What's the difference between a fauxmani and a didicoy (re)connecting with their heritage? I tend to see them conflated and it's confusing.
i see them conflated too but the way i understand it is that fauxmani are gadje who claim romani culture while most of the time not taking the time to actually learn what it means to be roma, romani chib, our history with oppression/slavery/etc.
fauxmani i feel also tend to align themselves more with a caricature of roma, and not actual romani people and culture, mostly because they dont care enough about their supposed heritage to actually educate themselves on it and instead claim themselves as "gypsy" to feel special
didicoy on the other hand is more associated with the mixed roma who were raised gadjekane, who do not speak romani chib and dont have romanipen. whether a didicoy wants to reconnect or not is their choice but if they wish to do so then a good way to go about it is to first find romani activists, authors, scholars, etc. to listen to and read material from
the word didicoy can be used as an insult but i think neutralizing it and having it be associated with well meaning didicoy instead of fauxmani is a step in the right direction
but tldr: a fauxmani is a gadjo who claims to be roma for clout while misunderstanding and misrepresenting romani culture; didicoy actually have romani heritage and put work into understanding and learning from roma to better reconnect if they wish to
