The Good Life: Descriptors of Change in Roma Pentecostal Communities in Serbia and Croatia

Abstract

Studies in specifi c geographical contexts have shown that the spread of Pentecostalism's infl uence on Roma communities is twofold: it is linked to social change, including a rise of educa-tion levels, literacy, decrease in crime, better relationships with the majority culture; and it is also instrumental in the fostering of a " trans-national " identity and revitalization of their respective Roma identities. However, Pentecostalism cannot be considered a formula that intersects with a Romani community with con-sequential predictable results— in fact, in Southeastern Europe, Romani Pentecostalism is growing at a much slower rate than that of its counterparts in Western Europe and in places such as Romania and Bulgaria. Further, in the language of researchers, NGOs, and the European Union, success is often measured in the appropriated terms of neo-liberal vocabulary: integration, development, and modernization. In view of these circumstances, through what lens and with whose vocabulary should change and transformation be under-stood and measured? Th is paper discusses both the ideal and the current reality of change in Roma communities through the voices of Roma Pentecostal leaders in Croatia and Serbia—with