ABSTRACT
This chapter reports on the second phase of the AHRC-funded Translation and Translanguaging (TLANG) project, on the theme of Heritage. Monika, a young Slovak Roma woman living and working in inner-city Leeds and her brother Ivan, both in economically precarious situations, aspire to setting up cultural spaces for the Roma people in their area. The activities they hope to initiate will safeguard and transmit to others that which is important to them—their heritage—including music, food, dance, creating a space for the expression of these cultural practices and Roma identity. As yet, there is no such space for the Roma in Leeds, and in this respect, they are attempting to make something happen where there is currently nothing. We follow Monika in particular, as she attempts to bring her ideas into being. With the support of others, Monika tries to transform her available cultural capital into something that will preserve and consolidate her Roma heritage and identity but will also earn her a living. With Ivan, she does this by planning to set up a social enterprise. Among other activities, this entails the completion of a business plan. We follow her and the identity work she undertakes as the plan moves through stages of transformation, and in the process we see her dreams and aspirations become both tangible and at the same time constrained.
