Arpad Bak

Profile

Between the late 19th and late 20th centuries, more than 20 urban memory sites were dedicated in Hungary to prominent persons of Romani ethnicity, a minority group that faces often extreme forms of racialised discrimination. This research examines how, instead of furthering an agenda of inclusion, many of these sites were implicated in the spatial control of Romani communities by the dominant society. Combining critical analysis and historical research, I will show how the everyday life and cultural-political activism of the Roma were kept away from urban centres, a process sometimes aided by hegemonic strategies of pluralising the urban heritage environment.

Research interests

Romani studies

Racism and racialisation

Memory politics and nationalism

Heritage contestation

Creolisation, hybridity and transculturation

Qualifications

  • BA/MA English Language and Literature, University of Debrecen, Hungary

Research groups and institutes

  • Social Justice, Cities, Citizenship