The Ethno-cultural Belongingness of Kalderash, Rudars, Tatars, and Turks in Romania and Bulgaria (1990-2012)

Abstract

From a cross-cultural perspective, my text attempts to establish the degree to which a number of ethno-linguistic and religious groups from Romania and Bulgaria (Kalderashi, Rudars, Tatars, and Turks) could be equated within similar or identical ethnicities from the two countries. In discussing historical and ethnographic evidences relevant for the aforementioned ethnic communities, I consider and investigate (1) their demographic situation and geographic distribution, (2) their cultural trait variability, and (3) the current understanding of ethnicity in the anthropological literature of Southeastern Europe. My approach also takes into account the legislative framework of the ethno-demographic evolution in Romania and Bulgaria (1992-2011). Another objective of my research is to represent the distribution of the Kalderash, Rudar, Tatar, and Turkish groups across Romanian and Bulgarian regions. Based on such contextualization, the ethnic characteristics are interpreted in terms of homologous or analogous relationships among and between Gypsy/ Roma, Tatar, and Turkish communities living in Romanian and Bulgarian rural and urban areas. A result of my comparative study is that of viewing the cultural belongingness in the 1990s and 2000s Romania and Bulgaria as an experience of coexistence – beyond the great and continuous ethno-linguistic and confessional diversity and variability in Southeastern Europe.