Memory Practice without Collective Remembering and the Experience of Time among French Gypsies : The Memories of Persecution and a Space of Segregation in the Pilgrimage Town of the Camargue

SACHI, Ryoko

During the week preceding May 24, 2015, thousands of European Gypsies gathered in the small Camargue town of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer for the annual pilgrimage in honour of Saint Sara, known as the Patron of Gypsies. In that same week, the commemoration ceremony for the victims of French internment camps in WWII was held in the village of Saliers, a 20-minute drive from the pilgrimage town. It was an attempt to join two apparently different memories, the history of symbiosis between Gypsies and non-Gypsies, and the history of the segregation of Gypsies from non-Gypsy society. However, this commemoration practice did not attract any attention from a large number of Gypsies joining in the pilgrimage festivities. Because of such attitudes towards remembering, Gypsies have been referred to as a people who are not interested in the past or forget it. In this article, we examine the practice and attitudes of Gypsies towards the past from the viewpoint of ecological psychology discussing the distinction between perceiving and remembering. The aim is to point out limitations of the view, based on the alternative premise that if people don’t remember the past, then they forget it. By describing experiences of French Gypsy pilgrims who see the festive town as a space of segregation, division, and exclusion, we show why Gypsies don’t need to remember the past and how they live it, as it is a time that has not yet passed and is in their persistent present.

Memory Practice without Collective Remembering and the Experience of Time among French Gypsies : The Memories of Persecution and a Space of Segregation in the Pilgrimage Town of the Camargue

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