A field study on Roma identity construction in Çanakkale, Fevzipaşa Neighbourhood

In today's world, which makes the connection with 'the other' inevitable and force the borders of nations, constructive background of all identities start to come to light increasingly. In an environment like that, the situation of Gypsy/Roma societies all around the world and in Turkey comes to the fore more. Gypsy/Roma groups' refraining from claiming nearly any rights for themselves shows the importance of understanding the group's sui generis position among all other 'minorities' around the world. In this manner, this research aims to present some answers for the questions about this special position within the framework of their identity construction. This research's spatial framework is limited with Fevzipaşa Mahallesi in Çanakkale which is widely known as a Gypsy/Roma neighbourhood. After the six month long field study which is supported by participant observations, 54 interviews have been conducted and identity construction of the research group was tried to be understood via the gathered qualitative data. The gathered and analyzed data indicate that the neighbourhood still goes on struggling with social exclusion in both social and economical fields. As a result, it seems that they try to develop their own survival strategies with respect to their specific living conditions. Thus, it can be claimed that this adaptation resulted in a micro identity that can be called "Fevzipaşalılık" and in a tendency to draw themselves apart the rest of the stigmatized Gypsy/Roma group by using this specific micro identity. This research focuses on how such boundaries separate them from others and on which aspects they are doomed to share the same faith. For this purpose, neighbourhood dynamics, significance of space, relationship with the others in specific and media, education and job opportunities in general have been under focus. All these relations have been evaluated through the Bourdieu sociology perspective (specifically the habitus concept), which is one of the most suitable ways to investigate the dynamic and dialectic relationships between the individual, the structure and the space. Key Words: Gypsy / Roma People, Identity, Ethnicity, Social Exclusion, Habitus