Practicing Islam among a Double Minority in Dobruja (Romania): The Turkish Muslim Roma in Medgidia ( Mecidiye )

Abstract

The aim of this article is to explore religiosity in an urban Turkish Muslim Roma community from the Dobruja region of Romania. The article is based on fieldwork research consisting of semi-structured interviews, life histories, and participant observation in the post-socialist town of Medgidia. The research is an emic study which seeks to describe the representations of Turkish Muslim Roma in Medgidia and the way they understand, negotiate, and practice Islam. I draw on Arolda Elbasani and Olivier Roy’s definition of religiosity as the way an individual believer experiences his or her relationship to religion and faith. Considering Islam an essentially emotional category, I investigate what Turkish Muslim Roma in Medgidia feel it means to be Muslims, the dynamics of their agencies within their environment, and the emotional elements of their personal narratives. I observe how they perform identity to maintain a certain coherence between their autobiographical selves and the environment in which they live.