In Constructing Identities Over Time: “Bad Gypsies” and “Good Roma” in Russia and Hungary Jekaterina Dunajeva compares experiences of Romani communities in Russia and Hungary to explore how “ethnic labeling” (26) has affected these communities transhistorically. The author contrasts the ideas of Bad G*psy, “which marked Roma as “the quintessential Other, a threat to the nation, criminals, uneducated, undisciplined, and backwards” (20), as opposed to Good Roma, which “has been advanced over the last few decades to counter negative stereotypes latent in the G*psy label” (20). Of importance for the author is “how are social categories maintained and internalized by the population?” (27). For the majority of the text, the author focuses on how these categories were formed and maintained by majority populations in Russia and Hungary. In the final two chapters of the text, Dunjeva discusses specifically the importance of the term “Roma” from its creation in 1971 to its use among Romani communities today. The author also addresses the ways that stereotypes associated with the idea of g*psy have come to affect members of the community—causing some to distance themselves from their identity, and in some cases deny their affiliation altogether.

Dunajeva’s book is the third title in the Central European University Press book series on Critical Romani Studies. These three works represent important movement in the “critical turn” of Romani Studies. This work is the result of fieldwork undertaken by the author in Hungary and Russia in 2012–13. During this time, Dunajeva conducted over 100 semi-structured and unstructured interviews with community informants and visited archives and schools. The book engages with nationalism theory, historical relationality, and provides a useful overview of why it is both useful and compelling to consider communities with similar but different histories, languages, and even identities. However, the primary focus of the author is “to portray a historical and grounded study of the role educational institutions and school discipline play in Roma identity formation” (28). As such, the work provides engaging and innovative discussions on Soviet era textbooks (Ch. 5), the role of school segregation and stereotypes on Romani education (Ch. 7), and the role of NGOs and Civil Society organizations in creating the image of the “Good Roma” and the uses of the term “Roma” (Ch. 9).

Interestingly, and perhaps unexpectedly, the comparison raises important questions about the ongoing utility in comparing former eastern bloc countries and what we can learn about long-standing differences and newly formed similarities, particularly with the contemporary reemergence of xenophobia and ethnonationalism. What remains consistent throughout the different periods in time, however, despite clear historical differences in institutionalization and instrumentalization of discrimination, is how anti-g*psypsim motivates national projects.

While the book takes great care to address the diverse sentiment around the use of the g-word within the Roma community and its powerful symbolism throughout time and among various publics, it is curious that the author does not discuss the extensive use of the word g*psy throughout the text and the fact that it is contemporarily considered a racial slur for many and generally offensive for others. Perhaps this omission reflects insight the author gained from informants who viewed the author’s use of the term “Roma” as a concession to “G*psy being derogatory” (120), which could be offensive to those identifying with the term. Uncovering this conversation between author and informant would require a very close reading of the text, however, and could go unnoticed by many who may choose not to read the book simply based on its title.

In the concluding pages of the work, Dunajeva offers that “antigypsyism is tightly connected with ignorance and lack of interaction between the Roma and non-Roma” (138), which seems to be a call from author to reader to help realize such interactions. With practical realizations such as this one and detailed scholarship outlined above, Constructing Identities Over Time will prove a useful addition to the growing body of Critical Romani Studies scholarship. It will likewise provide useful new ways of thinking about the central role of education and pedagogy in creating citizens and enforcing a national ideal through exclusion and segregation. The work is accessible, interdisciplinary, and could be equally useful for educators, students, and practitioners. The links established between education, systemic racism, and discrimination against Roma can contribute to both Romani Studies and Slavic and East European Studies.