Sosyal Medyada Roman Etnisitesinin Öz-Temsili ve Ötekiliğin Sosyo-Dijital Telafisi
Semra Güzel Korver, Savaş KeskinBu çalışma, Türkiye’de azınlık oluşları nedeniyle temsil ve tanınma sorununa maruz kalan Romanların sosyal medyayı öz-temsil ve sosyo-dijital telafi platformu olarak kullanışlarının kültürel analitiğini içermektedir. Roman Araştırma Merkezi adıyla Facebook’ta örgütlenen bir grup Roman kullanıcının kimlik inşasını inceleyen çalışmanın amacı, Roman etnik kimliğinin öz-temsil pratiğinin sosyo-dijital koşullar içerisindeki işleyişini, manevralarını ve kültürel görünümlerini saptamak ve dijital inşa eylemlerinin kimlik ve ötekilik arasındaki ilişkiyi dönüştürme biçimlerini Romanlar özelinde anlamaktır. Etnisite ve kültürel kimlik temsiline odaklanan çalışmada, sayfadaki kültürel arayüzleri ve paylaşımları analiz etmek için sosyal ağ etnografisi olarak tanımlanan netnografi yöntemi kullanılmıştır. Yöntem çerçevesinde topluluk sayfasındaki paylaşımlar birer kültürel katman ve kimlik üreteci olarak kodlanmış, geniş çaplı bir gözlem ve doküman incelemesi süreci yönetilmiştir. Betimsel perspektiften yorumlanan kültürel kodlar, Roman kimliğini paylaşan üyelerin ‘Biz’ olma algısını Türk ulus kimliği ile birlikte düşündüğünü ve ‘Gaco’ (Roman Olmayanlar) olarak adlandırdığı bir ötekinin varlığını inşa ettiğini göstermektedir. Çalışma bulguları, Roman etnik kimliğinin sosyo-dijital inşa sürecinde özerk ve pozitif kurgular yerine bir savunu, aklanma ve suçsuzluğu ispat etme kurgusunun/kompozisyonunun baskın olduğuna işaret etmektedir. Topluluk üyeleri medyanın görmezden geldiği olumsal kimliklerini göstererek, bir anlamda farkındalık/tanınma boşluğunu kapatmaya çabalamakta ve kendi sorunlarının jeneriğini yaratmayı sürdürmektedir.
Self-Representation of the Romany Ethnicity in Social Media and Socio-Digital Compensation of the Otherness
Semra Güzel Korver, Savaş KeskinThis study consists of a cultural analysis of social media usage as a platform for self-representation and socio-digital compensation of Roman users who are exposed to problems in terms of representation and recognition due to their position as a minority group in Turkey. The aim of the study, which examines the identity building of a group of Romany users organized on Facebook under the name of Romany Research Center, is to determine the functions, maneuvers and cultural aspects of the self-representation practices of the Romany ethnic identity under socio-digital conditions and to understand the ways in which digital building actions transform the relationship between identity and otherness in the context of Romany users. In the study, which focuses on representation of ethnicity and cultural identity, the netnography method, defined as social network ethnography, was used to analyze the cultural interfaces and shares on the page. Within the framework of the method, the shares on the community page were coded as cultural layers and identity generators, and a wide-ranging observation and document review process
was undertaken. The cultural codes interpreted from a descriptive perspective show that the members who share the Romany identity think about the perception of being ‘We’ together with the Turkish national identity and construct another identity known as Gaco (Non-Romany). The findings of the study reveal that the organization/ composition of proving laundering and innocence is dominant instead of autonomous and positive constructs in the socio-digital construction process of the Romany ethnic identity. In this case, it may be argued that the community members continue to create an awareness of their problems by closing the information gap in a sense by freely displaying their positive identities that the media ignores.
While being a Romany is depicted as ‘cute’, ‘fun’, ‘colorful’ and ‘dynamic’ in traditional media, these positive codes that are submitted are associated intentionally with ‘absence’, ‘crime’, ‘poverty’, ‘lack of education’, ‘lower class’ and codes related to deprivation. This tendency in the media exposes the problematic sides of recognition. The Romany identity, stamped with many names such as gypsy, lemon borer, snake-eater (Berger, & Mohr, 2011, p. 107), is forced to adequately cover the parameters of non-culturality, anomaly, marginality and non-communality prevailing in urban markets as a form of congestion in the ghetto or suburbs outside the city walls (Wacquant, 2011, p. 11). So, the cute object of representation is the idea that an ‘Other’ separated from ‘Us’ is a meaningful construct within the boundaries of existence. As a matter of fact, when we look at studies focusing on Romany views, images and other types of representations in the traditional media (İlhan, & Fırat, 2017; Posos-Devrani, 2017; Akgül, 2006; Dişli, 2016; Alp, 2016), there is consensus that this category of ethnic and collective identity is constructed between the slightest valorization of negation and the parameters of various levels leading to defamation and hate speech. Moreover, the representation power of the Romany identity is largely used by ‘Non-Romany’ perpetrators. This form of representation is the mediatic reflection of the ‘passive recognition’ that gets the Romany identity stuck within certain stereotypical criteria based on the dominant/ distinguished sense of identity in Turkey.
This study aims to understand how Romany users, who are a significant vulnerable group in Turkey, phrase the negative/problematic and positive codes that they think are associated with their identity on social media and to read their practices of constructing ties and distances with the Other/Non-Romany through digital cultural outputs. For this purpose, we examined the compensation mechanisms, alternative socialization and self-representation practices designed by a group of Romany citizens organized under the name of Romany Research Center on Facebook, for some damages in their identities which have been reduced to the problem of misrepresentation in media and social networks. In contrast to the traditional media’s passivity outlined above, the possibilities of self-representation that social media offers to its users mediate privileged media and community schemes in which many disadvantaged identities can share themselves freely (Özmen, & Keskin, 2018, pp. 535-536). This study was modelled as a digital culture study with a netnography approach, where it is assumed that there are several differences in identity constructions between self-representation actions in social media and traditional representations. This is because this action is characterized by the fact that the Romany are active/acting subjects who talk about themselves and others, and are not passive, spoken about objects. The self-representation here also includes a digital adaptation of the ‘self-determination’ concept, which is often mentioned in relation to the issue of minorities. As a result, a small-scale fundamental act of a people trying to determine its own destiny in representation is present. This argument is also important in terms of contributing to a new debate in which ethnocentric reducers are criticized.
The distinction between ‘Us’ and ‘the Other’ is seen in the majority of the shares on the community page. In the discourses where ‘the Other’ is hidden, an anonymous feast that excludes, despises and insults the Romany is clear, but in clear speeches, it is acceptable to call ‘the Other’ by name: ‘Gaco’. Gacos, i.e. non-Romany, are defined and represented as those who often humiliate the Romany in the identity-based activities of the community, are unaware of Romany culture, use the Romany for their own interests when appropriate, use hate speech when talking about Romans in their daily lives or in special situations, and use a marginalizing language. As a result, identity construction in the Romany Research Center should be considered as a collective compensation and restoration activity rather than a ‘positive’ and ‘constitutive’ action. This is because the concept and the main idea of what is going on in this community has traces of an unrecognized justification effort. Although it is a Romany platform, a digital purification chain and evidence of innocence are aimed to be constructed against the accusations directed by society. What the Romany do in this community is to say that they are not as accused by others as much as they describe themselves. Romany users who get the chance to talk about themselves on social media show a reflex of socio-psychology of defense, which essentially does not allow them to express themselves. In the framework of the cultural production in the community, it may be argued that the Romany have transformed their own identity codes that are belittled by society into a counterrepresentation, and they have aimed to establish the Romany counter-image by expressing their problems in ways not available in the traditional media.
