Migration, Romani Writers, and the Question of National Literature

In the context of the vast mobility of Roma populations during their initial waves of migration, but also after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 and following the enlargement of the European Union (2003–2007), this chapter draws on the works of three Romani writers of French, English, and German expression, to show how the transnationality/transculturality of Romani texts takes issue with a still-well-cemented assumption that literature, and cultural production more broadly, can be contained, defined, and propagated along national or ethnic lines. After some reflections on the terminology regarding the intersections between migration, literature, and Roma, the analysis focuses on how the works of Anina Ciuciu, Oksana Marafioti, and Mariella Mehr argue for three different ways of challenging the norms of a “national literature.” Although all three authors explore the effects of displacement and cross-cultural influence, each relates a unique journey and displays a distinctive literary practice, which calls into question the claim that a specific type of literature (“national literature,” “migrant literature,” “ethnic literature,” etc.) exhibits a unity in its themes and construction, and can be easily identifiable and naturally boxed in. The case of writers of Romani heritage is presented as a critical opportunity to reimagine and rethink literature for a post-national world.