On The Gypsies’ Cultural Identity In Zoli

As migration, immigration and transnational communications have become more frequent in today’s globalizing society, the confusion caused by multiple identities has gradually become a serious concern for modern people. With his multi-cultural background, the Irish-American writer Colum McCann boldly conceives the journey of constructing cultural identity of “the other,” and depicts the construction and maintenance of the Gypsies’ cultural identity in Zoli in his unique way. This novel is mainly a memoir of Gypsy poetess Zoli, but it also includes several intertwined narrative perspectives, thus demonstrates the cultural identity construction of the Gypsy community fully and authentically. In this thesis, identity theories of Stuart Hall, Peter Burke and Homi Bhabha, as well as the trauma theory are applied in the analysis of the Gypsies’ cultural identity construction, and it focuses on the underlying reasons and political influences in specific historical contexts depicted in this novel. In the end, the thesis concludes that there is no “superior” or “inferior” cultural identity and “the other” culture is “marginalized” by the dominant culture under unfavorable circumstances.The main body of this thesis contains three parts, namely the “play” of history; the relative “otherness” in cultural identity differences, and the dynamic formation of cultural identity. In the first chapter, through a detailed discussion of the Gypsies’ nomadic lifestyle and diaspora experience, it studies the influences on the Gypsies’ communal organization and cultural tradition imposed by their nomadic lifestyle. Considering the great impact of important historical events, the thesis probes the traumatic collective memory of the Gypsy genocide and racial sufferings during World War II, and analyzes its great shaping force on the Gypsy cultural identification. Taking historical and social influences on cultural identity into account, the thesis also studies the social roots of racial discrimination against the Gypsies through an analysis of specific historical context, in which Zoli’s kumpanija are trapped by social bias and political persecution under the Communist government.In the second chapter, it analyzes the relative “otherness” in cultural differences from three parallel aspects. Focusing on the specific historical context in this novel, it analyzes how the nomadic Gypsies keep and protect their cultural identity characteristics: firstly, it analyzes the dominant western culture and the “marginalized” Gypsy culture; secondly, it compares the Gypsy culture and European “outsider” from the western cultural background; thirdly, it studies the relationship between the dominant Gypsy culture and Gypsy internal “outcast.”In the third chapter, it studies the dynamic formation of the Gypsy cultural identity from three classified aspects, meanwhile, the cultural identity theory of Peter Burke and Homi Bhabha are applied into the category analysis. Firstly, it analyzes how the nomadic Gypsy keep and protect their cultural identity characteristics under the coordination of the “four components” of Peter Burke; secondly, it discusses how the settled Gypsies keep the balance between their new citizenship in the host country and the traditional Gypsy cultural identity, and how they deal with the dilemma of sticking to traditions and accepting innovations; thirdly, it analyzes the social phenomena of the “cultural wanderer in-between” like Zoli, who belongs to the “interstitial” space, the “Third Space” brought up by Homi Bhabha.In today’s frequent transnational communications, different cultures begin to collide with each other and impose great influences on each other, therefore most of the cultural identities share hybrid characteristics. In addition, it is because of the differences between each culture that multiple cultures have gained such splendid colors. McCann speaks boldly for “the other,” and presents the construction of the Gypsy cultural identity and its features, thus offers reference solutions for the construction of ethnic relationships, as well as identity construction in today’s globalizing society. Against the backdrop of globalized modern society, this study of Zoli helps to raise a worthwhile question for the readers: how to treat “the other” and face them with an open mind and smiles.