Country of residence

United States

Brief introduction

PhD Candidate in Cultural Anthropology / Teacher Assistant, Princeton University

Education

PhD Candidate in Cultural Anthropology (june 2014 expected graduation date) / Master Degree, Anthropology, 2010, Princeton University, NJ, United States

Academic profile

I am interested in the anthropologies of diaspora, transnationalism, kinship, gender and ethos with a focus on the Roma people of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. I am currently examining the making of Romany people into ethnically identifiable citizens of Brazil, along with the daily constructions of identity as a distinctive minority through culture-specific honor and shame social prescriptions.   My interest in feminist theories inflects my analysis of women's negotiating with two registers of patriarchal values, the Brazilian and the Romany cultural registers. Female political representatives are highly controversial and rare in Brazil despite the fact that women tend to be the family breadwinners through their card-reading practices.     In fact psychic readings are so lucrative in Brazil that non-Romani Brazilians pretend to be Roma to perform this occupation successfully. Ironically most Roma do not make their ethnicity public. Among middle-class Roma goods circulate freely, hospitality is emphasized, and care is offered to the poor and nomadic Roma, including those temporarily migrating from Romania to beg in the urban streets of coastal Brazil. I explore the possibility of developing community consciousness among the Roma at an international level to the betterment of impoverished, underprivileged co-ethnics in Europe.

Publications

Keywords

Roma, Brazil, diaspora, gender studies

Contact

dbudur@gmail.com browse members list