enterprising man or woman who operates independently, outside the prevailing conventions and regulations of the American commercial and industrial landscape, is called both "gypsy" and "parasite°" If the independent operator happens to be a swarthy and enchanting ethnic with different and mysterious habits, then a closer identification in the public mind between the enterprising individual and the Gypsy in the motif is that much more probable° How ironic that these thoroughly socialized Americans, including impressionable youngsters and immigrants who may initially be inspired to their enterprising individualism by the Gypsy in the motif, may eventually become more and more marginal, and because of the social and economic pressures of the majority, become like the source of their inspiration, a minority working the system "from the outside." Like the Gypsy activists, the non-Gypsy independent operators labelled "gypsies" are not entirely in control of who 120 they think they are. Their identities are also shaped by thoÿe powerful ideological forces that perpetuate the Gypsy motif. Summary and Conclusions Anyone may be attracted to the Gypsy motif for reasons of nostalgia, and for stimulating, vicarious wanderings of ÿhe mind. However, within the Gypsy theme both non-Gypsies and Gypsies may also find other kinds of motivating signs and symbols, including some formulae for improving their own pecuniary success by participating as independent operators in the open arena of laissez faire capitalism. For example, there is confidence and luck in the crystal ball: opportunism in the caravan; bravado in the golden earring; and in the campfire, a radient optimism° I suggest that the Gypsy motif succeeds not simply because Western culture is enamored of a bygone time when Gypsies plied the roads, but perhaps because the motif serves the ideology of'the unregulated petty capitalism that. characterizes Western democratic society. If the powerful ideology of Western capitalism is indeed a force behind the strength and popularity of the Gypsy motif, then Gypsy activists in the United States are likely to meet with frustration. The campaign to dislodge the motif from the everyday lives of those pragmatic and enterprising non-Gypsies and Gypsies who may derive psychological, social, and material benefits from its inspiration will be a difficult and lengthy one° 121 Footnotes Acknowledgements. I would like to thank Sheila Salo and Cara De Silva for their useful suggestions during the development of this paper. . Raoul Naroll's (1964) definition of "ethnic" is adopted here: Gypsies are members of a group that i) is biologically selfperpetuating; 2) shares in fundamental cultural values; 3) makes up a distinct field of communication and inter- action; 4) has a membership that identifies itself and is identified by others as being distinct from other groups. Eric Metzgar (1985) is investigating filmic representations of Rom Gypsies and their reactions to such films. . Identification problems surfacing when an uninformed California city council reviewed a local Gypsy's petition to open a legitimate fortune-telling establishment are related in Nemeth (1978). 3. This is a general ethnographic observation reiterated by William K. Powers (1984) in his recent book review. 4. For an interesting economic theory of "gap-filling" and entrepreneurship that would seem to apply to the example of Gypsies, see Leibenstein (1968). . This discussion encroaches on turf belonging to the semioticians, people trained to study the meaning of signs and symbols. Semioticians can insist with more authority than I that the Gypsy has many relevant texts in our semiotically coded cultural world, and that ideology plays an important role in creating the codes and media by which these texts are disseminated to the public (Scholes 1982)o 122 References Cited Acton, Thomas. 1974. Gypsy politics and social change. Tucson: University of Arizona. Leibenstein, Harvey° 1968. Entrepreneurship and development. American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings 58,2:72-83. Metzgar, Eric. 1985. Gypsy "Rom" values: what can media tell us? Paper presented for graduate course, UCLA, 19 ppso Naroll, Raoul. 1964o On ethnic unit classification. Current Anthroplogy 5:283-91. Nemeth, David° 1978. 'Gypsy Camp' 1949. JGLS Fourth Series, 1,3:181-86o Okely, Judith. 1982o The Traveller-Gypsies. New York and London: Cambridge University Press. Powers, William K. 1984. Book review: Persistant peoples° American Anthropologist 86:183. Salo, Sheila (edo). 1983-84. Membership directory.Gypsy Lore Society, North American Chapter. Salter, Christopher L. 1983o The cowboy and the city° Landscape 27,3:43-7. Scholes, Robert So 1982. Semiotics and interpretation° New Haven: Yale University Press. Worth, Valerieo 1983o Gypsy goldo New York: FS&G.