Learning ethnic nomenclature in the practice of fieldwork among Romani people in Poland

Over two decades of interpersonal, anthropological research within Romani communities in Poland, the authors have encountered a variety of linguistic practices reflecting self-definition `and identity. Against that backdrop, this paper focuses on the motives and strategies adopted by Romani leaders in their conscious choices between the denominations of Romowie and Cyganie . The authors intend to answer two questions: (1) Why do specific Romani individuals – Polish citizens – accept (or not) the word Romowie or Cyganie in specific situations; and (2) What significance does this phenomenon have for the relationship between Romani communities and the social majority? In addressing these queries, the authors note a detailed, situational construction of cultural reality – that is, a re-evaluation of the existing meaning as enacted both practically and subjectively. This text illustrates how individuals organize their actions independently, and endow objects with meaning via pre-existing ways of understanding found in the cultural order. This article was published open access under a CC BY licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0 .