Le « Jour national du Tsigane » au Brésil. Espaces symboliques, stéréotypes et conflits autour d’un nouveau rite du calendrier officiel

Abstract

On 25th May 2006, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed an important decree instating the “National Day of the Gyspy” in Brazil. The establishment of 24th May by the Federal Government as a commemorative date, inscribed in the official republican calendar, entailed a series of measures aimed specifically at this ethnic minority, which were recently adopted by the Special Secretaries for Policies Promoting Racial Equaliy (SEPPIR) and Human Rights (SEDH) of the Presidency of the Republic. Behind the scenes of the public sphere, the controversy raised by this one-day event, institutionalized by presidential decree, would serve on the one hand to catalyze the conflict, disseminating it among various levels, while on the other serving to structure groups differently, placing them in contrast to one another and leading to a proliferation of associations.

Keywords

• Brazil
• 21st century
• National Day of the Gypsy
• politics of recognition
• political ceremonies