What if the ghettos turn out to be the real nests of contagion? : analysis of discourses targeting Roma in the context of covid 19 crisis in Bulgaria
Abstract
It has been noticed that hate speech produces and aliments social tension between persons, groups, representations and ideologies, especially in social and political contexts where a binary division of society exists. As a matter of fact, this type of discourses - especially if they are pronounced by individuals who are socially recognized as those who have the right and legitimacy (Bourdieu, 1982) to speak - not only justify this dichotomy but, as they have a special « illocutionary force » (Austin, 1979), can lead to discriminatory practices.
This process is particularly observable in Bulgaria where contrasts between the majority of "ethnic Bulgarians"and the so called Tsigani living in urban ghettos is an every day occurrence. Today, in a context of worldwide economic and sanitary crisis caused by COVID 19 fever, this tension has been fuelled by official discourses that urge to «close the ghettos everywhere» (A.Dzhambaski, 18.03.2020) in order to contrast the circulation of the virus.
These discourses, have been translated into safety measures - such as closure, disinfection and military controls in the Roma neighborhoods - that can be effectively seen as a form of «ethnicization of pandemic» (UNHCR). This happens in a context where, with the passage from communism to demokratisiya (i.e. democracy) a phenomenon of « ethnicization of poverty » (Canut, 2016) has already started.
Moreover, given the high level of general dissatisfaction with politics and sanitary system, the majority of the Bulgarians are following online blogs where the so-called tsigani are portrayed as "parasites" and where a general sentiment of nostalgia for the socialist time, a past where people were more equals and respectful, is recalled. In this intervention we will analyze critically an official discourse targeting Roma as main sources of infection and explore - from a sociolinguistic point of view- its performativity.
We will then reflect together on the possibility that social sciences can give us not only to take distance but also to actively contrast them.