This ambitious volume explores Roma identity, in all its manifold expressions and contestations, within the context of minority politics and representation in postsocialist Europe. It is a timely volume considering the assertion of rightwing populist movements and overtly nationalist governments operating under various guises of authoritarianism in Europe and elsewhere, many of which eschew support for the hard-won rights and accommodations of minorities (a term several of the authors acknowledge as problematic). Despite being Europe's largest diaspora and recognized minority, the Roma have not widely benefited from the grand projects of Europeanization and integration. This volume scrutinizes many of the reasons why. In doing so, the contributors are at pains to avoid the pitfalls of settling on any singular approach to understanding Roma identity, opting instead for what the editors call “a critical politics of identity” (23–25), one steeped in postcolonial theory and intersectionality. By adopting a range of approaches, topics, and vantage points, both methodologically and theoretically, the volume aspires to overcome the ethno-national based perspectives that frequently dominate the discourse and historiography on the Roma (and the so-called “Roma problem”). Emergent across the two-part introduction and eleven chapters is a multi-layered and transnational framework for dealing with the bugbear of historically marginalized identities, opening new lines of inquiry for social scientists, historians, activists, academics, artists, and others. And despite the intellectual heft of most contributions, the volume reads as an extended and accessible conversation between the authors, essays, and ideas. No small feat for an edited academic volume of this scope.

The chapters are grouped into five parts. While many of the studies tackle notions of representation in terms of ethnicity and race, none take a rigid stance on what, precisely, Roma identity is, was, or should be. Chronologically, the contributions cover roughly the last fifty years. Several of the early ones historicize the development and fragmentation of Roma collective identity amidst the massive changes that accompanied the transition from state socialism in the east to the rather uneven market and political integration across the continent, which resulted in new forms of socio-economic precarity and more insidious forms of discrimination by the turn of the century. In the propitious if also lengthy introductions that constitute Part I, which should be required reading for any student working on identity and minorities in Europe, the volume's editors Huub van Baar and Angéla Kóczé discuss the challenges of thinking and writing self-critically about Roma identity in the collective while recognizing the need to deconstruct monolithic (and often racialized) tropes of Roma identity. How can scholars and activists accommodate, and make inclusive, the diversity of articulated Roma identities—many of which are contested, competing, and contingent? While acknowledging no clear formula to achieve this, they and their contributors nevertheless offer some compelling answers. Part II tackles issues of segregation, citizenship rights, and gendered and racialized social insecurity in east central Europe. Parts III and IV probe issues of governance, gender, and social movements, as well as challenges of integration and inclusion. Among the more engaging contributions are those in Part V, which examine the problems of Roma identity and representation in contemporary art and culture, a subject that is often lacking in academic books dealing broadly with history, politics, and identity.

This volume is the third in the publisher Berghan's Romani Studies series, edited by Sam Beck. Many of its chapters emerged from the Mellon-funded project “Reasonable Accommodations? Minorities in the Globalized Nation State,” and specifically a congress hosted by the Council for European Studies at Duke University and Wake Forest University in 2015. The contributors represent a cross-section of academics, activists, and artists from among an international community engaged in Romani Studies and from among the Romani intelligentsia.

Kudos to the publisher and editor for the thoughtful formatting of these collected essays. The end of each chapter includes a conclusion, endnotes, references, and author bio, allowing for broader engagement with each author and their sources, something that will benefit students, experts, and non-experts alike. In addition to the layout, the editors should be commended for including so many images, especially the artwork and photography of Romani artists Delaine le Bas and the late Damian le Bas at the end of the book. Elsewhere, however, the full-page facsimiles of Hungarian-language newspaper pages are perhaps unfit, not, presumably, because so few readers will understand Hungarian but because the reproduction is mostly illegible. By contrast, the cover is a beautiful and compelling rendering of Damian le Bas's artwork Deutschland Roma Armee Fraktion Europa, itself a visual portrayal of Romani struggle and empowerment, one befitting the pages that follow.

Using a diverse set of vantage points, the authors have reframed and challenged the staid conceptions of Roma identity in Europe. Together, they not only offer new ways of understanding Roma communities, past and present, but also new ways of understanding Europe as a place, polity, and idea.