An Apology of Culturoma (A Reply to Pavel Barša)

The author of the article presents a critical reply to Barša’s interpretation of his monography (Jakoubek, M., Romové: konec /ne/jednoho mýtu. Tractatus Culturo/mo/logicus, Socioklub, Praha 2004) and of two anthologies he has co-edited (Jakoubek, M., Poduška, O., eds., Romské osady v kulturologické perspektivě, Doplněk, Brno 2003 & Jakoubek, M., Hirt, T., eds., Romové: kulturologické etudy. Etnopolitika, příbuzenství a sociální organizace, Čeněk, Plzeň 2004). Taking the examples of his alleged orientalism and of his (also alleged) idea that Gypsies are carriers of the culture of poverty, the author illustrates that Barša’s interpretation is full of mistakes and inaccuracies. He also argues that the concept of culture used by Barša is unacceptable in the social sciences and accuses his critic (together with the whole discourse of multiculturalism) of ethnocentrism. Regarding methodological issues, the author demonstrates that although Barša claims to offer a better method of analysis, in actuality he fails to do so.