A radio of ‘Voces gitanas’: Issues of media identity and self-representation in Barcelona

This article addresses the use of media for self-representation by the Roma community in Spain, and their process of negotiating a local, national, and transnational ethnic and political identity. I focus on Voces gitanas: Rromane glasura/Roma Voices, a radio programme created in the city of Barcelona in 2005, using as its frame of reference cultural studies and urban theory, including David Harvey and Manuell Castells. Based on radio shows transmitted online and through FM radio, I discuss how the programme constitutes a tool for promoting culture, conducting political activism and discussing issues important to local communities. Through constant performances that translate as definitions of culture, I argue, the Roma community is able to restore and participate in the dialogue on self-determination and minority rights in a different sphere of discourse, both locally and globally, at the same time that they also influence their own (and others’) understanding of their ethnic identity.