Countering European Aphasia of the Porajmos

Dites-le avec des Pleurs as Autoethnography

Abstract

This article is concerned with European aphasia of the Porajmos (that is, the Nazi genocide of those labelled as Gypsies), the inability to link past antiziganism to the present, and how the Romani author Matéo Maximoff attempted to overcome this particular break with his semi-autobiographical novel Dites-le avec des Pleurs. Approaching Dites as an instance of autoethnographic expression, I argue that Dites mediates between Romani and non-Romani Europeans and between Europe’s past and present.