Magano, OlgaGypsy Lore Society2026-02-272026-02-272024-09-25978-80-974434-8-1http://hdl.handle.net/10400.2/21611Portuguese Roma have been victims of persecution for centuries, but they have preserved their culture, showing cultural resistance and affirming their identity (Nunes, 1996; Costa 1995). Roma people are part of Portuguese society, yet the Roma culture is still little known and valued. Roma are most often associated with negative, homogenizing stereotypes and images and labelled as social parasites (Silva, 2022). Portuguese studies have focused more on precarious living conditions and poverty and social exclusion (precarious housing, high illiteracy and school drop-out rates, inaccessibility to the labour market and issues of racism and discrimination), segregation and marginalization (for example, Magano, 2010, Mendes, 2007). In general, Roma cultural issues and artistic expressions are still little studied. Family festivities are the main occasions for celebrating the family and manifesting the traditions of the culture (weddings, petitions, birthdays, baptisms, etc.). Visibility has increased with the dissemination of videos on social media of festivals, music and singing, as well as religious moments (“cultos”), in which it is possible to observe these artistic manifestations, assumed and interpreted by several generations of families. It is therefore important to uncover and analyse the culture and artistic practices of the Roma that persist despite repression, particularly those who resisted 40 years of dictatorship and heavy police repression. The aim of this communication is to present an exploratory approach to Portuguese Roma artistic expressions, based on other European references (Marushiakova & Popov, 2016; Silverman, 2012) by analysing recordings available on social networks and other sources, in conjunction with the significance of the families' cultural heritage, while also equating the persistence of cultural ethnocentrism in Portuguese society with the failure to value Roma arts and failure to recognise Roma culture as part of Portuguese culture.engconference object10.31577/2024.9788097443481