International Centre for Minority Studies and Intercultural Relations (IMIR) POVERTY AND ETHNICITY Roma in Nadezhda and Nikola Kochev neighborhoods in the town of Sliven, and in the villages of Topolchane, Gorno Alexandrovo and Sotirya Ilona Tomova, Irina Vandova and Varban Tomov 2000 Sofia 1303, 55, Antim I St., tel: (+3592) 8323112; fax: 9310-583; e-mail:
[email protected]; http://www.imir-bg.org 1 POVERTY AND ETHNICITY Case study - Bulgaria Roma in Nadezhda and Nikola Kochev neighborhoods in the town of Sliven, and in the villages of Topolchane, Gorno Alexandrovo and Sotirya Ilona Tomova, Irina Vandova and Varban Tomov A. Statement of the Research Question. The central research question is: What are the conditions that create a tendency for poverty ethnicization? To what extend has an ethnically defined underclass been formed? The bigger minority groups in Bulgaria - those of Bulgarian Turks, Bulgarian Muslims (Pomacks) and Roma - are affected by poverty to a greater extent compared to Christian Bulgarians. However, it is hardly possible to speak about underclass formation among the Bulgarian Turks and the Bulgarian Muslims (Pomacks). On the other hand, the changes in the socio-economic status of Roma in the last decade make it possible to study a formation of ethnically based underclass under almost laboratory conditions. It has to be pointed out that the processes of underclass formation take place with a different speed and to a different degree among the various Roma sub-groups. The Roma "community" in Bulgaria is extremely heterogeneous. The various Roma sub-groups, which number goes beyond 60, differ in their way of life, language, religion, traditional crafts, customs, moral values, time of settlement, etc.