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Intercultural Communication Studies XXI: 3 (2012) G
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From Stigma to Resistant Career Discourses: Toward a Co-Cultural
Career Communication Model for Non-Dominant Group Members
Elena
Gabor
Bradley University, USA
Patrice M.
buzzanell
Purdue University, USA
Abstract: Career communication focuses on Western and dominant members’ work
and careers in formal economies. Applying co-cultural theory to anthropological
data, we show how groups, such as the Roma people, operate within dialectics of
inclusion-exclusion, dignity-stigma, individual-collectivity, and legality-illegality to
construct career discourses marked by resistance and resource recuperation. Building
on Lucassen, Willems, and Cottaar (1998), we have identied ve characteristics
of Romany experiences of work and resistance: (a) the entire family functioning as
the work unit; (b) mobility; (c) preference for self-employment; (d) the rhetoric of
recuperation; and (e) work used as resistance toward dominant majorities. In doing so,
we offer an ideological critique of career and the Roma. Our model is applicable to
other marginalized groups.
Keywords: Roma career theory, co-cultural theory, culture of honor, stigmatized
groups, resistance
1. Introduction
When the rst author told acquaintances that she was writing about Roma careers, they
laughed: “What Gypsy careers? Careers in fortune telling and petty theft?” Many people in
Eastern Europe believe that the Roma, also known as “Gypsies,” are lazy, dishonest, and
lacking in the discipline and work ethics required by organized settings (Amza, 1996; Gallup
Romania, 2003; C. Zamr & Zamr, 1993). In popular novels and lms, Roma images are
mostly negative or romanticized (Gabor, 2007). Even in academic studies, their representations
are “dominated by the themata of robbery or popular acrobatism, as if their psychology were
already pregured from the beginning” (Moscovici, 2011, p. 455). The Roma, a diverse
minority using the Romani language or divergent dialects, with no common territory or religion
but with a resilient social structure, have occupied one of the lowest positions in European
collective discourse and resource access (European Commission, 2012). Gurr (1993) included
the Roma in his list of minorities at risk, using such criteria as substandard ways of life coupled
with growing birth rates, seasonal labor, little health care access, illiteracy, and few means for
integration in society–“that is, if they wanted to be [integrated]” (p. 49).
Whereas education and professional degrees often contribute to evaluations of work
alignment with careers, the word “career” also implies spatio-temporal movement in work
content and status as well as access to resources (Arthur, Inkson, & Pringle, 1999; Buzzanell &
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Goldzwig, 1991; Inkson, 2007; Sullivan & Baruch, 2009) that many Roma simply do not have,
as most are forbidden access to them by the majority or reportedly do not desire such access
(Barany, 2002; Stewart, 1997a, 1997b). Unlike other marginalized groups who seek at least
partial societal integration, many Roma resist the very discourses and values that constitute
career (D. Smith & Greenelds, 2012).
The experiences of the rst author, who grew up in communist Romania across the street
from a community of Kaldarashi blacksmiths between 1977-1988, attest to the complexity
underlying any evaluation of Romany occupations. Although the communist regime forbade
private enterprise, the Roma managed to secure contracts with state-owned construction
companies that bought their metal tubes and installed them in apartment buildings. The men
worked in the shop while women made and sold baskets, wooden spoons, owers, or copper
jewelry. The Roma women often came through the Romanian neighborhood collecting old
clothes, scrap metal, and glass bottles that they later recycled or sold for money. They also
offered fortune-telling services. The Romany village had an architecture that reected the social
hierarchy. The Bulibasha, the leader, had the biggest house near the metal shop. Relationships
between the two communities were peaceful, but Romany women often complained to
Romanian women about mistreatment in state hospitals and schools.
Using anthropological data, we show how the Roma who embrace strategies of adaptation
to historical changes have developed careers that may be judged by the dominant majority as
non-careers, marginal and illegal, but are meaningful and justied as resource recuperation
by the Roma themselves. Our goal is to contribute to interdisciplinary career research by
developing more inclusive theorizing applicable to global in/formal economies and centered in
communication (Arthur et al., 1999; Arthur & Rousseau, 1996; Buzzanell, 2000; Khapova &
Arthur, 2011; Sullivan & Baruch, 2009). Not only can an examination of Romany careers add
considerably to the concept of career itself, but it also offers a site in which a stigmatized group
enacts resistance and control dialectically to shape work-related activities (Mumby, 1995).
To accomplish our goal, we conduct our ideological critique (see MacDermaid, Roy, &
Zvonkovic, 2005) through the use of stigma and co-cultural communication lenses. First,
our approach to stigma centers on messages and occupations Roma use for identity repair
and stigma negotiation (e.g., Ashforth, Kreiner, Clark & Fugate, 2007; Meisenbach, 2010; R.
Smith, 2007). We rely on Meisenbach’s (2010) stigma management communication theory
which proposes that: “(a) stigmas are discursively constructed and managed via both non-
stigmatized and stigmatized individuals’ perceptions, (b) stigmas shift and are shifted by
discourses and material conditions, and (c) stigmas vary by degree” (p. 285). We suggest that
centuries of marginalization, enslavement, and discrimination have produced relatively stable
social constructions of stigma toward the Roma who have responded mostly through isolation,
resistance, and in-group orientations (Barany, 2002; T. Smith, 1997; Stewart, 1997a, 1997b).
Second, our co-cultural communication lens (Orbe, 1996, 1998a, 1998b, 1998c) enables us to
question the monocultural assumptions regarding career and further explore Roma’s experiences
as a co-cultural stigmatized group. Co-cultural experiences and theory have not been utilized
to develop insights about work and career, particularly when linear and advancement-oriented
career theory no longer applies.
The organization of our essay is as follows: (a) applying co-cultural communication to the
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Roma, and (b) problematizing “career” theory to display why career has not served marginalized
groups’ interests. In this second section, the process of problematizing the discourse and
practices of career is a two-step ideological critique. We make assumptions visible so that they
can be evaluated rst for accuracy and utility in a particular context and second for their ethical
nature or unfairness (MacDermid, et al., 2005). To do this critique, we have two subsections:
stigma and Roma: and Roma experiences of work and resistance. In these subsections we delve
into stigmatized principles that guide the Roma economy, culture, and work experiences. We
next bring together concepts of stigma as well as the culture of honor/law, as explained by
Nisbett and Cohen (1996), and co-cultural communication (Orbe, 1996, 1998a, 1998b, 1998c)
to provide a framework for understanding the Gypsy discourses surrounding work and non-
work. Our nal section is our (c) conclusion. Given that work and careers are so essential to
groups’ viability and identities, we extend co-cultural communication approaches to create
new theorizing that can assist not only non-dominant group members but also dominant group
members who nd that career theory and practices do not coincide with their experiences,
interests, and aspirations.
2. Applying Co-Cultural Communication
Roma have not all reacted similarly to the historical, economic, and political transformations
that took place in Eastern Europe in the 1990s and then in Western Europe through the formation
of the European Union. Acton (1974) proposed a typology highlighting four Romany adaptation
strategies: conservative (inward orientation, minimizing contact with the outside world and
resisting lifestyle changes); cultural disintegration (demoralization, impoverishment, and
violation of even in-group norms), cultural adaptation (acceptance of outside inuences that
appear advantageous as supplements rather than replacements of their own culture), and passing
(identity concealment to compete equally with dominant members). The Roma have used these
strategies during slavery, world wars, pogroms, and forced collectivization in Eastern Europe
(Barany, 2002; Hancock, 1987).
Roma cultural adaptation strategies appear both similar to and different from Orbe’s co-
cultural communication theory. Orbe (1996) dened “co-culture” as non-dominant groups
whose “experiences are often made invisible by the pervasiveness of the dominant culture”
(p. 158). Rooted in standpoint and muted group theories, co-cultural theory examines how
co-cultural groups interact with dominant societal groups. Orbe’s model is built around two
dimensions: preferred outcome of interaction and communication approach used in interaction.
In terms of preferred outcome, Orbe advanced three possibilities: assimilation (attempt
of the co-cultural group to t into the dominant society through the elimination of cultural
differences); accommodation (promotion of multiculturalist collaboration); and separation
(creation and maintenance of unique group identities outside of or within dominant social
structures). Given these desired outcomes, Orbe (1998c) considered three communication
approaches: nonassertive (placing others’ needs above oneself); aggressive (confronting,
attacking, or sabotaging others); and assertive (aiming toward collaboration but often perceived
as more aggressive by dominant group members). Applications of co-cultural communication
theory have investigated the Afro Punk co-culture (Ramírez-Sánchez, 2008), the dance-ght-
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game capoeíra (MacLennan, 2011), and minority groups such as African American men (Orbe,
1994b), women, gays, and lesbians (Orbe, 1998a), and rst-year college students (Orbe &
Groscurth, 2004).
We argue that prior scholarship has analyzed these different co-cultural groups from the
assumption that they function in a culture of law, whereby all follow a system of rules enforced
by the state. From an anthropological viewpoint, nomadic peoples and herdsmen often adhere
to cultures of honor. These people carry their most valuable property with them and risk having
it stolen. They have little recourse to law enforcement or government (Nisbett & Cohen, 1996).
In a culture of honor, inspiring fear is viewed as a stronger strategy than promoting friendship;
cultivating a reputation for swift and disproportionate revenge increases the safety of person
and property. Nisbett and Cohen (1996) found that: “Such cultures seem to be particularly
likely to develop where (1) the individual is at economic risk from his fellows and (2) the state
is weak or nonexistent and thus cannot prevent or punish theft of property” (p. 4). Cultures of
honor also appear among groups that have little allegiance to national governments. Examples
include cowboys, gang members, frontiersmen, and ranchers of the American West, where
ofcial law-enforcement often remained out of reach. Once cultures of honor exist, it is difcult
for members to transition into cultures of law. Transitions require that people willingly back
down and refuse to retaliate immediately. From the viewpoints of cultures of honor these
behaviors appear weak and unwise.
We argue that the concept of culture of honor ties into Romany resistance toward dominant
majorities. After centuries of discrimination, Roma have developed a culture of honor because
they learned that they cannot get fair treatment in non-Roma courts. Therefore, they seek
justice either on their own or in designated Romany justice organizations such as Kris or Divan
(Barany, 2002; Stewart 1997a, 1997b). We used anthropological, sociological, and historical
data (Barany, 2002; Fonseca, 1996; Hancock, 1987; Overlock, 1999; D. Smith & Greenseld,
2012; T. Smith, 2012; Stewart 1997a, 1997b; C. Zamr & Zamr, 1993) to examine Roma’s
economic and rhetorical behavior as a co-culture and, by extension, the career communication of
group members who do not subscribe to traditional careers but rather to practices characterizing
informal economies ruled by family ties rather than legal rules (Godfrey, 2011).
3. Problematizing Career Theory
Traditionally, career has been dened as opportunities for promotion, time spent on the
job, and organizational attachment (Hall, 2002). Developments in the world of work, such
as globalization, outsourcing, and new technologies have prompted researchers to develop
concepts that incorporate these realities. However, few studies compare career development
across cultures (exceptions include: Juntunen & Cline, 2010; Turner & Lapan, 2003) although
“boundaryless” careers highlight physical, relational, and psychological mobility (Arthur &
Rousseau, 1996; Sullivan & Baruch, 2009). Whereas recent career models seek to include
groups like temporary workers or stay-at-home parents, the Roma engaged in spoon making or
fortune telling would not be considered to have careers, because of the stigma associated with
these occupations.
Career conceptualizations for stigmatized groups have been problematic because of careers’
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linkages to societal contributions and modernist assumptions of progress and linearity. To
distinguish “good” from “bad” careers, Wilensky (as cited in Miles & Snow, 1996) connected
individual and societal interests with effective careers that benet self and others and integrate
individuals into communities (p. 97). If individuals’ work does not contribute to organizations’
needs and interests, then there is no effective career. If the most salient features of careers
are effectiveness for multiple stakeholders (individuals, organizations, and societies), then the
concept of career is not responsive to the needs and practices of culturally different groups
whose values and practices may be in opposition to those of the dominant society.
Specically, if some Romany families live without ofcial identity papers and fail to pay
taxes, their work appears invisible to the dominant society. As Moscovici (2011) pointed out,
“no matter whether they work or not, Gypsies are all represented as not working or in a ‘private’
working sphere” (p. 455). Moreover, obtaining data on Romany occupations is difcult.
Indicators of occupation, professional attainment, and intergenerational mobility that make
groups noticeable and, perhaps, “worthy” of concern in societies are simply unavailable (EC,
2004). Barany (2002) found that simply counting the number of Roma is a frustrating exercise
for most national censuses. The Roma are thus seen as a group that is difcult to identify,
assimilate, and describe statistically—a group without career.
Additionally, career theory and practice is still linked with modernist notions, enterprising
organizing processes, and cultures of law. Modernist tenets surface in career language that
privileges progress, linearity, and a drive toward coherent thematic representations and
structures (Arthur et al., 1999; Buzzanell & Goldzwig, 1991; Ibarra, 2003; Sullivan &
Baruch, 2009). As such, career develops within seemingly impartial and competency-based
structures, decision-making, and bureaucratic processes (Rothschild-Whitt, 1979; Schein,
1992). Contemporary notions of enterprise, self-empowerment, and corporate missions create
discursive spaces in which career identities are produced (Inkson, 2007). In everyday behaviors
and discourses, career is tied to personal branding, consumerist ideologies, and disciplining of
selves to construct malleable professional images (Hearn, 2008) and “no limits” careers (Lucas,
Liu, & Buzzanell, 2006).
Because career necessitates particular kinds of career capital acquisition and renement,
it operates best in societies characterized by cultures of law. According to Nisbett and Cohen
(1996), cultures of law operate where government and its enforcers are recognized by everyone
and are difcult to avoid. Members follow unwritten contracts through which they agree to give
up some personal freedoms in exchange for governmental protections. Cultures of law require
maintenance; otherwise they can change into cultures of honor, where respect for individuals
or groups stems from the revenge that they may enact when properties, persons, or prerogatives
are not respected (Acton, Caffrey, & Mundy, 1997; Nisbett & Cohen, 1996). In cultures of
honor, individuals are more likely to work for themselves or small groups (e.g., family).
Moreover, careers in cultures of law are envisioned as mechanisms for worker motivation,
differential allocations of resources, and varying prestige and status. Hall (2002) distinguished
among meanings of career in popular and behavioral science literature, namely, career as
advancement, profession, and lifelong sequence of jobs or role-related experiences. Advancement
is the most common meaning of career. It is fueled by popular media and scholarship that still
imposes directionality, specically upward trajectories of work achievement. For the Roma
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who learn a trade from their parents or extended family, a simple advancement pattern from
apprentice to independent professional is normative (T. Smith, 1997; Stewart, 1997b). This
pattern differs from more prestigious professional and organizational advancement models in
status, numbers of and budgetary discretion in “ladder” rungs, and decision-making about work
processes (Thomas & Alderfer, 1989).
Career as profession implies the notion of career choice. However, “choice” is not inherent
in Roma cultures, due to lack of resources, lack of exposure to career choices, or family/group
socialization. Juntunen and Cline (2010) and Juntunen et al. (2001) observed similar structural
constraints when they investigated career psychology among Native Americans. Many Roma
work in informal economies (Godfrey, 2011). Their work is viewed by family or community as
necessary and possible for their lifestyles—lling needs as they exist, rather than seeking out
work that is personally fullling—and relying on family ties rather than regulated structures
(Fonseca, 1996; T. Smith, 1997; Stewart, 1997a, 1997b).
Moreover, career as profession ts only those few Roma who had access to formal education
and became teachers, doctors, lawyers, scholars, engineers, and so on. It is a challenge to nd
statistics on national percentages of Roma with formal education and professional careers since
many declare different ethnicities for fear of discrimination (Barany, 2002). In most cases,
professional careers take place mostly outside of the Roma communities, and imply deliberate
dissociation, especially by omission, with one’s ethnic and cultural heritage (D. Smith &
Greenseld, 2012). Roma communities sometimes regard professional members with pride
(Fonseca, 1996; Overlock, 1999) and other times as impure because these professionals work
and mix with non-Roma (Barany, 2002).
Even after the fall of the Berlin wall and the implementation of targeted social and economic
policies regarding minorities, few Roma maximize their formal education. According to a 2004
United Nations Development Program survey for Southeastern Europe, 66% of Roma aged
7-15 were enrolled in primary school, compared to 96% of the majority population; 17% of
Roma aged 16-19 were enrolled in secondary education, compared to 74% of the majority
population, and 1% of Roma aged 20 and older were enrolled in tertiary education, compared
to 7% of the majority (http://vulnerability.undp.sk./). Countries like Hungary have laws that
grant jobs only upon successful completion of eight grades. As a result of educational gaps,
the numbers of unemployed Roma is considerable, ranging from 44.5 % in Romania and 73.2
% in Kosovo (O’Higgins & Ivanov, 2006). As D. Smith and Greenelds (2012) found about
Roma and other marginalized groups in the United Kingdom, few of the programs established
to tackle unemployment specically targeted these populations with programs addressing
community needs. The Roma minority is especially challenged when it comes to acquiring
and maintaining jobs because of educational obstacles. For many Roma, formal education does
not exist in their mental landscape of possibilities because of cross-generational poverty and
discrimination (EC, 2012; Hawke, 2010). Others have the resources but fear discrimination in
the gadje (non-Roma) schools and believe that all there is to learn can be learned in the family
(Barany, 2002). By denition, career is associated with organizations whose entry is difcult
to breach by Roma. Career as profession thus eliminates those who do not undergo specialized
education, job sequencing, and career capital development in terms of education and networks
(Feldman, 2006).
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Finally, career as a lifelong sequence of role-related experiences (Hall, 2002) seems more
inclusive. This denition entitles categories of workers whose roles as stay-at-home mothers,
part-time employees, and contingent laborers, enable them to claim careers (Williams, 2000).
Many Roma may t this denition of career, especially women who engage in home-based care
giving. Yet, care giving remains marginalized in contemporary European societies (Hochschild,
2003). The importance of the family in Roma lives and individual economic destiny is missing
from role-oriented career models (T. Smith, 1997).
When theory encompasses boundaryless, protean, and enacted/storied careers, or career as
“the evolving sequence of a person’s work experiences over time” (Arthur et al., 1999, p. 3),
career communication can play off of boundary tensions such as inside-outside organization,
work-family, employability-personal fulllment, and evolution-stagnation (Arthur & Rousseau,
1996; Hall, 2002; Inkson, 2007; Sullivan & Baruch, 2009). However, these careers assume that
individuals and careers “evolve”—implying that people acquire their true career selves over
time and space. These career processes do not t many Roma in marginal occupations shaped
by family needs and involving everyone in the family.
In sum, we have problematized contemporary career language and assumptions that still
align with dominant group members’ experiences and modernist notions. Grounded in cultures
of law, new career models are not compatible with Roma ideologies.
3.1. Stigma and Roma
There is little doubt that the Roma are stigmatized through their socio-cultural identity,
namely, “perceptions of [their] social group membership” (Allen, 2004, p. 10). According to a
2003 Gallup poll in Romania, two thirds of Romanians believed that the Roma should not be
allowed to travel abroad because they damage the image of Romania. Almost half supported
the idea of demographic policies that would limit the rise of the Roma population. A third
(36%) believed that the Roma should be forced to live separately from the rest of the society
because they cannot become integrated. Dominant populations in other European countries
have had similar views of this minority (Hancock, 1987; D. Smith & Greenseld, 2012).
Here, in keeping with our communicative approach to career, culture, and identity, we
examine Roma experiences of stigmatized work and stigma as a communicative process
(Meisenbach, 2010; R. Smith, 2007). As Ashforth and Kreiner (1999) and Ashforth et al. (2007)
have shown, stigma is often associated with occupations that are considered “dirty” because
they involve garbage, human refuse, involvement with those considered less desirable in a
particular society, physically taxing work that leaves its mark on the body, and work that might
be considered morally questionable. “Dirty” workers exert much identity and emotional effort
to discursively construct their work as valuable to society, difcult to accomplish, supportive
of other life interests such as providing for families, and associated with communal values
(Ashforth & Kreiner, 1999; Ashforth et al., 2007). As Meisenbach (2010) pointed out, stigma
is a communicative process that is “materially and discursively constructed based on non-
stigmatized and stigmatized perceptions” (p. 272).
For the Roma, many characteristics associated with dirty, marginalized, or stigmatized work
infuse their traditional work of blacksmithing, scrap metal collecting, musical entertaining,
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ower selling, basket and spoon making, horse dealing, fortune telling, and begging. While
some Roma blacksmithers, construction workers, or musicians could be well regarded in non-
Roma communities, certain Roma horse dealers may be avoided at fairs for fear of dishonesty
(Stewart, 1997a). Romany music is recognized as having inuenced the compositions of
Brahms, Liszt, and Beethoven (Fraser, 1992); but various Romany styles of interpretation
are stigmatized as “Gypsy kitch” (Barany, 2002). Fortune telling still has a market in Eastern
Europe; some fortune tellers, such as Maria Campina interviewed by writer Andrei Codrescu
for PBS Frontline (2002), have achieved great wealth and fame.
The Roma are marked by multiple layers of stigma through their socio-cultural identities,
occupations, and socio-political and economic structures. Because stigma is dened in contrast
to and perpetuated by certain dominant societal groups and attendant ideologies, it entraps
stigmatized individuals into beliefs that lack of privileges and rights is a given and a norm
(Moscovici, 2011). Accordingly, some Roma can and do refuse to participate in mainstream
society. They operate at the margins of society, attempt to hide their identities in order to access
resources, and/or elevate their membership and work through counter narratives that challenge
the status quo (Lindemann-Nelson, 2001). Such is the case for Roma who may choose to lie to
their potential employers about their identity, since certain employers actually go as far as to
print in the job ad “Roma should not apply” (EC, 2004). As Stewart (1997a) found with regard
to other co-cultural groups, the Roma employ conscious discursive and action-based strategies
to challenge power when communicating with dominant group members.
3.2. Roma Experiences of Work and Resistance
In this section, we present evidence from anthropological and sociological literature on
Roma using the work of established Roma scholars (Fraser, 1992; Hancock, 1987; Lucassen,
Willems, & Cottaar, 1998; D. Smith & Greenseld, 2012; Stewart, 1997a, 1997b; C. Zamr
& Zamr, 1993) to identify the characteristics of Romany experiences of economy, work, and
resistance. Lucassen et al. (1998) devised a model for what they called “the Gypsy economy”
that consists of three characteristics: (a) family functioning as the work unit; (b) mobility;
and (c) preference for self-employment. We identied two additional characteristics: (d) the
rhetoric of recuperation; and (e) work used (even if only occasionally) as resistance toward
dominant majorities. These two characteristics may not apply to all Roma. According to D.
Smith and Greenseld (2012), they apply to those who have been conservative in the face of
external change, have minimized contact with the outside world, and accept stigma through
stories that bolster and refocus the stigma (Meisenbach, 2010).
First, the entire family as the work unit means that all members of the family contribute to
the family income, including children and the elderly. The family as a work unit also involves
working in physical proximity of one another and/or working together on the same task. Stewart
(1997a) found that even under the ideological pressures of the communist regime, the Hungarian
Vlach Gypsy way of life involved the entire family working together. This phenomenon, also
present among the Gypsies and Travellers in the United Kingdom (D. Smith & Greensled,
2012) is in marked contrast to the enterprising stories of career in the new economy whereby
individuals not only locate their work interests, calculate their career resources, and hone
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their abilities over time (Arthur et al., 1999), but also craft new identities and employment
accounts to maintain employability in turbulent economic times (Ibarra, 2003). Most of these
mainstream career narratives do not deal with political issues such as forced relocations and
would view family- and community-based work, living, and career as anachronistic or atypical
although there are some similarities to migrant (individual or nuclear family) and contingent
seasonal (individual) workers.
One key element in the family as work unit characteristic of Romany life and career is the
traveling group. Lucassen et al. (1998) looked at the socio-economic functioning of traveling
groups and found that Romany occupations did not differ essentially from economic activities
by sedentary people. While characteristics of Romany work and careers are found in other
groups, they are aligned with those marginalized and perhaps with those hoping for more
permanent or regular employment arrangements.
Second, with regard to the characteristic of mobility, Roma again appear to be but are not
truly unique. Lucassen et al. (1998) found that: “Well into the twentieth century, European
agriculture and industry made use of tens of thousands of seasonal workers who left homes
every year for months at a time to earn a living abroad or in other parts of the country” (p. 154).
We could add that this is also a 21st century phenomenon, with people from Eastern Europe
going to Spain, or Italy during the summer to participate in agricultural seasonal jobs. The same
phenomenon is observable with Mexican workers coming to the United States for seasonal
jobs. In these cases, workers can be categorized as participants in non-standard or “deviant”
work. Ballard and Gossett (2008) found that “real” workers are those who are considered core
employees, operate in xed locations in time and space, and have unrestricted membership
status. Workers characterized by mobility such as part-time and temporary workers may be
communicatively isolated and even feared by “regular” workers (Ballard & Gossett, 2008).
Unless mobility is upward, skill-building and increasing in status with temporary permanence
in position and organization, mobile workers such as the Roma still are considered suspect in
the world of work and career.
Third, self-employment is a decided preference of the Roma. The arguments focus on
cultural norms stressing that through self-employment the necessary boundaries between their
own and non-Roma worlds can be upheld (Fonseca, 1996; Fraser, 1992; Lacková, 2000; D.
Smith & Greenseld, 2012; T. Smith, 1997; Stewart, 1997a, 1997b). Arthur and Rousseau
(1996), Hall (2002), and Inkson (2007) found that the increase in self-employment, independent
contracting, private consulting and entrepreneurship for groups was caused by downsizing and
outplacement. For the Roma, it was centuries-long discrimination and communal orientations
(Hancock, 1987).
Discrimination in schools (EC, 2004, 2012) and intergenerational values have contributed
to Roma not sending their children to gadje (non-Roma) schools. Traditionally, most education
is done at home (T. Smith, 1997). Even today, going to a gadje (non-Roma) school is rejected
for four reasons: years of deep cross-generational poverty have eliminated education as an
option to even be considered; fear of discrimination and mistreatment; in the case of nomadic
families, being on the road means constant moving; and the belief that everything there is to
learn can be learned at home from the group (Barany, 2002, Flecha & Oliver, 2004). Moreover,
generations of Roma have managed to survive and even accumulate fortunes without literacy,
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so many do not believe in the value of a formal education (McLaughlin, 1980). Centuries-long
illiteracy is the main reason why Gypsy culture has remained primarily oral (Barany, 2002;
Crowe, 1994).
Lucassen et al. (1998) suggested that the ideology expressed by many Roma does not
deviate much from the arguments put forward by most self-employed people seeking autonomy,
independence and self-fulllment. In light of Lucassen et al.’s observation, we can thus say that
the entrepreneurial career model is one that ts Roma experiences. However, this model is not
fully satisfactory because it does not include the following two characteristics: the rhetoric of
recuperation and the element of resistance to the dominant majority.
In the remaining part of this section, we bring together Meisenbach’s stigma management
communication theory, Orbe’s theory of co-cultural communication, and Nisbett and Cohen’s
concept of culture of honor to begin development of our co-cultural career communication
model. Here, we show that some Roma have created unregulated occupations that seek to
recuperate resources from the dominant majority, while discursively reframing the stigma
placed on them by the majority. As a co-cultural career discourse, we propose the rhetoric of
recuperation as the use of stories and parables centering around discrimination and injustice to
justify the economic necessity of marginal activities such as fortune-telling, begging, or petty
theft. Such rhetoric is used often by Roma to explain why it is acceptable to deceive a non-
Roma. Paul Polansky, an activist for Eastern European Roma Human Rights, described an old
legend circulating among Czech Roma:
Most Gypsies that I lived with take great pride in stealing. One of their oldest oral
histories speaks of the ancient times when all horses roamed free until the Gadjo took
all of them himself. The Gypsy then started to steal back what was once free for all
men. Many Gypsies think stealing is proof of great intelligence. … In my experience
of living with Gypsies, I found that only those Gypsies without jobs, or those who were
refused jobs because of the color of their skin, made a life out of crime. (para2)
Stewart (1997b), who lived among the Hungarian Roma for eighteen months, found a
similar legend:
When Holy God gave out wheat to the ga os, he called the Rom as well to give them
some. But the Rom did not have a sack, because they were poor. Then the Rom said to
Holy God, “Dear Holy God, give us ours in the ga os’sack!” So Holy God poured the
wheat into the ga os sack. But afterwards the ga os did not want to give wheat [to the
Rom], even if the Rom asked for it. That’s why the Rom steal from the ga os. (p. 18)
According to Meisenbach’s model, these narratives illustrate acceptance that stigma
applies to oneself on one hand, and a challenge of the public understanding of stigma on the
other hand. Resource characteristics in these narratives are: they should be readily available,
because they were given by God or Nature, they are now in the hands of the gadjo, therefore
the Roma need to get it back. The gadje, the non-Gypsies, appear as tyrannical and forgetful,
since they seem to have forgotten the initial equality. Through stealing, Roma re-establish the
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initial social order.
These researchers emphasized that Gypsies engage in stealing only when the access to paid
jobs is restricted, which occurs more and more nowadays in Europe (Barany, 2002; Flecha &
Oliver, 2004; D. Smith & Greenseld, 2012; Stewart, 1997b). Stewart (1997b) found that, for
the Roma, trading was a way to assert control, or at least a rejection of external control:
As Gypsies put it: “We make money turn around for us, turn around and come to us.”
They do this by organizing, persuading or manipulating others into doing business.
The Gypsy role in the market is managing people. A Gypsy once told me that anyone
can be a trader “if they have the words.” (p. 92)
In the same vein, all deals with gadjos are considered sales, “as against swaps with fellow
Gypsies” (p. 92). Stewart also observed that many Roma spoke proudly about cunning and
trickery even while earning honest wages in gadjos institutions:
The point was that, although the game of life was set up so that the ga os could exploit
the weaknesses of the Gypsies, there were also activities in which the Gypsies could
gain the upper hand and redress the balance. In these, the Gypsies got something for
nothing, palmed objects that the ga os thought belonged to them. Participation in such
activities, which went under the generic term of “Gypsy work,” was what any self-
respecting Gypsy man or woman aspired to. (Stewart, 1997b, p. 19)
With a turbulent history of slavery and persecution in Europe, the Roma have developed
resistance mechanisms similar to the ones developed by African American and Brazilian slaves.
For example, MacLennan (2011) discussed the notion of malícia to refer to a strategy used by
ghters of capoeira (a dance-ght-game invented by former slaves in the Americas). Translated
as malice in English, the term refers to “a sly style of intelligent trickery” where “the intent is to
make the other person out to be a fool” (MacLennan, 2011, p. 152). Merrell (2003) explained:
“the slaves in Brazil developed malícia into a carefully honed instrument by means of which to
generate subversive acts against their masters” (p. 279). One can argue that the Roma engage in
resistance through work (and non-work) that involves cheating dominant group members who
restrict access to resources via blunt discrimination and neglect. Marginal occupations such
as petty theft, fortune telling, and trading where work is done not on the product, but on the
customer (Stewart, 1997a) are malícia-like activities with both economic and communicative
outcomes. These activities can be seen through lenses of creative initiative, entrepreneurship,
and resistance, accomplishing identity afrmation through “managing people” and “having
the words.” By justifying malícia with the rhetoric of recuperation, the Roma can repair their
threatened social identity by telling stories in which they reposition themselves in “the real
story” that exonerates them (Lindemann-Nelson, 2001).
We claim that marginal occupations such as fortune telling and petty theft can be seen
through similar lenses of creative initiative and resistance, accomplishing separation through
“managing people” and “having the words.” Both of these activities are targeted to non-Roma
members of society (e.g., Romany women will not tell the fortune to another Rom, and,
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traditionally, a Rom would not steal from another Rom) (Stewart, 1997a). In conclusion, the
recorded history of centuries-long marginalization of the Roma (Barany, 2002) stands proof
that economic discrimination has been just one aspect of Roma–Gadje relational processes, to
which some Roma responded by creating marginal activities supported with resistant narratives
of recuperation that enabled identity repair and expressions of entrepreneurship and pride.
4. Conclusion
Our study develops a co-cultural career communication model that includes the
experiences, ideologies, and motivations of non-dominant group members and cultures, such as
the Roma, and that incorporates stigma management, co-cultural communication, and stigma
theory with rhetoric of recuperation. To surface and problematize the exclusionary nature of
career conceptualizations and practices, we identify the communicative and material aspects of
careers born from the clash of two groups: Roma and majority. Romany discourses about work
and personal lives serve to remind us that between Roma and resources there is a dominant
majority that is viewed as discriminatory, neglectful, and forgetful. While many Roma attempt
to make a living within cultures of law, others earn livelihoods within cultures of honor created
in social spaces where law is weak. In our study, we focused on those Roma that chose to make
ends meet through marginal or illegal activities motivated by recuperation and justice. Our
effort was to develop career theory inclusive of stigmatized groups who engage in occupations
designed specically as a method of reifying ingroup-outgroup identities.
To develop our theory, we rst noted that the most widely accepted meanings of “career”
are those with modernist connotations of formal education, promotion, social recognition and
power—aspects that most Roma do not have. Roma themselves would probably never consider
to name their occupations “careers.” However, we argue that the co-cultural communication
strategy of malícia (MacLennan, 2011; Merrell, 2003), which is assertive and aims towards
separation as per Orbe’s classication, enables Roma to construct alternative careers, values,
and practices. We found that: most Roma construct their occupations primarily based on the
needs of the extended family and not the individual; the whole nuclear family participates in
bringing income to the family; and most Roma prefer to be self-employed and have found ways
to maintain independence from gadje institutions even during controlling political regimes.
Among those Roma who make a living in illegal or semi-illegal occupations, the psychological
fulllment typically sought in protean careers (Hall, 2002; Inkson, 2007) can be equivalent
with the psychological satisfaction of tricking a gadjo. Here, the rhetoric of recuperation plays
a signicant role of justication, stigma management, and identity repair. By presenting theft or
cheating as a response to an initial injustice done by the Gadje, the act is rendered acceptable.
Being savvier than the Gadjo in a trade is proof of intelligence. The non-Roma have control
over material resources, therefore illegal and semi-legal activities can be used as tools for
recuperation. Careers and work appear negotiated through and with the other, the outsider, the
non-Gypsy, in a relationship that aims at independence but reies dependence.
It is our belief that, in order to be inclusive, career theory and vocational counselors need
broad and exible denitions of “career” and “work.” Cultural openness can accommodate
informal economic activities (Godfrey, 2011), opposing work ethics (e.g., ethic of production
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13
and ethic of non-production), and multiple voices. For instance, as an informal, irregular and
unregulated activity, fortune telling allows Romany women to contribute income to their
families and increase their socio-economic status within the family (Barany, 2002; T. Smith,
1997).
Although we recognize limitations to our research, notably the use of anthropological and
sociological reports rather than interviews and direct observations, we believe that our ndings
offer theoretical and pragmatic implications. Future studies would benet from direct access
to Romany voices including Romany women and children. While the rst author observed
rst hand a broad range of Romany economic activities in her native country of Romania, as a
non-Roma she never had the chance to be more than an observer/consumer of Romany work.
Future studies should assess whether our career model with its ve characteristics (i.e., family
as a work unit, mobility, self employment, rhetoric of recuperation, and work as resistance)
and conguration of co-cultural, stigma management, and recuperative rhetoric can be applied
to other non-dominant groups’ experiences in informal economies. Practical implications
of advancing a co-cultural career communication model may lie in a better understanding
of Romany economic actions or inactions, in more effective United Nations and European
Commission policies, as well as educational/counseling benets and resources. In closing, we
hope that co-cultural career communication understandings can contribute to truly new career
practices, theoretical intersections of communication and career, and sustainable and mutually
benecial alliances between dominant and non-dominant group members.
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Authors Note
Elena Gabor (Ph.D., Purdue University) is an Assistant Professor of Organizational
Communication at the Department of Communication, Bradley University, Peoria, IL. Her
research interests focus on issues of occupational socialization, work, identity, and careers. Her
2007 article in ICS analyzed the portrayal of Roma in two European lms; her more recent
interests are in the occupational socialization experiences of classical musicians. Her 2011
article published in the Journal of Ethnographic and Qualitative Research used qualitative
interviews to understand turning points in the development of classical musicians.
Patrice M. Buzzanell (Ph.D., Purdue University) is Professor in the Brian Lamb School of
Communication at Purdue University. Author of around 130 articles and chapters, her research
centers on the everyday negotiations and structures that are produced by the intersections of
career, gender, work-family, and communication such that people construct resilience and
occupational aspirations, especially in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math).
She has served as President and on the Executive Boards for the International Communication
Association, Council of Communication Associations, and the Organization for the Study of
Communication, Language & Gender. She was named ICA Fellow in 2011.
Versions of this paper were presented at the National Communication Association, Boston
(2005), and the International Association of Intercultural Communication Studies, San Antonio,
Texas (2006). The authors would like to thank the journal editors and the anonymous reviewers
for their valuable feedback.
