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    Roma FAQs CS

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    Chân Cao
    Romani people have faced centuries of discrimination and persecution in Europe. In Romania and other countries, Roma were enslaved and treated as property that could be sold or traded. Across Europe, Roma faced expulsion, bounties for their capture, forced labor, imprisonment, and physical abuse. Under Nazi rule, 500,000 to 1.5 million Roma were murdered in the Romani Holocaust. After World War 2, communist governments forced assimilation of Roma culture and sometimes sterilized Roma people. Today, Roma still face high levels of discrimination, racism, and violence in both Eastern and Western Europe.

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    Roma FAQs CS

    Uploaded by

    Chân Cao
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    Romani people have faced centuries of discrimination and persecution in Europe. In Romania and other countries, Roma were enslaved and treated as property that could be sold or traded. Across Europe, Roma faced expulsion, bounties for their capture, forced labor, imprisonment, and physical abuse. Under Nazi rule, 500,000 to 1.5 million Roma were murdered in the Romani Holocaust. After World War 2, communist governments forced assimilation of Roma culture and sometimes sterilized Roma people. Today, Roma still face high levels of discrimination, racism, and violence in both Eastern and Western Europe.

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    Roma-FAQs-CS

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    Romani people have faced centuries of discrimination and persecution in Europe. In Romania and other countries, Roma were enslaved and treated as property that could be sold or traded. Across Europe, Roma faced expulsion, bounties for their capture, forced labor, imprisonment, and physical abuse. Under Nazi rule, 500,000 to 1.5 million Roma were murdered in the Romani Holocaust. After World War 2, communist governments forced assimilation of Roma culture and sometimes sterilized Roma people. Today, Roma still face high levels of discrimination, racism, and violence in both Eastern and Western Europe.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    9 views3 pages

    Roma FAQs CS

    Uploaded by

    Chân Cao
    Romani people have faced centuries of discrimination and persecution in Europe. In Romania and other countries, Roma were enslaved and treated as property that could be sold or traded. Across Europe, Roma faced expulsion, bounties for their capture, forced labor, imprisonment, and physical abuse. Under Nazi rule, 500,000 to 1.5 million Roma were murdered in the Romani Holocaust. After World War 2, communist governments forced assimilation of Roma culture and sometimes sterilized Roma people. Today, Roma still face high levels of discrimination, racism, and violence in both Eastern and Western Europe.

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    FAQs

    Is using the terms “Gypsy/Gypsies” ok?


    While people use this word to describe many different communities/things, the term as it
    relates to Roma/Romani people is not preferred by many Romani people. The term
    “Gypsy” is a misnomer – it is a shortened term of Egyptian and dates back to our arrival
    in Europe; Europeans might have assumed we were Egyptians. Since we are not
    Egyptian in origin, many people find that using this term is wrong because it perpetuates
    misinformation about our origins. Both linguistic and genetic evidence indicate an Indian
    origin for our people. Furthermore, the term has been used as a racial slur (“to gyp”
    means to steal) and is loaded with stereotypes, which many of us understandably want
    to distance ourselves from. The word that many of us prefer is Roma or Romani; a word
    taken from our own language that means “people”. While there may be differences of
    opinion within the culture about appropriate terminology, the more respectful term for
    outsiders to use is Roma or Romani.
    Where are Romani people from?
    Both linguistic and genetic evidence confirm our Indian origins. Our ancestors left India
    around 1000 A.D., possibly in several waves. This is based on research by Romani
    historian Dr. Adrian Marsh, and Prof. Hancock concurs with this hypothesis. The
    multiple waves explain the development of differing languages/dialects among Domari,
    Lom and Romani groups. We are a distinct ethnic group with our own language,
    culture, foods and beliefs, although traditions (including music and dance) greatly vary
    across groups based on where we live in and how long we have been settled there. We
    are currently the largest ethnic minority group in Europe, numbering 10-12 million; in the
    U.S there are an estimated 1-1.5 million Roma. We are real people; one cannot
    “choose” to be a Romani person; you either have Romani ancestry or you do not (i.e. it
    is not a “lifestyle” or choice).
    Why do people associate Romani people with fortune telling/magic?
    Stereotypes about curses and the supernatural have been used to stigmatize and
    racially profile Romani people for centuries. While it is true that some Romani people
    practice fortune telling, it also true that many do not; it is not a practice that can be
    universally applied to all of us at all times. As a people, we are not associated with any
    particular religion. The 12-14 million Roma in the world today follow many different
    religions and some, none at all.
    Are all Romani people the same; is there just one Romani culture?
    Within our communities we are incredibly diverse. Similar to the concept of
    “tribes/clans/kin groups” that exists for Native Americans in the United States, Romani
    people have complex affiliations and ways to identify based on our overarching group,
    sub-groups within the main group, our location, the dialect of Romani that we speak,
    and our families’ traditional occupations. Within our communities we are very conscious
    of our internal identities and associations. The names of our sub-groups often reflect
    2

    this diversity. Although we are diverse, many of us hold core values across groups,
    such as loyalty to our families and passing on our cultural traditions and values to the
    next generation.
    Are Roma nomadic? What occupations do Roma have?
    The overwhelming majority of Roma are no longer nomadic, and many communities
    have been settled for hundreds of years. A few sub-groups, however, try to maintain
    semi-nomadic way of life that is related to their traditional occupations. Although most of
    the world’s Rom are poor, Roma are diverse in their class situation. Historically, Roma
    were skilled (and often indispensable) craftspeople such a metalworkers, entertainers
    (such as musicians), traders, seasonal workers, etc. Today, in addition to semi-skilled
    and unskilled laborers, Roma are educated journalists, teachers, health workers, social
    workers, businesspeople in the rising middle class.
    What kind of costume should I buy for Romani dance?
    As mentioned above, there is no one Romani culture. Costuming will look very different
    if you are doing Flamenco (a Spanish Romani dance) as opposed to Turkish Romani
    dance. Also, within these genres there are various sub groups of dances and costumes
    that convey the context and feeling of performance. Your best resource is a qualified
    teacher to guide you in your selection of costume based on your performance context
    and dance. It should also be pointed out there is no such thing as a “skirt dance”,
    although in some styles of Romani dance, dancers use their skirts to emphasize a
    movement or to show footwork; please don’t assume that wearing a long flare skirt
    qualifies your costuming as “Romani”.
    Have Roma faced discrimination?

    Initial curiosity about Roma by European peoples and rulers quickly gave way
    discrimination, a legacy that has continued until today. In the Romanian principalities of
    Wallachia and Moldavia, Roma were slaves from the 14-19th centuries. As bonded
    serfs owned by noblemen, monasteries, and the state, they were sold at auctions,
    bartered, and flogged. Romani slaves were an important labor and artisan source,
    providing skills in gold washing, bear-training, wood carving, blacksmithing, and music.

    In virtually every West European territory, Roma were feared and mistrusted and
    expelled. Bounties were paid for their capture, dead or alive, and repressive measures
    included confiscation of property and children, forced labor, prison sentences, whipping,
    branding, and other forms of physical mutilation. Assimilation in the 18th century Austro-
    Hungarian Empire included forcibly removing children from their parents and outlawing
    nomadism, traditional occupations and Romani language, music, and dress. Similar
    assimilationist legislation was enacted in Spain after 1499.

    In the Balkans, the policy of the Ottoman Empire towards Roma was, in general, more
    lenient than in Western Europe because Ottoman urban society was multi-cultural.
    Many Balkan Roma converted to Islam in the 16th to 18th centuries to pay lower taxes
    3

    The Muslim religion and Turkish culture and language were the marks of civilization,
    and conversion often meant merely a change in name.

    With the Nazi rise to power, Roma faced an extermination campaign where 500,000 to
    1.5 million were murdered, After the war, Roma received neither compensation nor
    recognition as victims, and only recently has the Roma Holocaust gained limited
    attention via memorials and commemorations. After World War II, the communist
    regimes in Eastern defined Roma as a social problem. Targeted for integration into the
    planned economy, Roma were forced to sometimes give up their traditional
    occupations, and assigned to the lowest paid industrial and agricultural state jobs (e.g.,
    street cleaners). Nomadic Roma were forcibly settled, settled Roma were sometimes
    forcibly moved, and sometimes aspects of their culture, such as music, were outlawed.
    Specific policies varied by country, for example, forced sterilization was common in
    Czechoslovakia. Cheap housing was nominally provided, but segregated
    neighborhoods were common. On the positive side, during socialism Romani school
    attendance grew (despite inferior and segregated schools), violence was rare, and
    Roma held steady employment and received the benefits of the paternalistic state.

    After the fall of socialism in Eastern Europe, discrimination, scapegoating and violence
    against Roma dramatically increased. Western Europe has also recently witnessed a
    huge surge of xenophobia, anti-Romani racism, and physical as well as structural
    violence; many European political parties in power today are explicitly anti-Roma. Roma
    have mobilized against this historic racism via a worldwide human rights movement.

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