Picking the Wild Poppies

Access, Funding, and a Researcher’s Narrative in the Case of Neoliberal Philanthropy Supporting Roma Musical Talent in Slovakia

Abstract

This article examines the fundraising discourse of the non-profit organization Divé maky (“Wild Poppies”), which provides individualized scholarships for Roma children who exhibit significant talent or proficiency in diverse fields such as music, theater, visual arts, sports, and general studies. Following Adam Saifer, I describe the fundraising characteristics of this program as features of (racial) neoliberal philanthropy that prioritizes individual empowerment and success over addressing the gaps in public services resulting from neoliberal austerity (Saifer 2023: 225). After analyzing the fundraising model, this article observes and reflects on an application process for a scholarship in the case of my child Roma interlocutor from a village settlement who would otherwise continue to lack access to music schooling and proper musical instruments. In this case study, I depict multiple crises that have influenced the journey of the membership of Divé maky and also an encounter with musical otherness that emerged from non-Roma perception of Roma household musicking. These experiences will be narrated and theorized under the framework of difficult knowledge (Britzman 1998). I will also comment on my ethnographic positionality as a non-Roma scholar and articulate how my identity, privilege, and ethnographic presence has shaped the relationships with the interlocutors and the potential for individual social change. Reflecting on the results of this intervention and issues that have resulted in the child’s removal from the program, I conclude that the charisma-based form of donorship of Divé maky with its rules of conduct is, by design, only able to help a specific group of Roma children while others remain marginalized in their education and opportunities for social mobility.