Abstracts, 2010 Annual Meeting

Thomas Acton (University of Greenwich). A new kind of maturity?

This paper will attempt a concise statement of the changes in the cognitive universe of both the Western capitalist, and state socialist worlds which permitted the emergence of new Romani intelligentsias in Europe after the Second World War, and speculate on effects of this on Romani populations outside of Europe, and on the continuing challenges posed to these new intelligentsias by the collapse of state socialism in Europe after 1989, and the disjunction between the consciousness of Romani intelligentsias, and the social pressures of mass education and assimilative socio-economic policy on those Roma/Gypsies/Travellers who are still subject to social and often spatial segregation.

Ismail Altinoz (Gaziantep University Faculty of Art & Science Department of History). Gypsy Statute Books at the Ottoman Empire.

At the Ottoman Empire, as gypsies generally lived in Rumeli, there have been tahrirs/notebooks to determine the taxes, where they lived, their demographical statues and the population. The first of them was began to be written at the period of Suleyman, the Magnificent. At these tahrirs it was registered. In which towns the Gypsies lived, their occupations and taxes. Juridical arrangements on Gypsies was first carried out at the period of Mehmed, II (1432-1481). They were released in Rumeli Etrakinun a statute book called. So this statute book, prepared at that period, was the first independent law. It contains generally juridical, economical and governmental arrangements. Indeed, these statute books were applied until the last periods of Ottoman Empire. Kýptiler Nizamnamesi, prepared after Tanzimat was arranged according to the these statute books. Gypsy Statute Book, prepared for Gypsies living in Rumeli reflexes social, economic and juridical positions of Gypsies, and they were governed according to it. There have been 6 Tapu Tahrir Defteri at Prime Minister Ottoman Archive in Ýstanbul. At these defters, we could learn geographical position of Gypsies, their names, occupations, wealth position and social-economic structure. Gypsies had been living at Ottoman Society like other communities. This position shows how Ottoman Empire governs the communities from the deepest to the highest like other communities, they could have applied to Divan.

Mirian Alves de Souza (professor at Universidade Candido Mendes PHD Student in Anthropology at Universidade Federal Fluminense PPGA-UFF). The Gypsy in Brazil: processes of identity construction and state policies.

By means of associations and organizations, the Gypsy in Brazil head towards the state to claim recognition not only as an ethnic minority with a different language and lifestyle, but also as a constituent part of the Brazilian nation. They engage in collective actions in order to demand their rights and have a positive participation in the national narrative. The acknowledgement of such a distinctive ethnic identity by the state has entailed the development of specific public policies and led to changes in the way one imagines the nation. The institution of commemorative dates in the civic agenda as well as other institutional actions aimed at the Gypsy population in the current social-political context indicate their recognition in the national narrative. In addition to the creation of the National Day of the Gypsy, instituted on the 26th May 2006 by a presidential decree, other specific policies directed at the Brazilian Gypsy have been announced by the federal government. In the context of these acknowledgement policies, new forms of conceiving and constructing the gypsy identity have been presented and negotiated in the public sphere. The aim of our proposal is to present an ethnography of the diversity of forms of construction of the gypsy identity, which will be done through the analysis of specific ethnographic contexts: Calon families, sedentarized since the nineteenth century, by virtue of their position as oficiais de justiça in the Carioca judiciary; nomad Calon families, who have been dedicating themselves to trading goods and services; and Rom families, who have been dedicating themselves to music and cartomancy as well as to liberal jobs (lawyers, teachers and doctors).

Claire Auzias ( Researcher, Technical University of Lisbon, Socius). SAMUDARIPEN, PORRAJMOS, HOLOCAUSTE : Roms, Sinti, Kale et Yénische dans l’Europe du Troisième Reich.

L’histoire de la destruction des Roms d’Europe au cours de la seconde guerre mondiale est à peine ébauchée. Nous partons d e l’idée que nos connaissances actuelles sont extrémement limitées et qu’il s’agit d’un« territoire de l’historien» (Leroy Ladurie) à désormais car les victimes ont enfin ouvert la bouche et réclamé leur part de mémoire officielle dans l’Europe d’aujourd’hui . Nous savons bien sur des élément événementiels de cette période noire dans la vie du peuple tsigane, mais très peu d’analyse de ce phénomène a été conduite par les professionnels. En quelque sorte nous n sommes encore aux balbutiements sans intelligibilité du phénomène general qui a frappe les tsiganes d’Éurope.

Je développerai donc Trois axes :

A/ les grandes lignes événementielles valables dans toute l’Europe ont suivi une stratégie volontaire sans pour autant être consciente de la mise en actes de la destruction des Roms d’Europe : les responsables ont procédé empiriquement d’une part, mais en suivant un schéma idéologique explicite et précis . C’est cet empirisme idéologiquement prescrit qui trouble tant les chroniqueurs officiels du domaine et les prive d’un entendement global de la situation : je retracerai donc ces phases empiriques valables dans toute l’Europe .

B) Le génocide, Samudaripen ou Porrajmos est une spécificité absolue dans l’ordre totalitaire destructeur de l’Europe : il faudra caractériser en quoi il est spécifique .

C) Certains pays d’Europe n’ont pas été atteints directement par la destruction des tsiganes de leur pays, ceux de la Péninsule Ibérique . Et pourtant les deux pays concernés ont vécu une dictature et des fascismes qui n’eurent rien à envier au reste de l’Europe : De quelle souffrance les Gitans et Ciganos de ces pays ont-ils souffert pendant ces années de terreur exterminatrice ?

Car je propose l’hypothèse d’un traumatisme historique majeur en Europe et commun á la totalité du peuple tsigane du monde, traumatisme dont nous connaissons les effets pour d’autres populations et individualités et dont il faudra bien un jour admettre les symptômes dont le peuple rom, kalo et sinto est porteur .

José Bastos (Associate Professor, FCSH/UNL, CRIA, IMISCOE). Portuguese Gypsies and Gypsyphobia in Portugal.

Departing from a perspective of historical inter-ethnic relations, we will describe the triple trauma Gypsies suffered in this country (the historical trauma, the sociological trauma and the democratic trauma). We will present their hyper-segmented situation and their political passivity as a result of a culture of survival facing the strong gypsyphobia diffused in Portugal, promoting the blaming of victims of inter-ethnic racism and blocking political and catholic instances and corrective solutions for historical and sociological persecution, marginalization or invisibilization.

Margaret H. Beissinger (Princeton University). Power, Prestige, and the Discourse of Enemies in Contemporary Romanian Romani Song.

"Dushman" (enemy) is a word that pervades songs performed by Romani musicians in contemporary Romania, especially "Gypsy songs" and manele ("Oriental" songs). But, paradoxically, these enemies are not foreign or out-group foes - the proverbial "gadzhe," but rather internal enemies, adversaries from within the group. They are typically other Roma (almost exclusively men, as are the singers), who rival each other in various ways within the local sphere. In this paper, I explore Romani song lyrics from the latter 20 th century to the present, many from my own fieldwork in post-communist southern Romania, in which the discourse of enemies dominates. I demonstrate how the representation of "dushmani" (enemies) is driven primarily by feelings of envy and competition as voiced by the singers. Rivals surface in these songs as they compete with each other in contests of power and prestige, especially wealth and sexual prowess (as revealed in cars, houses, cell phones, attractive girlfriends, etc.); envy, resentment, and spite are repeatedly expressed. I argue that the discourse of enemies in Romani song mirrors a dynamic in-group reality and that the recognition of the enemy within the popular medium of song provides an effective means to articulate not only social tension but also identity and status. It reflects the constant negotiations of power and prestige undertaken within the group and thus furnishes an expressive means to assert both self and other.

Micol Brazzabeni (Post-doctoral researcher CRIA - Centre for Research in Anthropology / ISCTE-IUL, Lisbon). Homeless or housed Gypsy families: an analysis of the relations among space, power, emotions.

These paper aims to develop a comparative analysis about two case-studies whose principal research focus is: space constructions and management strategies of Gypsy families in Portuguese southern cities of Vila Real de Santo António and Loulé; processes of cultural construction of the apparently opposite notions of “nomadism” and “sedentariness” and of “marginality”; finally, places and dynamics of relationship and power between local administration and Gypsy families with regard to world views, experiences, negotiations about what means to “have” and “live” in a home. Gypsy families I’m working with since September 2008 in Vila Real de S. António are effectively fit, by local administration and social services, in the ethic category of “marginal homeless”: they live in shanties in the border of the city or in more visible but abandoned places. Institutions divide their users in homeless and housed or nomad and not nomad, where the “nomad” category directly refers to marginality, social problems and relational frictions. How these categories are constructed and which are their social proposals? Which is the relational and emotional space created by people to discuss their world premises? Loulé is an exploratory context that offers possibilities to analyze the re-housing process – already concluded – of eight shanty dwellers Gypsy families into an uni-familial format houses. Here, the gaze is concerned with the historical steps of this socio-political process and the dimensions linked to creative, emotional, and cultural aspects and to the organization of meanings where all the above categories could be re-articulated and re-defined.

Ana Brinca (PhD in Anthropology, NEC-CRIA). Da fronteira étnica à ambivalência: exibição e manejo do segredo nas relações entre portugueses ciganos e não-ciganos.

Uma das mais conhecidas e criticadas abordagens do conceito de etnicidade é a que foi elaborada por Fredrik Barth (1969, 1994), a qual destaca os processos de interacção e, neste contexto, as formas de categorização e de fronteira entre um «Nós» e um «Eles» estrategicamente manejadas pelos actores sociais na produção da identidade étnica. Inspiradas ou não nela, propostas teóricas de autores como Anne Sutherland (1975), Judith Okely (1983) ou Michael Stewart (1997), entre outros, salientam a oposição ciganos/não-ciganos como um pilar central da «identidade cigana». Recolhida durante o nosso trabalho de campo junto de um grupo de famílias portuguesas ciganas, o qual foi desenvolvido no âmbito de um projecto de doutoramento, a etnografia de que dispomos permitiu-nos redireccionar aquela dialéctica do «Nós» e «Eles» (Vermeulen e Govers 2003) centrando a análise nas alianças, contradições e ambivalências relacionais ou verbais, etc., que caracterizam a produção de fronteiras e proximidades dos sujeitos em causa nas interacções com o investigador, os outros não-ciganos e os próprios ciganos. Focando as suas estratégias de exibição e/ou (exibição da) ocultação de aspectos biográficos, culturais e identitários accionadas nesse contexto relacional, constitui objectivo do nosso paper analisar à luz de uma perspectiva estrutural-dinâmica (Bastos e Soczka 1976; Bastos 1978, 1995, 1997, etc.) ambivalências que simultaneamente expõem sentidos opostos, defendendo a distância como a proximidade, a diferença como a semelhança, a exibição como o segredo face aos não-ciganos e aos outros ciganos, distinguindo-as em função do género, da geração e dos segmentos de ciganos.

Maria José Casa-Nova (Universidade do Minho). Perceptions of body and illness in the context of ethnicity.

This paper reports field work of an ethnographic nature carried out among Gypsy families in Porto, North of Portugal. It considers perceptions about the value of the body associated with illness and vaccination, as influenced by ethnicity. Early results suggest a relatively recent concern with the vaccination of children linked to a fear of physical consequences that may inhibit future social relations and intra-group commitment. In a world where matrimonial choice is limited (within the group), this concern is full of significance and meaning for both genders. This is because the body and the image associated with it (the latter being founded on standards of beauty and function endowed with certain specificities) comprise a specific kind of matrimonially profitable capital.

Sarah Cemlyn (School for Policy Studies, Bristol). Gypsies, Travellers and the Criminal Justice System in England.

Gypsies and Travellers in England as elsewhere in Europe experience entrenched discrimination and unfair treatment within many services. Based on a research review for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, this paper considers underpinning processes including racism/ sedentarism, stereotyping, othering, and space / time distanciation, and focuses on how they result in serious inequalities within the policing and criminal justice systems. There is evidence of unreformed discriminatory attitudes in the police, extensive police surveillance of encampments involving threats, destabilisation, eviction and lack of due process, against a background of normative sedentary judgements about acceptable behaviour. Rapid criminalisation in the justice system is associated with police harassment, use of stop and search powers, difficulties achieving bail due to assumptions about accommodation instability, targeted use of anti-social behaviour orders, and discriminatory assumptions expressed in probation service pre-sentence reports. There is evidence of an accelerated route to imprisonment, and of further cultural misrecognition and personal damage in prison because of lack of ethnic monitoring, cultural dissonance in the prison environment and lack of family contact, the impact of educational disadvantage on adjusting to prison regimes, and racism from staff and inmates. The EHRC review found evidence of high levels of depression, self-harm and suicide. The response of community organisations involves assertion of minority ethnic / cultural identity and self-representation, and partnership work with political and policy allies. Small service responses involve some prison support groups to promote cultural links, mutual support and education, and positive images, but change is needed at all levels.

Elizabeth Clanet (Paris). Une autre approche historique sur la migration des Rroms, Sinté et Kalé.

C’est à partir de l’étude de la langue rromani que débuta la première approche scientifique de la question des origines des Rroms. L’hypothèse de migrations successives de nomades originaires du Nord de l’Inde, après des étapes plus ou moins prolongées en Perse, en Arménie et finalement dans l’Empire Byzantin, va s’imposer comme ”La” vérité historique. Cette piste apparaît comme peu plausible, et ce, pour des raisons linguistiques, historiques, culturelles et religieuses. L’élément déclencheur décisif de nos interrogations fut la constatation que les emprunts au persan, à l’arménien et au grec, témoignant du trajet migratoire de ces populations, étaient identiques dans toutes les variantes du rromani. Il était donc mathématiquement impossible que des petits groupes, arrivant par vagues successives à des époques différentes, aient emprunté exactement le même vocabulaire à chacune de ces langues. Il ne pouvait donc s’agir que de la migration d’un groupe humain particulièrement compact s’étant déplacé à la même époque d’un même lieu vers un autre. Précisons encore que du fait de la présence de racines néo-persanes dans la langue rromani, cette migration ne pouvait donc avoir eu lieu qu’après le IXe siècle. Après une étude approfondie de l’histoire des émigrations indiennes, il apparaît peu probable que les ancêtres des Rroms aient quitté leur terre de leur plein gré. Notre recherche, s’inscrivant dans un enchaînement d’événements historiques précis liés aux progressions des armées turques, donne une légitimité à l’importante présence dans l’Europe d’aujourd’hui de populations qui apparaissent encore à beaucoup comme «tombées de la lune».

Alexandra Clavé-Mercier (student in Anthropology (Master degree) at the university Victor Segalen, in Bordeaux 2, France). Producing "Gypsiness"? Gypsies and School in a transylvanian rural area .

This paper is building on a twelve months fieldwork in a Transylvanian village (Romania), in Mure County. This village is usually defined as gypsy village, especially by actors from institutions as the town council, the church and the school. My work consists on an ethnography of this gypsy school in the village. Although this school is not defined as such, it is in fact segregated. A majority of gypsy children do attend the school because most of Romanian and Hungarian families choose a school in the nearest city for their children. As a consequence all villagers consider the teaching as being of poor quality, with the idea that like this it is because pupils are Gypsies.The aim of my research is to explore experiences of individuals defined as Gypsies in their relation with school institution by daily observations of classrooms practices and pedagogy. It seems that the teachers perceive and enclose the Other in an essentialist vision, by a frame designed with negative aspects. What means for them to work with children they called Gypsies? On the other hand, what means these stereotypes for the experience of individual? How children and parents deal with this hetero identity? What is the impact of this categorization for the construction of the Self? Can we understand the space of the school as the place of gypsy production?

Vesna Delic (PhD student in Ethnology and Anthropology in Belgrade on Philosophical Faculty). Collision of Modern and Traditional: the Mobile Phone as a Tool for Change .

This paper deals with the influence of modernity on Romani and Egyptian communities living in Montenegro. Although we recognize two Roma groups in Montenegro Roma-Muslims and Chergarja, as well as the group of Balkan Egyptians, I do not consider them groups separated by an ethnic distance. I would rather separate Roma-Muslims and Egyptians from the rest and view them in a wide socio-cultural context as marginal, low-income, traditional communities, that, apart from the same economic and social position in the society, also share a lot of cultural, religious, traditional elements and behavioral patterns as a result of several decades of coexistence and the influence of Albanian culture. In this context, I explore the means by which modernity influences communities socially and culturally structured in such a way. To explain the impact of the modern on the traditional, I use an analysis of the usage of the mobile phone in these communities. I show the influence of the mobile phone on certain changes and ritual practice and how it has become a youth's weapon in a struggle for personality and an escape from the traditional behavior rules. I reveal the positive and negative effect of this new technology in the communities and indicate the public, but also the concealed usage of the telephone as a tool fulfilling the individual's forbidden wishes, but also as a tool used by the family to control the individual. The aim of the study is to establish how modernity, personified as a mobile phone, causes changes and indicates collision between old and new traditions, and who is winning at present.

Mikael Demetri and Angelina Dimiter-Taikon (head teachers, Roma Kulturklass, Nytorp school, Stockholm) and Christina Rodell Olgaç (PhD, senior lecturer, Södertörn University, Sweden). The Kelderash group in Sweden.

Written references to Romani peoples in Sweden first appear c.1512, though it is likely that there may have been small travelling groups earlier in the country. The first Romani migrations of notable size were seemingly comprised two groups: the Travellers ( “Resande” in Swedish) and the Kaalé (Finnish Roma). A second ‘wave’ of migration followed the abolition of ‘Gypsy’ slavery in the Wallachian and Moldavian principalities in 1856-61, when large groups of the Kalderas Rom migrated to Sweden in the second half of 19th century. The aim of this paper is to present an ongoing study concerning the Kelderash group in Sweden based on interviews with elderly Kelderash Roma about their experiences, traditions and life stories during last century. The study is a Romani initiative and the interviews in the study have been carried out by two Romani teachers.

Jean-Baptiste Duez (PhD in anthropology, EHESS, Paris). Romani mobilities in Europe : the French example of the ideology of individuals and NGO’s, regarding government actions.

The situation of Roma / Gypsies in France as in other countries of Western Europe is worrying, and opportunities for acceptance and integration available to them proved inversely proportional to the ways that their culture gives rise to recurrent in Europe or the United States. We have followed since the end of 2007 the course of a few families rejected a camp to another in northern Paris, and how the debate on migration of Roma / Gypsies was built on the local political scene, under hardness of national guidelines. We describe this set of journeys, as well as making a speech on Roma / Gypsies throughout Europe. They raise a question which essentially is the relationship to legality in the debate on ethnocracies and indigenous people. The transgression of the law through petty crime or "begging tort," which seems inevitable even though one or other of these forms of subsistence is never the prerogative of a part only in this population, a corollary to maintain a consensus of people whose position is dominated seen as inevitable, and where the concept of identity occupies a central place, unfortunately, for the maintenance of ethnocracies experienced as a fatality by Roma / Gypsies as well as the people around them. Different social actors will move to the slums, sometimes with funding non-existent, and also within these integration projects. In response to changing treatments, the speeches will vary between encouraging these projects and their sentences due to the fact they also constitute a market.

Elis Erolova (Sofia). Gypsies in the Bulgarian-Romanian borderland before and after 1989 (A case study on selected Gypsy groups in North and South Dobrudzha).

Before 1989 Bulgaria and Romania were part of the socialist block and after that processes of transition to democracy had run. The two countries became part of EU on 1 January 2007. The place and development of the Gypsies in Bulgaria and Romania in the recent past and modern time have common sides and specifics. The development and characteristics of different and same Gypsy groups in the period of socialism (1944-1989) and the changes that followed in the terms of new democratic government in the Bulgaria and Romania are presented in the report. The case of the Gypsy groups/communities of so-called Kalderashi/Kalderari, Rudari, Turkish and Tatar Gypsies living in historical-geographical region of Dobrudzha (Southeast Romania and Northeast Bulgaria) is chosen. All these groups, regardless the fact that they live in two different countries, have similar or identical ethno-cultural traditions and characteristics. In the past, before 1940, bigger parts of them were united in same communities and today they belong to two different states and societies. The research focus covers several main issues: how the Bulgarian and Romanian communist policy reflected on their development; what changes had come since 1989 in the context of democratic reforms and later after accession of Bulgaria and Romania in EU. The key question of the analyses will be how the Gypsy groups are affected and react to the social, politic and economic circumstances in the both countries.

Juan F. Gamella (Universidad de Granada). Gitano Pentecostal Baptism: An Essay in Visual Anthropology.

Using photographic, film and ethnographic materials from four collective baptisms of the “Iglesia Evangélica de Filadelfia”, as well as the ethnographic data obtained by the participant observation of two local congregations from 2006 to 2009, this paper will analyze the symbolic and performative elements of the main rite of passage of the Pentecostal Gitano Church, perhaps the most important social movement ever developed by Spanish Roma or Calé. Among others, the paper will analyze the new forms of collective action (and thus, political efficacy) generated by the “Aleluyas”, and how they are made visible in ritual; the emergence of grassroots leaders who transcend family limits and conflicts, and who are able to generate, trust, solidarity and a sense of common purpose; the reaffirmation and reconfiguration of gender identities, roles and hierarchies; the reformulation of sexual, genesic beauty with innovative spiritual meanings; and the reaffirmation of a new sense of a visible (not imagined) community that “does good” and is able to move the marginal location of the Calé minority towards the central zone of an “elected people” that has found the “truth”, and is thus able to revitalize its resistant identity and its oppositional cultural framework with new meanings and symbols derived from a powerful and ancient source.

Begoña García Pastor (Professora Associada, Universitat Jaume I de Castelló). Some Ethnographic Reflections on Roma Identity, Gender and Inter-ethnic Relationships.

My reflections, grounded in ethnography, on Roma identity, gender and the workings of inter-ethnic relationships aim to go beyond the prejudices between the Roma minority and the paya majority, in an attempt to make us question the stereotypes and abusive generalisations that operate in human relationships and that especially affect women, particularly Roma women. To this end, in this paper I refer to the socio-cultural dynamics that take place in a social environment, population group and at specific moments, bearing in mind that these factors change and (re)create themselves according to the circumstances, socio-cultural and personal interactions, and the range of options available to individuals. At the same time, I do not believe that these experiences are exclusive to the Roma minority and, indeed, in order to avoid misunderstandings, should not be conclusively attributed to all Roma groups, nor to each one of their members.

Algunas reflexiones, desde la etnografía, sobre identidad gitana, género y relaciones interétnicas

Mis reflexiones, desde la etnografía, sobre la identidad gitana, el género y el funcionamiento de las relaciones interétnicas pretenden ir más allá de los prejuicios entre la minoría gitana y la mayoría paya, contribuyendo a que nos interroguemos sobre estereotipos y generalizaciones abusivas que operan en las relaciones humanas y afectan especialmente a las mujeres y, en particular, a las gitanas.

Para ello, en estas páginas me refiero a dinámicas socioculturales que tienen lugar en un entorno social, grupo de población y momento concretos, sin olvidar que son cosas que cambian, (re)creándose en virtud de las circunstancias, las interacciones socioculturales y personales, y el abanico de opciones disponibles que encuentran los individuos. Asimismo, no creo que sean experiencias exclusivas de la minoría gitana y, de hecho, para no generar malentendidos tampoco deben atribuirse de manera concluyente a todos los grupos gitanos, ni a cada uno de sus miembros.

Ana Giménez Adelantado (Universidade Jaume I, Castellón). Intercultural mediation with the Gitanos in health care contexts.

Any analysis of intercultural communication and mediation in health care contexts must start with an understanding of the culture of the group, in this case the Gitanos community. The Spanish Gitanos possess certain cultural traits, traditions and worldviews that are diverse and sometimes very different from those of their surroundings. However they also share with the rest of the Spanish population the embedded culture, values and traditions of the area in which they live, whether it be Seville, Madrid or Valencia; they are just as diverse as the rest of the Spanish population. Failure to understand this situation, based on the age-old miscegenation of Gitanos groups with their environment, gives rise to certain tensions in intercultural relationships. The Gitanos case presents a paradox within the framework of intercultural mediation as understood from the foreign-indigenous dichotomy . From the intercultural mediation approach this reality leads to certain confusion, since the starting point for mediation is knowledge about the essential features of the culture or cultures for which a point of communication and dialogue must be established. What happens when a culture is perceived not to have any specific, clear and objective differentiating features? What happens when there appears to be an absence of any objective difficulties that hinder dialogue and communication? When problems of linguistic communication, of awareness about health care resources, of cultural understanding appear to be absent? Where, therefore, do the difficulties lie?

Marta Godlewska-Goska (PhD candidate at the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology in Warsaw). Models of motherhood among Roma women in Poland.

“Children are the fulfillment of every normal woman. In my life my children and my husband are my whole wealth.” [Woman from the Polska Roma group]

During past several years the number of roles that Romany women can play broadened but still the most valued and desired one is the role of a mother. Motherhood is the common experience of most of women and women of all ages, educations and professions declare that being a mother is their life goal. When speaking about the features of a “true Romni” Roma highlight that she should be great mother and wife and be fully dedicated to her children. The new emerging roles and growing activity of women in the professional and educational field seem to not threaten the traditional model of motherhood. The conference paper is based on the research I carried out in Poland among Polska Roma and Lowari. I present in it the models of motherhood among contemporary Romany women. Their traditional roles are examined and confronted with the new ones – those of student, Romany assistant, employee or social activist. I look at the expectations towards mothers and the influence of motherhood on shaping women’s social status as well as the process of becoming a mother and learning mother’s competences. I describe the duties of mothers and the rising engagement of men in the day-to-day child care. Finally I present issues such as infertility, single motherhood and relations with the child’s father, focusing on the self-reliance ethos.

Santiago Gonzalez Avión (Director Territorial Galicia, Fundación Secretariado Gitano). Las condiciones de inclusión de las poblaciones gitanas de Galícia.

Las poblaciones gitanas en Galicia son muy diversas en su procedencia, en su forma cultural de sentirse y ser romaníes, y en la circulación social de sus miembros. Pero, en su mayoría están en condiciones de precariedad social, cuando no de pobreza económica y de exclusión social. La fragmentación es fuerte entre los gitanos gallegos y los castellanos, dentro de las personas romaníes que tiene nacionalidad española. Entre éstos y los ciganos trasmontanos, de nacionalidad portuguesa, existe una fuerte segregación. Y los romaníes del Este de Europa no han establecido lazos con las restantes poblaciones gitanas. De ello se deriva una debilidad a la hora de articular movimiento gitano a la hora de reivindicar derechos de ciudadanía y políticas inclusivas. Por ello, son las políticas generales, de carácter inclusivo, las que mayores efectos han tenido en la mejora de las condiciones de vida y en el reconocimiento de los derechos de las poblaciones gitanas. Estas políticas garantizan lo que se conoce por la lógica del acceso, pero no la lógica del arraigo: sentir como suyas las políticas e incorporarlas a los itinerarios personales y a las estrategias de grupo. Por ello, como complemento, fue necesaria la presencia de otros dos elementos inclusivos: la de vigorosas organizaciones sociales vinculadas con la cuestión gitana, y la de estudios e investigaciones que han permitido establecer una base de análisis y programación. De ello se ha derivado un Plan Integral del Pueblo Gitano en Galicia, promovido por el gobierno regional y participado por los ayuntamientos y por las organizaciones sociales que supone una base de planificación, evaluación y de garantía de acceso y de arraigo en los derechos.

Kimmo Granqvist (Adjunct Professor, Department Head, Research Institute for the Languages of Finland). Finnish Romani - between Northwest and Northeast.

Scholars such as Matras (2002, 2005) place Finnish Romani in the Northwestern group of Romani dialects together with Sinti of Germany and France. In my paper, I will consider a number of features that have been considered specific for Northeastern dialects (ROMANI Project Manchester 20006; Tenser 2008). I will show how several of these features in fact co-occur in Finnish Romani with Northwestern ones (ablative preposition katar, specific marker vare-, deictics/demonstratives, and 3SG and 2PL perfective markers etc.). Focus will be on the diachrony and synchrony of these features based on a corpus that comprises written and spoken sources from between the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 21st century. This material sheds interesting light on the interplay between Northwestern and Northeastern influences and supposedly on interaction between different Roma tribes (Valtonen 1968: 25).

Tomá Hrustic (PhD., Department of Ethnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava). All nations and tribes and peoples and tongues are equal before the Lamb – Ethnic discourse of Roma converted to Jehovah´s Witnesses in Eastern Slovakia.

This paper describes religious conversions of Roma in Eastern Slovakia to Jehovah's Witnesses. Since 1989 the Watchtower Society intensified its activities and mission in Slovakia and significant number of new believers joined the movement including many Roma, especially in Eastern Slovakia. Now there is already a second generation of Romani Jehovah's Witnesses who actually have grew up in the system and adopted the faith from their parents. This paper will analyze the processes of conversions, motivations and interpretations of these conversions by their actors (converted Roma Jehovah's Witnesses) and by their non-Roma co-believers and by their non-converted Roma neighbours. At the end the paper describes the mechanisms how the Watchtower ideology affects the values and how it causes changes of values among Roma and non-Roma Jehovah's Witnesses paying special attention to perception of ethnic identification and transformation of ethnic stereotypical representations of non-Roma Jehovah´s Witnesses towards their Romani co-believers. This transformation of values is also visible on the way how converted Roma reflect their previous state before the conversion to Jehovah's Witnesses and how they formulate and reformulate Romani traditions before and after the conversion.

Fabian Jacobs (Leipzig/Bautzen, Germany). Another Indian hypothesis – the socioeconomic approach to Romany/Gypsy studies revisited.

Ethnological concepts on service nomadism (Hayden) and the peripatetic niche (Joseph Berland, Aparna Rao) are conceptualised out of field material especially from South Asia. The paper wants to compare the outcomes of this studies with socio-economic focuses in Romany/Gypsy literature (i.e. Matt T. Salo, Judith Okely, Thomas A. Acton, Marlene Sway) and on the middleman-niche (i.e. Max Weber, Georg Simmel, Hubert M. Blalock, Edna Bonacich) to present a model to classify Romany/Gypsy groups from socio-economic perspective and to clarify misunderstandings of the term Gypsy/Roma as diffuse collective name.

Valdemar Kalinin (Home School Liason Officer, department of Education, London, UK). Standardization and Russification of the Romani (Gypsy) language and its impact on the Romani Communities in the Baltic States.

Roma living in Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Russia and Belarus are known as Baltic Roma, they are said to have settled in the Baltic region in the XIV-XV centuries. Baltic Roma never claimed autonomy in its full sense and most of them are indifferent to their career's prospects. It is interesting to note that neither Lithuanian nor Estonian languages made a significant linguistic impact on the Romani dialects spoken in those countries. Whereas Latvian language have permeated Romani dialect. Moreover, the Estonian (Laloritka) Roma use many Latvian words in their speech in genuine presumption that they are Romani words. The Latvian (Lotfitka/Chuhnytka) Roma speak in the mixture of Romany with Latvian and they all speak fluent Latvian (approximately 92%). They use only Russian when they address other Roma, especially young people. Approximately 78% of Roma from Lithuania speak Lithuanian fluently as their second language. They are more Russified than Latvian or Estonian Roma. Lithuanian Roma are even sometimes ashamed of their indigenous forms in Romany -ou-,au- in the first person compared to -ova-,-ava- in the so called standardized Northern Russian Romani. There are few classes/ groups in Latvia and Lithuania where the Romani kids brush up their Romanes as an optional subject. Now it's mainly music and films that help young Roma to sustain and widen their vocabulary. But it’s clear that one should need a special programme of education which should be founded on national, cultural and ethnic principles of national minorities in these particular areas. There are some programmes on integration of Roma in the Baltic States but they are based on territorial-administrative approach rather than unification.

Slawomir Kapralski (Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities). European Roma between identity politics and resource redistribution.

The impoverishment and social exclusion of the Roma communities have been thoroughly studied in the last years in academia and by practically oriented policy researchers. The latter researches have provided us with data on the deprivation of Roma in the fields of employment, housing, health and education. At the same time, there is a growing number of texts in which various conceptualizations of Romani identities are being discussed, both in terms of cultural studies and within the approach of political science. The problem of the two streams of research is that there is hardly a connection between policy-oriented research on the living conditions and the cultural-political approaches to identity. Rare exceptions focus on a very general link between the social position of Roma and their identities and interpret being Româ as a defensive social mechanism against the hostile environment or as a social and cultural reaction to a complicated relationship between Roma and non-Romani majorities. The intention of the paper is to synthesize the inequality/exclusion approach and the identity approaches within a single theoretical perspective, which draws upon the resources of Axel Honnetha's recognition theory, modified in view of Nancy Fraser's criticism. I would argue that while a concerted process of identity building may lead towards the solidarity of the marginalized, the economic redistribution may cause the marginalization of solidarity and the internal differentiations of Romani communities which may create an important obstacle for any transnational identity project.

Yuko Karasawa (PhD student, University of Osaka). Gypsy Question" in the Czech Republic.

The aim of this paper is to illustrate why Gypsies in the Czech Republic are often regarded as “problems” and how they themselves react to this issue. This paper examines how Gypsies/non-Gypsies in the Czech Republic perceive, narrate and react to “discrimination” and what is called the “Gypsy question (Cigánská otázka)” by referring to the data obtained from interviews. “Gypsy question” is a common expression used to describe the social and economical issues concerning Gypsies in the Czech Republic. Firstly, this paper describes the attitudes and stereotypes of Czech people toward Gypsies by focusing on their statements about “abusing the social welfare system” and “taking advantage of the positive discrimination”. Secondly, he reaction by the Gypsies toward the majority’s attitude will be studied. Furthermore, by analyzing the discrimination and the difficult situations narrated by Gypsies, the widening gap between those Gypsies who have means to assert their opinions to the public and those who do not have any means to do so will be pointed out.

Katalin Kovalcsik (Institute of Musicology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences). The Public Musical Life of the Roma in a Hungarian Village.

In the village I do my fieldwork there live Boyashes and Vlach Roma. The Boyashes moved from a nearby forest to peasant houses of the village in the end of the 1960s. There are a few poor Vlach Romani families in the village too who came here later. The secular sphere where the Boyashes and the Vlachs use Romani musical culture exists in the two pubs and in the culture house with Romani balls and other musical events. The religious sphere is in the Lutheran church where there has started a Romani mission in the recent years. Beside the mission work the church organizes cultural programs with music as well. In my paper I will show the public musical life and the music types with video recordings.

Marion Lievre (PhD Student, CERCE – Centre d'Études et de Recherches Comparatives en Ethnologie, Paul-Valéry University – Montpellier 3). What does it mean to be « Roma »? : The discourses of the Roma national and ethnical movement and “everyday ethnicity” of Roma people in Romania.

My research focus on the ethno-cultural mobilisation of Roma of Romania, which takes place against a background of major social, economic and political changes linked to the end of the communist regime and to the integration in the European Union. The international context plays a pro-eminent role in the contemporary identity claim of Roma people. The recognition of minority rights (may they be linguistic, cultural or ethnic) is now considered as a sign of good governance by European institutions, and the Romanian state is conscious that setting up and implementing politics in favour of minorities will be seen as a sign of democratisation. One of the challenges of the research is to highlight a highly problematical process of ethno genesis, which has the particular characteristic of concerning relatively diverse groups, engaged in the production of a new form of collective identification, and in the process of the unification of a “Roma” category, based on the possession of a common culture and identity.

For this communication, which is the result of an ethnographic fieldwork conducted since 2 years with Roma families and nationalists in Romania, I wish to present a parallel view of the discourses about ethnicity and nationhood in Romania. This parallel is between the view from the bottom, the “everyday ethnicity” of Roma people i.e the way in which ethnicity and nationhood is expressed and embodied in everyday life (Brubaker, 2006); and the view from the top, the Roma ethno-cultural mobilisation's discourse. I will also discuss the Herzfeld's paradigm about the relationship between these views, considered as a cultural intimacy (Herzfeld, 2005).

Óscar López Catalán and Meritxell Sàez Sellarés (GRAFO – Departament d’Antropologia Social i Cultural, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona). Guaranteeing access to health care or hindering it? The case of the Romanian Roma population in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona.

Romanian Roma in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona are not very important numerically compared with other migrant populations, but their situation has maybe a deeper symbolic and social impact (widespread negative images, persistent exclusion, etc.) compared to them. Besides that, even if Spanish regulation regarding health access guarantees theoretically an equal access under certain conditions, they share with other migrant groups important hurdles in order to obtain some of the documents needed (for example, the empadronamiento: registration in the local administration census). However, the situation is clearly worse for this population, even more if we consider they are already EU citizens. The proportion of non-registered Romanian Roma remains significantly high because of socioeconomic factors (mainly related with housing) and local political strategies. Moreover, in the cases where this document is not needed (pregnant women and minors), is quite usual to find that bureaucratic instructions, lack of effective social intervention and budget reductions are preventing the roma population from accessing this right. The aim of this paper, based on ethnographic fieldwork directed by Dr. Teresa San Román during the last three years, is to present an overview of that legal framework and its particular application by some local authorities and institutions. We shall also present some of the consequences that these dynamics have in access to health care of the Romanian Roma in Barcelona as a way of both analyising this processes and giving visibility to a situation that calls into question how social welfare policies are being applied in the present moment.

Gunilla Lundgren. Sofia Z- 4515- Zofi-Z- 4515. Important document in the history of the Romany people.

There are many books for young people that deal with the Second World War and the victims of Nazism. Yet few of them deal with the subject from the angle of the Romany people. Gunilla Lundgren, who has previously published several books with Romany people, listened for three years to the stories of Sofia Taikon - about her time in Auschwitz, where she was taken at the age of 12. With illustrator Amanda Eriksson, Gunilla Lundgren has put together a cartoon book that documents Sofia´s life from her childhood in Poland to old age surrounded by her children and grandchildren in Stockholm, Sweden. The book has a double title, “Sofia Z- 4515/ Zofi Z-4515”, as the text is bilingual, in Swedish and Romany. The text is varied, now narrative and informative, now in the form of dialogue with ballons that have strong impact in their brevity. The images and text together present everyday life in the concentration camp with frightening clarity. A chocking reality. Sofia Taikon, who passed away, when the book was finished, was anxious not to alarm her grandchildren with her stories, nor other children who might read the book. So she dwelled more on the good memories than the ghastly ones. That was why it took such a long time for Gunilla Lundgren to draw out her stories. And the final result has become an important document about a history rarely told: the Romany people during the Second Word War, the “brown triangle” people. The book has received a prestigious award from The United Sweden Foundation - Artists against Nazism. In her lecture Gunilla Lundgren will show drawings and photos and tell how Sofia Taikon and she wrote the book together. She will also inform how the book can be used in schools, libraries as well as in homes.

Isabel Macedo (MA Student, Universidade do Minho). O Sucesso Escolar de Minorias: Estudo sociológico sobre trajectórias de continuidade escolar de alunos e alunas ciganos na Escola Pública.

Embora se possa observar um aumento do número de crianças e jovens pertencentes ao grupo sócio-cultural cigano a frequentar a escola nos últimos anos, devido a esforços de várias entidades e a programas e projectos destinados a este efeito, quando comparado com a taxa de frequência escolar da população alargada, este aumento é pouco significativo. Este afastamento das crianças e jovens da escola pública é visível em Portugal estando subjacente a esta regularidade nacional e internacional, entre outros factores, a pertença étnica, que tem funcionado como causa para marginalização deste grupo cultural, evidenciando-se independentemente da posse de maiores ou menores recursos económicos por parte das famílias (Casa-Nova: 2008). O trabalho empírico desenvolvido durante os últimos três anos, no qual participaram oito jovens ciganos que frequentavam o Ensino Secundário no Norte de Portugal, as suas famílias e os respectivos directores de turma, permitiu a desconstrução da relação estabelecida entre estes jovens ciganos, a instituição escolar e o contexto familiar e evidenciou algumas condições favoráveis à sua continuidade escolar. A relação que estes estabelecem com a escola, com os professores, com os colegas; a emissão de juízos de valor positivos face à sua continuidade escolar; as expectativas de mobilidade social ascendente por parte das famílias; os casamentos exogâmicos e as características de personalidade dos jovens ciganos, são alguns dos factores que emergiram do trabalho empírico, que podem contribuir para a sua continuidade escolar.

Olga Magano (Universidade Aberta – CEMRI). Social integration of individuals of Gypsy origin in Portugal.

Social integration, in a sociological sense, means the process of incorporation into society. In the case of integration of people of Gypsy in the Portuguese society, that has been a difficult process. Typically, they are confronted with an essentialist and stereotypical representation that are all the same social, cultural and economically. However, there are reported cases of individuals who has distanced themselves from that image, and they have always lived in an integrated or are currently experiencing a process of integration. This paper aims to contribute for to deconstruct the social stereotype. Despite the strong social markers that are subject, these individuals may have access to many different opportunities and social experiences that occur in a plurality of contexts. This configuration of social interactions plurals allow a certain individual singularity and at the same time also a flexibility of identity. Thus, each individual can moving between different contexts of social practices and logics heterogeneous. This open up space for one life project even if it may mean distance from the group of belonging. Our approach takes into account the individual heterogeneity and admits that socially integrated individuals metamorphosing the Gypsy identity formation. We know they are the diversity of views on what is a Gypsy. Then, we can infer that this is a concept that is constantly being in reconfiguration by the social practices of individuals and their experiences. The analysis is based on the results obtained from a qualitative research carried out in Portugal with the implementation of in-depth interviews to individuals of gypsy origin socially integrated.

Elena Marushiakova and Vesselin Popov (Ethnographic Institute and Museum at Bulgarian Academy of Sciences). Gypsy/Roma Housing in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe.

In many countries of the world the majority of the population perceives the Gypsies as constantly nomadic community. The majority of the Gypsies in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, however, live settled since centuries, and their settled way of life is recorded on the Balkans in historical sources since the 15th century. Moreover, since the 50ties of 20th century when in the countries of the so-called «socialist block» the states accomplished the obligatory sedentarisation of the Gypsies, the majority of the Gypsies in most countries were not itinerant anymore.

The proposed paper will outline the following interconnected factors which influence Gypsy housing:

1/ Earlier cultural and historical models inherited from three empires – the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire, each of which offered three different models of state policy towards Gypsies.

2/ The specifics of these main patterns and their influence on later historical stages (during the socialist period as well as today) will be traced with the example of housing policy in different countries of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe.

3/ The local house building and dwelling traditions.

4/ The internal structure of Gypsy communities.

On the bases of this analysis the paper will present the complex and multifarious Gypsy housing situation in the region of Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe today.

Yaron Matras (University of Manchester). Anglo-Romani: The afterlife of a language.

Romani was spoken in Britain until the second half of the nineteenth century, when it was abandoned by its speakers, who shifted to English. However, a Romani-derived lexicon of several hundred lexemes was retained as part of the living linguistic repertoire of the Romani-Gypsy community in Britain, along with word-formation rules and techniques for lexical expansion. Once regarded as a "secret lexicon" or a "mixed language", extensive recent documentation of this speech variety now allows us to define it more clearly as an "emotive mode" that operates at the level of the speech act. I shall discuss the structural aspects of lexical retention from Romani, as well as aspects of the conversational function of Romani insertions which help shed light on the motivation to retain the Romani lexical after inflected Romani had been abandoned, thereby granting the language a kind of "afterlife".

Miguel Moniz (PhD, Senior Researcher-FCT Fellow, CRIA/ISCTE-IUL). Marginal social identity and the law. A reflection on the European Union.

This paper examines the notion of “Gypsy” identity, not as ethnic group, but rather, by reflecting upon the unique social status that all individuals living at the margins of law and authority share. In this configuration, gypsy identity becomes a meme, like that explored by Sheppard in The Tooth of Crime, in which individuals negotiate for personal power (“agency” if one prefers) within the overlapping and competing systems of law and authority in which they are enmeshed. The making of laws, agreements and the enforcement of same by national and super-national entities is in constant negotiation with local populations. The gypsy trope examines similarities among other identity categories which rely on nebulous structures to negotiate personal agency. Undocumented migrants for example, and the way that they survive with a status outside the law, may have available to them different choices than people with contacts or a local community association, but no doubt, all of these are negotiations with the liminal. An intersection between culture, politics and power that reveals the contours of the law and the local functioning of the European Union bureaucracy and enforcement apparatus.

Alain Montaclair (Professor in the IUPM, Académie de Besançon). La situación de los niños romas, manuches y gitanos en la escuela francesa

La situación de los niños romas, manuches y gitanos en la escuela francesa depende de un conjunto de factores, entre los cuales hay que subrayar la importancia de las expectativas y representaciones reciprocas de la institución y de las famillas. No obstante, los análisis de este encuentro dejan frecuentemente de lado estos ejes de investigación y de entendimiento, una dimensión que nos parece central y que, casi siempre, se queda en la sombra como si su aparente "evidencia" se convirtiese en un dato "natural". Se trata de las bases filosóficas sobre la cuales la institución francesa edifica sus discursos públicos, así como el detalle de la puesta en marcha de los "dispositivos" que orientan de manera concreta las relaciones cotidianas maestro-a/alumno-a e institución/famillas. Estas bases filosóficas tienen sus orígenes, a la vez, y de forma contradictoria, en el pensamiento revolucionario de las Luces y en el proyecto burgués de la tercera republica: el primero vincula la educación a la libertad de los seres humanos, el segundo a la reproducción de la pirámide social en su forma actual. Dicho de otro modo, uno piensa la libertad y otro la sumisión. Frente a esta contradicción fundamental, la infancia de la "elite" reproduce estadísticamente el camino escolar de sus padres y la de la pobreza, el de los suyos. La escolarización de los niños gitanos también tiene que ser analizada a la luz de estas dimensiones filosóficas contradictorias.

Lurdes Nicolau (PhD student, UTAD, Bragança). Inter-ethnic Relations and Gypsy Children's Schooling in the Interior North of Portugal.

The study about gypsy children education in Trás-os-Montes confirms some differences between urban and rural environment. This study, made in order to obtain the Ph degree, took place in the town of Bragança and it surroundings in 2005/2006. This work focuses not only the local gypsies but also the relationships between them and non-gypsies, in both urban and rural areas, including furthermore a scholar perspective. In elementary schools of rural area, there are more gypsy than non-gypsy children, but the opposite succeeds in urban region. In all schools, the inscription of gypsy children is significant but is accompanied with a high scholar insuccess directly related with an important level of absence and abandon. The number of gypsies decreases enormously in higher levels. Concerning the opinion of gypsies and non-gypsies about gypsy children scholarity, the first ones think that it is important to know how to read and write, but the lack of confidence in the society and discrimination contributes to the actual situation. The other part refers the lower progress and participation of gypsy parents in school process of their children, but points out the excellent behavior.

Christina Rodell Olgaç (PhD, senior lecturer, Södertörn University, Sweden). The Romani minority and intercultural learning processes among teacher students in Sweden.

Essentialist and discriminatory discourses about the Romani minority are still very much prevalent in the Swedish mainstream society and in school contexts, despite Roma being a recognized national minority in Sweden since year 2000 (cf. ECRI, 2005). Culture in its essentialist form has been used by the majority to justify the problems the minority may have in their relationship with mainstream society (Mayall, 2004). The aim of this paper is to discuss a study which investigates what kind of knowledge a group of teacher students have about the Romani minority today and what kind of learning processes can start among them through a Romani intervention in their teacher training programme. The study was carried out among 29 teacher students in 2007 and consisted of two questionnaires, one before and one after the intervention. In my conclusion I will highlight how even a limited intervention in a teacher education programme can start intercultural learning processes (cf. Gundara, 2000) among the students and how this may have positive implications for future inclusion of Romani pupils in Swedish schools.

Tatiana Podolinská (PhD, Institute of Ethnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences). Why classical theory of deprivation fails - Romani Pentecostalism in Slovakia.

As a vibrant form of Christianity, Pentecostalism has long been understood as a faith relevant to the needs of ethnic minorities in dealing with the problem of deprivation and marginalization. In this paper a kind of synthesis is offered, in order to elucidate the potential reasons and motivations of Romanies for the Pentecostal conversion in concrete middle and south European settings. The Romanies in Slovakia are in the situation where they may choose the majority option. Nevertheless, majority religious pattern of practising Christianity follows very conservative and traditional religious pattern based on churchliness or intra-church religiosity. This religious pattern is very much divergent with the Romani before-conversion religiosity. The core of the paper is devoted to the analysis of “spiritual” discourse and “religious” praxis of Pentecostalism as a modus of religiosity convergent and complementary to the Romani before-conversion religiosity. This paper, therefore, suggests that it may be necessary to furnish a new paradigm to explain the rise of Pentecostalism among Romanies in Slovakia, which may be as much to do with identity-building and saturation of spiritual and religion needs as it is with providing a religious compensation for socially and ethnically marginalized minority group.

Stefania Pontrandolfo (University of Verona, Italy). “They are no more…” Historical anthropology of the disappearing of a Southern Italy Rom community.

The historical anthropology of the rom community of Melfi (Southern Italy), reconstructed by means of an ethnographic research and of an archive research (in different historical local archives) showed that this community was strongly cohesive until about forty years ago, while it is nowadays in the way of complete disappearing. Aim of the paper is to reconstruct the process of the Melfi rom community disappearing by means of the analysis of the historical changes in the anthroponimic local system (the denominations historically attributed to the rom by the exterior, as well as the internal system of attribution of individual and collective identities through names, family names and surnames) and in the traditional groupe endogamic organization of marriages. The analysis will show how the genealogical fusion with the others villagers through the abandon of the traditional group endogamy and the expansion of exogamic marriages as well as the progressive dispersion of the anthroponimic heritage of the group and the adoption of the others villagers anthroponimic system constitute two very important and connected aspects of the process of disappearing of this rom community.

David F. Richter (PhD, Assistant Professor of Spanish, Utah State University). Green Flesh, Green Hair: Vanguardist Subversion in Federico García Lorca’s Gypsy Ballads .

Although heavily criticized as provincial or folkloric by his Freudian friends Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí, the Spanish modernist poet Federico García Lorca’s poetic collection Gypsy Ballads (1924-1927) exudes a much more vanguardist and transgressive stance toward art and reality than one might think at first glace. While it is certain that Lorca’s use of gypsy motifs represents a return to traditional themes and local romanticized cultures, his collection reveals concerns that extend well beyond mere thematics as they present a radical critique of socio-political norms and moral values. Lorca’s incorporation and appropriation of the gypsies’ otherness, anguish, and diverse cultural iconography transform the poetic landscape into issues which supersede the gypsy backdrop. As such, this vanguardist (and at times surrealist) work presents detailed reflections on subjectivity, eroticism, cultural assimilation, political resistance, and creative expression. The present paper offers a close reading of two of Lorca’s poems from this collection, “The Gypsy Nun” and “Ballad of the Spanish Civil Guard,” both of which portray not only the highly romanticized mobilization of the gypsy motif through a subversive gypsification of spatial and thematic elements, but also an innovative and poignant artistic critique of the then contemporary political, religious, and moral conventions of Lorca’s day - concerns that will permeate Lorca’s later poetry and drama even more radically.

Michael Rigolot (CASNAV - Centre Académique pour la Scolarisation des élèves nouvellement arrivés en France et des enfants du Voyage, Académie de Besançon). Roma children in the French school, a discrepancy which should be reduced.

I have been very attentive for these last ten years to the massive and yet quite discreet admission of Roma children from Kosovo in the French educational system. Two remarks outline the exceptional appraisal of this event. On the national level, national tziganes merging into the administrative expression of “traveler children” are in a very marginal academic situation. On the European level, thousands of them are also removed from the educational systems. In 1999 we had already suggested the following hypothesis: the uniqueness of the historical, social and academic situation of these populations is such that there are probably no objective reasons for the young Roma students’ reaction to schooling not to also show unique peculiarities. The remarks made these last ten years show unexpected results as well as a quite limited integration. Describing these situations using words such as “success” or “failure” will never reflect the complexity of the exchanges and interactions studied between School and Roma pupils. However, most of the times the institutional actors refuse to accept the fact that this behaviour reveals a unique situation. Their respected positions deserve a fine analysis which should deal with the strategies as well as the social and historical factors inducing their own attitudes. It is a fact that both the executive member and the system user clash with each other in a reciprocal misunderstanding thus provoking long-standing conflicts or expanding school attendance problems. The mutual (re)cognition of each other’s identity including the institutional one then becomes a vital stake not only to explicit situations, explore negotiations and adjustment fields but also to outline the paradoxes inherent in the academic conception of the French Republic itself.

Les enfants roms à l’école française, un hiatus à réduire

J’observe depuis dix ans l’entrée massive et relativement discrète des enfants de la communauté rom du Kosovo dans le système scolaire français. Deux faits soulignent le caractère exceptionnel de cet évènement. Au plan national, les tsiganes nationaux regroupés sous le terme administratif «d’enfants du voyage» sont dans une situation scolaire très marginale. Au plan européen, les tsiganes par milliers sont aussi écartés des systèmes éducatifs. Nous avions formulé dès 1999 l’hypothèse suivante : la singularité de la situation historique, sociale et scolaire de ces populations est telle qu’il n’existe probablement pas de raisons objectives pour qu’à moyen terme, la réponse scolaire des jeunes roms allophones dans le système ordinaire ne présente pas aussi des caractéristiques singulières. Les observations effectuées au cours des dix dernières années montrent effectivement des résultats éloignés de l’attendu ainsi qu’une adhésion relativement limitée. Qualifier ces situations en terme de réussite ou d’échec ne reflètera pas la complexité des échanges et des interactions observés entre l’école et les élèves roms. Pourtant, les acteurs institutionnels ignorent la plupart du temps que ces comportements témoignent d'une position singulière. Les postures des uns et des autres méritent une analyse fine qui s’intéresse aux stratégies et aux facteurs socio-historiques induisant les comportements de chacun. En effet, les cadres et les usagers du système se heurtent sans se comprendre dans un insu réciproque qui provoque conflits durables ou échappement scolaire. La (re)connaissance mutuelle de l’identité de chacun, y compris celle de l’institution devient alors un enjeu central pour l’explicitation des situations, l’exploration de champs de négociations et d’ajustement mais aussi pour la mise en lumière des paradoxes inhérents à la conception scolaire de la République elle même.

Donizete Rodrigues (Associate Professor, Universidade da Beira Interior, CRIA; Columbia University). The Gypsy Evangelical Church of Philadelphia of Portugal.

Our principal objective in this paper is to report some findings of a anthropological study on a gypsy community that lives in the Beira Interior (a Portuguese border region near Spain) which, in the beginning of the 1970s, converted to a new religious movement (The Gypsy Evangelical Movement) and created the Igreja Evangélica Cigana de Filadélfia de Portugal/Gypsy Evangelical Church of Philadelphia of Portugal. Included will be the community’s history, about how the Church was created, gypsy religiosity and changes that have taken place at the behavioral level and their way of life in general.

Buket Sahin (Istanbul ). Vanished Gypsy Neighborwoods of Istanbul, un-realization of economic, social, cultural rights and self-awareness.

I intend to explain the major challenge for intercultural philosophy of demolitions in gypsy neighbourhoods of Istanbul and its aftermath. The demolition of Roma neighborhoods has been a constant factor in the rapid urbanisation of Turkish cities since the 1950s. Commercial redevelopment and urban renewal were primarily the reasons for the displacement of these neighborhoods. Such measures affected all poorer communities, but he Roma community has been more vulnerable. In addition to disruption of personal life and security, the demolition of Roma neighborhoods and the forced removal of their inhabitants retained the traditions and customs of the past from younger generations. The resultant breakdown in many cases has led to poverty and marginalisation. Explaining the increasing discrimination process against Turkish Roma in housing and its social economic impact on Roma children and women and finding ways to create self-awareness via artistic endevaours, creating murals and visual projects such as women theater, children mixed media and photography, developing and staging exhibitions in Roma communities and related events for: "Rebuilding Community. Making History. Framing Memory" Roma writing their own ˜self awareness stories. Processing a documentary movie throughout the project by Roma inhabitants as well as using documentary arts as active engagement to raise questions and present perspectives to the pursuit of transformative goals in the complex Roman society by Roma people.

Julian Satterthwaite. Photography and Rom Identity.

I intend to consider the approach by different photographers to Rom throughout Europe and the USA, and the attitude by romani people to being portrayed, in the light of a traditional oral culture, and the use of symbolic visual signs, known only to family or group. Photography is now available to romani people but is usualy seen as an appendix to family, marriage and progeneration. Are non romani people imposing a mythical identity on their subjects or do the romani find photography as a form of sublimating non romani culture to preserve their own taboos and family identity.

Rosine Schautz. Outlines of a Nawari Grammar.

In order to complete the presentation of my researches in Egyptian Gypsy languages at the 2009 Gypsy Lore Annual Meeting in Helsinki, I would like to submit an outline of Nawari Grammar at this year's meeting. The aim of this paper will be twofold: to describe Nawari phonology, morphology, syntax and vocabulary, and to analyse linguistic changes in two different geographical contexts where Nawari is still spoken, i.e. Upper and Lower Egypt, the usual contrasting fields in Arabic dialectology in this region. My theses will be based on material collected personally in situ during numerous surveys carried out between 1986 and 2008 as well as on a number of unpublished papers bequeathed to me by the late Werner Vycichl, Professor of Hamito-Semitics at Fribourg University, Switzerland. Prof. Vycichl was not only an outstanding scholar, an exceptionally gifted philologist, but also a meticulous field researcher of immense curiosity and knowledge. His transcriptions and observations, written in German in the 1930, enlighten the many interviews I had with Nawar speakers in Luxor (Upper Egypt). These two complementary sources will allow me if not to construct a complete picture of Nawari grammar, at least to offer a diachronic approach to the subject. In addition, I intend to make a documentary reference to a report, now out of print, Al-Lughât al-sirriyya, published in Arabic in 1988 by 'Ali 'Îsâ, journalist at Al-Akhbar, a daily Egyptian newspaper. This report provides a transcript of the many coded slangs spoken in Lower Egyptian dialect by inmates of Alexandria's jail in Hadra district, among whom some Nawari, "hidden" in other Gypsy sentences or mixed with other jargons whose aim is above all to be unintelligible by others, prison guards or other prisoners. My paper will thus develop its topic in the field of sociolinguistics, which gives the opportunity to track down relevant features up- and downstream from the grammatical structure as such, as in my view, a language is a complex system of culturally transmitted behaviours used for communication.

Carol Silverman (University of Oregon, Head of the Department of Anthropology). Balkan Romani Music: State and Market Exclusions and Appropriations.

This paper charts the relationship of Balkan Romani music to forces of exclusion and appropriation via the state and the market during postsocialism. I examine how Balkan states have maintained the exclusionary practices of socialism while rhetorically and symbolically displaying Romani music as a sign of European multiculturalism. The 2002 Macedonian application for a UNESCO Masterpiece of Intangible Cultural Heritage for the Galichnik wedding provides a case study of erasure. Comparisons to Bulgaria reveal selective government support when EU goals can be met. Roma are squeezed between a weak neoliberalizing state and an exploitative market. The market has introduced new mechanisms of both inclusion and exclusion for Roma. For Roma, music has always been about patronage, but now it is about big business which often works in ways that exclude Roma. In spite of the EU goal of Romani integration, Roma have re-emerged for many as the internal "other;" a threat to patriotism and security; at the same time, their music has been appropriated and tamed. Recent controversies over "Music Idol" contests in several East European and Balkan countries further illustrate the conflicting roles Roma must negotiate. I explore the paradox of two polarized but intertwined trajectories; one of EU-inspired inclusion of Roma and visibility of their music and one of vilification of Roma and the condemnation of their culture. Underlying my case studies is the question of who gets counted in the "nation" and why, and why Roma are viewed as problematic in this arena, both historically and currently.

Tatiana Sirbu (PhD student at Université Libre de Bruxelles). The deportation of Roma in Transnistria of Bessarabia (1942-1944): a perspective of oral history.

In the recent years a lot of debate exist on the issue of “The deportation of Roma from Romania to Transnistria (1942-1944)”, both at the academic and political levels. Perhaps the interest arising towards this subject lies in the emergence of an access to multiple archives. In addition, the interviewing of the deportation survivors has become one of the common practices applied in the social history in general and for the Roma in particular. The need and importance of this study could be explained also by the small number of deportation survivors. In this context, the experience and results obtained from the field research in several Roma communities in the Republic of Moldova will be the main subject of this article: the process of deportation, relations between Roma/other or Roma/authorities and different information about deportation.

Magdalena Slavkova (Balkan Ethnology Department, Ethnographic Institute and Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences). Fieldwork Impressions from Spain (the case of Bulgarian Gypsy Migrants in Spain).

After 1989 the Gypsies from Bulgaria turned towards cross-border labour mobility as a new economic strategy in search of a way out of the difficult economic and social situation emerged as a result of the downfall of the socialist regime. Spain became one of the best preferred destinations for work abroad. This paper is based on the experience of the researcher while carrying out participant observation among Gypsy migrants from various groups in Spain - Romanian-speaking Rudari, Xoraxane Roma (Turkish Gypsies), Dasikane Roma (Bulgarian Gypsies), Muzikanti (Musicians) etc. The aim is to show how their groups identity as well as the position in which they are as foreigners/immigrants reflect directly on the relationship between the researcher and the community in question. The scientific discussions concerning the role, the perception and the impact of the researcher among the Gypsy migrant communities investigated at the position of an outsider are essential in times of intensive Romani labour mobility in Europe. The paper will pay attention on the methods of fieldwork among various Gypsy migrant groups and will present the most important problems, which the ethnologist encounters during his/her fieldwork. The challenges of conducting fieldwork among Gypsies as migrants, the ethics of research and how the interlocutors perceive the researcher will be discussed as well. The paper will try to stress also on the fact that there is a need for a flexible approach among different Gypsy groups or the methods should be as diverse as the communities themselves with their particular ethno-cultural features.

David Smith (Canterbury Christchurch University. Senior Lecturer, Sociology and Social Sciences) and Margaret Greenfields (Buckinghamshire New University. Senior Lecturer, Social Policy). Work, Welfare and Economic Opportunities in Changing Times: ‘Settled’ Gypsies’ and Travellers’ Employment Careers since Residence in Housing.

This paper draws upon data gathered from a series of studies examining the experiences of English Gypsies, Irish Travellers and New Travellers resident in ‘bricks and mortar’ accommodation. The research was undertaken in diverse urban/rural localities across southern England and utilises findings from 40 in-depth interviews and over 200 questionnaires, which explored a range of accommodation related issues. These raised a number of hitherto largely unexplored issues that, it was felt, warranted further exploration through qualitative research and the paper also presents findings from qualitative and focus group research undertaken in two locations in the South of England.

One strand of these projects was concerned with changes in employment opportunities and practices arising from the transition into housing, wider economic changes and shifts in labour demand in recent decades. For example, participants discussed the impacts on their traditional lifestyle of the decline of agricultural labour opportunities, rising demand for literacy skills and formal qualifications even in relatively menial jobs; labour market discrimination and the formalisation of many types of previously casual work. For many, the move into housing or onto permanent sites as a result of successive government policies to ‘settle’ and assimilate Gypsies and Travellers has further curtailed traditional work strategies and opportunities. Raising the labour market participation rates of excluded and marginalised groups was a central principle in the New Labour Government’s social inclusion agenda which however, largely bypassed this group. A combination of labour market and policy driven processes have increased the economic exclusion of many Gypsies and Travellers, as witnessed in the rise in welfare dependency and an associated range of problems that afflict unemployed and economically inactive groups largely residing in social housing.

However, findings suggest that others have found new economic niches and opportunities that utilise traditional features of the Traveller’s economic base: self-employment, flexibility and adaptability - in a new context. In many respects the work strategies of Gypsies and Travellers exemplify the flexible and entrepreneurial attitudes and orientations towards work promoted by policy makers in recent years and argued to be essential aspects of ‘human capital’ in a globalised and increasingly competitive economy. Within this paper the presenters will discuss emerging findings on Gypsies and Travellers economic strategies in addition to adaptations and continuity in working practices within the context of wider socio-economic changes and the decline of nomadic lifestyles.

Marco Solimene (PhD student in anthropology, University of Iceland). Extracting the gağó from the officer: xoraxané romá coping with Italian authorities .

The paper hereby presented is based on materials collected during my ethnographic fieldwork, in the frame of my doctoral studies in anthropology. The fieldwork was conducted in the period april 2007- may 2008 and involved a group of Bosnian xoraxané romá living in Rome, Italy. My privileged interlocutors belonged to some families of so-called čergaria (romá of the tends) who have been living in Rome for two decades (some since the 70’s). These families express a peculiar cynicism about formal interlocutions with institutions and, at least in the last years, maintained an almost absolute detachment from the political arena. Although basically remaining outside the channels proposed/imposed by authorities, romá still have to manage the relation with the institutional figures appointed to the management of the ‘gypsy question’: basically, bureaucrats appointed to the issue of documents and permits, and police officers whose interaction with romá mainly consists in control and repression. Under analysis will be the ways romá manage the interaction with the figures representing authorities and their hegemonic discourses. Basically, the strategies of the romá could be described as attempts to humanize and ‘románize’ the bureaucratic and police ‘apparatuses’. This is achieved ‘extracting’ the gağó from the officer and drawing the formal interaction with a bureaucrat or a policeman to a personal relation: that is, transforming a situation in which romá are formally relegated to a subordinate position into a situation on which, due to their expertise in handling relations with the gağé, romá have an effective ‘grip’.

Teresa Staniewicz (Warwick). Unravelling the incongruities besetting Roma and Traveller Communities, as viewed via a Social Capital lens.

The proposed paper focuses on the case of Roma/Traveller groups, and on the negative reactions triggered by their cultural practices within-non-Roma societies, such as the UK, the impact on them, the changing sub-cultural identities, and to examine any social cost to their well-being. The material used here is drawn from recent research undertaken for an EU agency (Fundamental Rights Agency - FRA), and two other Roma-related projects undertaken at CRED, on UK based Roma/Travellers. Ethnic identity formation encompasses the development of specific norms, distinct values and typical behaviours which are transmitted within generations, thereby protecting sub-cultural ethnic identity and replenishing social capital, along ethnic networks etc. However, in the case of some Roma/Travellers in the UK, there is reported low self-esteem relating to their culture, with the development of sophisticated mechanisms which attempt to hide their identity in order to avoid the often faced hostility - and even worse - the outright discriminations targeting them; particularly noticeable in those now in 'settled' lifestyles. Aggressive assimilationist policies, by successive governments, have served to increase the fragmentation of cultural values, leading to greater social exclusion and marginalisation. This has also resulted in such groups being seen as the 'Other' in both popular and academic discourses, denying them an opportunity for self-expression, and viewed as victims of society. Via the use of oral and written narratives, this paper hopes to highlight/celebrate their tenancious nature, and portray the specificities of ongoing social capital formation, as such groups enable themselves, to mitigate the above negativities.

Dirk Suckow (Trier University). Stereotyping Gypsies in Late Medieval and Renaissance Art.

The proposed paper addresses the question of which gypsy stereotypes are picked up, shaped and, at the same time, aesthetically transformed in the art of the 15th-17th centuries, the central focus being on the relationship between pictorial languages, on the one hand, and social realities (or rather the constructions thereof), on the other. The paper takes as its starting point the supposedly first gypsy representation in Stefan Lochner's Apostelmartyrien (The Martyrdoms of the Apostles, about 1435); the endpoint is marked by Callot's cycle Les Bohémiens (The Gypsies, about 1621), which compiles older pictorial stereotypes in a novel form and evokes the impression of an authentic, almost proto-ethnographic description. In many cases, the representation of gypsies appears to combine the semantics of the stranger with that of the poor. It largely remains within the scope of a few pictorial formulas defined by content, including the fortune-telling (and the pocket-picking that goes along with it), the gypsy train and the gypsy camp. On the basis of Italian, French, Dutch and German examples, these formulas will be analysed for their iconographic and compositional modes of inclusion and exclusion. Which topographic, social and symbolic spaces are the gypsies assigned? What can be said about the relationship between the visual labelling of figures and the contemporary "knowledge" about gypsies as set out in writing? The paper will also ask for similarities and differences regarding the representation of gypsies north and south of the Alps as well as for the significance of confessional and social boundaries with respect to their perception. Moreover, particular interest is paid to gender aspects pertaining to gypsy representations: In contrast to the portrayal of almost all other groups of contemporary strangers, women figure prominently, and noticeably dominate the gypsy image. Their frequent presence as well as the attribution of children to them promote not least the intensive artistic exploration of familial patterns, forms of socialization as well as age- and body-related aspects.

Anne H. Sutherland (Professor of Anthropology Emeritus, University of California - Riverside). American Romanies and American Justice.

This paper explores the link between the American legal system and Romain the United States. An apparent recent increase in the prosecution and incarceration of Roma for serious and violent crimes is of great concern. Long-held mechanisms for avoiding the American legal system in combination with a weakening Kris apparatus and new forms of tracking and identifying Roma individuals as a result of the Homeland Security Act post 9/11 presents challenges both to the Roma and the American legal system. The increasing incarceration of Roma is related to the failure of court officers to understand the "facts" of any case and to misinterpret Roma behavior and motivation as well as to the propensity of Roma to be uncooperative with their defense attorneys and to plead guilty in spite of no physical evidence of their guilt. All these factors raise issues of miscarriage of justice.

Adriana M. Villalón (Doutoranda em Antropologia Social, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, (PPGAS/MN/UFRJ) - Ankulegi, Basque Association of Anthropology). Stories of Romanian Gypsy women: gender, ethnicity and social exclusion.

The analysis is based on a qualitative research carried out in Donostia- Basque Country- with the realization of in-depth interviews to Romanian gypsy women migrants in a situation of social exclusion (illiteracy, homelessness, begging exercise, gender violence…).

The aim of my research is to explore Gypsies women’s experiences within their relationship with family and social institutions in order to see in which conditions factors such as ethnicity (identity, discrimination, borders), gender (feminization of migration, situations of violence, unequal access to resources, assigned roles) and social exclusion affect individual and family strategies in terms of life chances, reproduction or alternative choices.

The main issues of analyses are: What are the narratives and practices of these women about their living conditions, about the dynamics of their relationships with local government and about family and institutional socialization processes? How gypsy women feel affected and react to the social, politic and economic circumstances? Are the institutional and family socialization spaces, breeding areas of social exclusion? Which are the social and ethnical limits established in those relationships?

Departing from the perspective of applied anthropology, the aim of this work is to inform and to redefine policies of social intervention.

Relatos de mujeres gitanas rumanas: género, etnicidad y exclusión social.

Este estudio se basa en un análisis cualitativo de entrevistas en profundidad realizadas a mujeres gitanas rumanas migrantes en San Sebastián, País Vasco, que en su mayoría se encuentran en situación de exclusión social (analfabetismo, sin techo, ejercicio de la mendicidad, violencia de género, entre otros).

El foco del estudio es ver cuáles son las condiciones en que factores de etnicidad (identidad, discriminación, fronteras), género (feminización de las migraciones, situaciones de violencia, desigualdad en acceso a recursos, roles asignados) y exclusión social, afectan las estrategias individuales y familiares en cuanto a oportunidades de vida, reproducción o elecciones alternativas. Los principales temas de análisis son: ¿Cuáles son las narrativas de esas mujeres acerca de sus condiciones de vida, sobre las dinámicas de sus relaciones con la administración local, sobre sus procesos de socialización familiar e institucional? ¿Cómo las mujeres gitanas se sienten afectadas y reaccionan a las circunstancias sociales, políticas y económicas? ¿Los espacios institucionales y familiares reproducen la exclusión social? ¿Cuáles son los límites, étnicos, sociales…, que se establecen en esas relaciones?

Desde la perspectiva de una antropología aplicada, el objetivo de este trabajo es informar y redefinir políticas de intervención social.

Jonathan Wade (PhD, Assistant Professor of Spanish, Meredith College). A lo gitano: Locating the Gypsy in Early Modern Spanish Letters.

Spanish texts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries feature a host of liminal characters. Virtually all of the major writers of the period had something, if not the same thing, to say about Jews, Moors, pícaros, and other marginal groups on the peninsula. This focus on the periphery has not escaped the attention of literary critics and historians, who have dedicated numerous books and articles to the study of the Other within Spain at this time. Although they frequently appear in early modern Spanish letters, the gypsies, with the exception of Cervantes Gitanilla and a few other works generally slip past readers without much regard. The gypsy, however, occupies an important place in the hierarchy of Spanish marginality. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, gypsies shared much of the same infamy as their picaresque, Jewish, and Moorish counterparts, yet, by Spanish standards of the time, there was no reversal of fortune or conversion that could save them from their cursed state. The present paper surveys works by Lope de Rueda, Miguel de Cervantes, Baltasar Gracián, Antonio Mira de Amescua, and others in an effort to locate the gypsy within Spain Golden Age and understand the multiplicity of meanings packaged in lo gitano, a common expression of the day.

Charles Westin (CEIFO, Stockholm University). Understanding the historical roots of antiziganism.

In this paper I seek to uncover the roots of perceptions and stereotypes about Roma, Travellers and Gypsies that have served to marginalise these groups in Swedish society for centuries. An historical approach is required, but it is not with a history of the Roma, Travellers and Gypsies that this paper is concerned, but a rereading of majority society’s history in relation to the Roma, Travellers and Gypsies. The paper is structured so that I start in the present, and by gradual stages uncover underlying premises, the rationale being that today’s problems often depend on yesterday’s solutions. The mediations between different periods are usually easier to identify by using an ‘archaeological’ digging method followed by a forward directed synthesis, than by using a strictly chronological account of events. Times when Roma groups have moved to Sweden will serve as critical points. Thus the paper will look more closely at the following times.

1995 to present. Migration to Sweden of Roma from Rumania, Slovakia, Hungary and Bosnia. EU-membership, recognizing the Roma and Travellers as a national minority

1970s. Transferring Roma groups from Yugoslavia, Poland and Czechoslovakia. Experiments in vocational training.

1960s. Finnish Roma (Kaale) migrate to Sweden. Housing schemes and adult education aimed at assimilation are developed.

1920s to 1950s. Romas seeking refuge from Nazi Germany are denied entry. Racial ideas dominate the discourse and sterilisation policies are implemented.

Late 19th century. Romas enter Sweden from Russia and France (Kaldarasha). The period of nation state formation, industrialisation and social reform. Romas are denied citizenship.

16th and 17th centuries. The first Romas in Sweden 1512. The modern Swedish state forms, Protestantism replaces Catholicism. Romas are expelled. The so called Hang Law entitles the lynching of Roma males.

Mediaeval society. The roots of antiziganism are found in antinomadism (McVeigh). Mediaeval society’s views on ritual pollution of various jobs and tasks are explored.

Back to present. Modern antiziganism is an accumulation of perceptions of the other (the Roma) from these various periods, including mediaeval society’s ideas of pollution.

The final discussion is about strategies to end five centuries of persecution and marginalisation and to empower the Roma people.

Sofiya Zahova (PhD student, Ethnographic Institute and Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences). Gypsy Groups in Contemporary Montenegro.

Montenegro, despite its small size and little population number (620 145 people) has a diversity of Gypsy groups living on its territory. The officially recorded number of those who declare Roma/Gypsy, Egyptian or Ashkali identity is over 10 000 and to this number we should add many citizens living in the diaspora and several thousand citizens of Roma origin who prefer to declare another identity. According to criteria such as time of settlement, ethno-cultural characteristics and group identity, there are several main groups observed and recorded in the scientific research in Ethnology or other research focused on Gypsies. These are the groups of Kovatchi (black-smiths, known as Arlija, Erlija); Chergarja nomadic Roma, identified by the surrounding population as Gabelj, and Roma from different places in Kosovo, who had migrated to Montenegro after WWII and identify nowadays as Roma-Muslims, while earlier as Madzhup. To these groups we should add the refugees from Kosovo who migrated to Montenegro after 1999 and among whom groups of Roma/Roma-Muslims and Egyptians (and a couple of Ashkali families) are observed. The proposed paper will focus firstly on short historical overview of the time of settlement and way of life of all Gypsy groups in Montenegro. The second focus of the study is the major ethno-cultural characteristics that are playing a role in the groups identity and form borders with the other groups. The paper will also reveal the relationship between the groups and how they refer to and interact with each other.

Marian Zaloaga (Scientific Researcher, Gheorghe Sincaiâ Research Institute for Social Sciences and the Humanities, the Romanian Academy). Gypsy Musical Performances in the Transylvanian - Saxon Towns. National Identity and Political Meanings of Their Performances in the 19th Century.

Essentialized descriptions of the Gypsies associate their ethnicity to an inborn talent to play by the ear any piece of music they first heard. At the periphery of the Habsburg Empire, Transylvania's major ethnic groups (Romanians, Magyars and Saxon) shared the saying that every Gypsy may play the violin. Going beyond this stereotypical generalization which decisively contributed to the romaticization of the Gypsies, famous performances were more or less restrained to some major names playing to the houses of the landowners. Admittedly there were some anonymous bands entertaining local communities in moments of leisure; some were even ad-hoc bands playing at local or familial celebrations. In modern nationalistic times the tendency to discursively associate them with an ethno - social category (suggesting both status as well as national soul similarities) had defamatory role in the hetero-presentation processes. Gypsies productions came to be symbolically nationalized in moments of peace or and especially in turmoil contexts. Considering all these, the aim of my paper is to show the intricate dependencies between social classificatory practices, cultural discourses and ideologies of the time. More precisely, I will focus on the role their performances played in the Saxon towns of Transylvania (among which Hermannstadt had been the capital of the province for a long while) and show the politicized tendency to associate Gypsies performances with one of the majorities normative group (Magyar or Romanian) in order to obtain by implicit comparison of nationalized aesthetic practices and consumption a superior position in the (outer-/self-) representation competition between the dominant three cultures. The consumption of performances of the Gypsies, with high political content, is relevant as it was thought to suggest Saxon's affinity with the German culture and therefore to oppose themselves to the Hungarian culture, itself in a competition with the Austrian co-reign partner after 1867.