ABSTRACT
The conclusion revises the history of Roma in Central Europe through the lenses of a Bhaskarian approach to narrating the past as “negation.” The predominance of highly politicized national and international agendas targeted at introducing more progressive politics concerning Roma prioritizes eliminativism, which relies on negating the “false” idea of race. Understanding eliminativism as real negation indicates its limits for solving the dilemma of the collective vs. the individual. Practicing a collective approach aims to revise the past of Roma and to accept historical responsibility for legitimizing racism. A collective approach brings forward transformative negation, aimed at deconstructing the preexisting entities that produce knowledge concerning Roma and ensuring at least partial emancipation from the pressure of whiteness. At its core, transformative negation is a skeptical view; it challenges the “proper” evolutionary order of institutional development, predicated on a belief in progress. Rejecting the idea of progress remains the main prerequisite for and obstacle to deconstructing whiteness in Central Europe and grounding epistemic justice for Roma. This key challenge to critical whiteness can be met through radical negation, moving beyond what Colin Salter calls “white” ways of knowing and seeing, positioned as universally applicable.
