Politics of Bodies that Appear

The “Gypsy Pilgrimage” in France

Abstract

Every May, thousands of European Romanies gather in the southern French town of Saintes–Maries–de–la–Mer for the annual pilgrimage of carrying the statue of Sainte Sara from the church's crypt to the sea. During this festival's day–and–night party atmosphere, streets and squares are filled with gypsy music, and a diverse crowd – Romany pilgrims, performers, local residents, and tourists – gather and communicate with each other. In France, where the Romany population has been marginalized, such co–presence is unusual. To explore the political potential of bodies that appear together during the “Gypsy Pilgrimage,” this paper reconsiders Arendt's notion of politics and of “spaces of appearance,” along with Butler's concept of “body politics” and Rancière's understanding of “politics of the sensible.” By describing how bodies of Romanies and non–Romanies appear in distinctiveness and relatedness, the paper illustrates the politics that appearing bodies exercise by interrupting the existing boundaries of the “community of citizens.”