¿Soy gitana? Staging Romani Identity in Lope de Vega’s El Arenal de Sevilla (1603)

ABSTRACT: The official place of the Roma in early modern Spain has been shaped by the development and simplification of this ethnic group in a way that has facilitated the appropriation of Romani identity and the formation of Gypsiness. The present article explores how the changes produced in the sixteenth century led to the creation of the vast majority of prejudices that persist today. This essay focuses on the dramatic use of stereotypes associated with the Roma people and their relationship with the contemporary authors addressing their situation, taking Lope de Vega’s El Arenal de Sevilla (1603) as an example. The following pages analyze this play within a context where Romani communities were subjected to discriminatory measures aimed at regulating their behavior, and look to read Lope’s work as a lens through which to explain the fabrication of the Romani cultural universe and the processes of stereotyping that have been consumed for centuries.