Tsiganes et sédentaires

Curatorial Note

Ethnographic study by French anthropologist Bernard Formoso examining processes of cultural reproduction among Roma communities in France. Based principally on fieldwork conducted among Sinti Piemontezi and Rom Kalderash families at the Hameau tzigane du Plan-de-Grasse in southern France, with additional research in the Paris region, the book investigates how social boundaries between Roma and Gadje are reproduced through everyday practices, child socialization, economic activities, interpersonal relations, and concepts of autonomy. Rather than defining Roma identity through fixed cultural traits, Formoso focuses on recurrent dispositions and social practices that persist across processes such as sedentarization. Developed from the author's doctoral research and published in 1986, the volume represents an important French anthropological contribution to the study of Roma social organization and Roma–non-Roma relations, while also reflecting the terminology and analytical frameworks of its period.