A reflection on the cultural hybridity and identity process of nomadic gypsy calins in Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

This article proposes a reflection from the theoretical contribution of Cultural and Post-colonial Studies about the hybridity as an intrinsic element to the construction of identities of self-proclaimed gypsy-calins women - female of the Calon people - living in camps in the interior of Rio de Janeiro. Although the western hegemonic discourse promotes a kind of totalizing ethnicization of minorities, transforming dynamic social practices into a set of cultural habits supposedly crystallized and immutable, the process of identity construction among gypsy women is observed as a potent example that ethnicity is not fixed and will not be extinguished with the contact between cultures. Rather, it is formed in the midst of a process of hybridization with the surrounding cultures, becomes important precisely in its borders and cultural exchanges, displaying itself as a permanent exercise of negotiating between different spaces of existence.