Roma communities today Historical background, culture and current issues Week 3 Class 2: Origins, migration and today’s population ANTH 4020/5020

Today‘s outline 1.Conflicting theories about Roma origins 2.Summary origins 3.Marushiakova & Popov ‘Historical and ethnographic background: Gypsies, Roma, Sinti’ 4.„Short story“ & discussion 5.Text: Liégeois, Jean-Pierre Roma, Gypsies, Travellers. Strasbourg: Council of Europe, pp (Ch. 2: Populations).

Conflicting theories about Romani Origins (1) 1 commonality: The cradle of the Gypsy nation is North India Kenrick, Donald and Puxon, Grattan The Destiny of Europe’s Gypsies. Roma ancestors left their homeland in the 10 th cent. Travelled in several different unrelated groups to Europe Tcherenkov, Lev and Laederich, Stéphane The Rroma. Roma left India before the 8 th cent. (  no arabic loanwords) All Roma originate from the same wave of migration from India They belonged to the caste of the Dom (still existing India)

Conflicting theories about Romani Origins (2) Ian Hancock We are the Romani people. Ancestors of Roma left India after  first account in Byzantine Empire from 1068 left homeland in 1 migration wave represented a population of closely related groups are descendants of the Indian Rajput tribes …

Summary: Origins (I) all scholars agree: the Roma came from (Central or Northern) India Based on the language of the Roma their original homeland as well as migration routes could be traced back  Layered structure: “road map” with acquisitions from the countries they passed on their itinerary Reason for original emigration remains unknown; different hypotheses exist One or several migration waves?

Summary: Origins (II) There are diverse documents from the 13 th and 14 th cent. that possibly indicate the presence of the Roma in Europe Upon their arrival in the Balkan and surrounding countries the Roma were able to find work as blacksmiths and other jobs  Symbiotic relationship with the local population Roma established homes & settlements and lived a sedentary lifestyle

Summary: Origins (III) Many Roma moved further on to Central and Western Europe in the 15 th cent. in the course of the expansion of the Turks Various European Aristocrats issued the Roma “travel documents” The Leaders of the travelling groups called themselves “Counts” or “Kings” and said they were originally Christians, but had lost their fate and were therefore forced to travel The travelling groups were small (<100 people) Received a lot of (negative) attention  mistrust

The itinerary of the Roma (Source:

Marushiakova & Popov (2001) ‘Historical and ethnographic background: Gypsies, Roma, Sinti’ Summary: Roma form a specific “intergroup ethnic community” without parallels in Europe The region of Eastern Europe has a rich and complex history which is reflected in the differences in the situation of the Roma in the different countries of the region. Present-day Roma of Eastern Europe are extremely diverse and can be classified on the basis of key criteria  language, lifestyle, boundaries of endogamy, professional specialization, duration of settlement in specific countires, asf.

1.Ottoman Empire: Civil status of Gypsies preserved but lower than that of non- Gypsies Policy aim: maintenance of status quo – but free option of voluntary assimilation 2.Austro-Hungarian Empire: State control over lives of Gypsies, paternalistic role of state in deciding Gypsies’ “best interests”, deliberate policy of “civilising” a “primitive people” Policy aim: enforced total assimilation 3.Russian Empire: On the whole, non-interference in the internal life of Gypsies. Policy aim: sporadic attempts at integration but lack of any consistent policy Summary (2): Marushiakova & Popov (2001) ‘Historical and …’

Summary (3): Marushiakova & Popov (2001) ‘Historical and …’ “In the countries of former Austro-Hungary, Gypsies were regarded first and foremost as a social problem and state policy assumed a mainly paternalistic nature, while in other countries Gypsy-related problems were seen as primarily ethnic in character, with an added touch of religion in the Balkans” (Marushiakova & Popov, 2001, pp. 47).

A Rom‘s view on origins … Beginning of the chapter „Hindupen from: Isabel Fonseca‘s „Bury me standing“ (1996)

Text: Liégeois, Jean-Pierre Roma, Gypsies, Travellers. Strasbourg: Council of Europe, pp (Ch. 2: Populations). Short presentation by Kelsey

Present Populations (1) Difficult to number, because: - administration of some states wants to "reduce" the number of Roma living in their land - “Gypsy” ethnic identity was discouraged (and referring terminology disappeared from official documents) - Roma activists tend to cite high numbers. - definition criteria are politically determined – and Gypsy or the vague terms used (Travellers) may not mean anything to the population in question - Many Roma do not declare themselves as such, because of caution born of centuries of persecution - Sedentary Gypsies were often not included

Present Populations (2) Example from Bulgaria (see Liegeois 1994, p. 32): (Published) official census 1956: 195,000 Gypsies Unpublished census 1975: 373,000 Gypsies Secret census 1980:524,000 Gypsies Ministry of the interior census 1989: 576,000 Gypsies Update of 1992:552,000 Gypsies

Present Populations (3)  It is only possible to give a range of numbers, from low estimates to high estimates for any given country.  The world Roma population is between 6'000'000 and 12'000'000.

European Roma Population Source: