Romani pride, Gorja shame: race and privilege in the archive

There exists a dispersed digital archive of British (specifically here English and Welsh) Romani oral histories. Some recordings are held in museums and archives; others are available online. The purpose of such oral history projects is ostensibly to preserve and share a cultural heritage among Romanies/Gypsies, Roma and Travellers and to educate non-Romanies (or Gorjas) about these communities. The article affectively reframes the concept of white guilt as Gorja shame, and considers the role this plays in listening to Romani oral histories. In rethinking the power of Romani pride in the oral history archive, it displaces the long-held scholarly authority of the non-Romani with interest in Gypsy culture, using shame productively to become a different kind of listener.