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History of Roma People

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Title: History of Roma People


1
History of Roma People
  • A quick overview!

2
Migration and the Romani language
  • Linguistic study ? revealing the history of Roma
    people in Europe
  • Northern India
  • (and these languages
  • derived from Sanskrit) ?
  • Balkan region of Europe
  • Muslim invasions in Northern India ? migration
  • Estimated time of migration 9th century -13th
    century

3
Roma populations
  • around12 million Roma are living around
  • the world, 8 million of which
  • are living in across Europe,
  • in almost every country
  • Majority of Roma people in Europe are located in
    the Central and Eastern countries

4
Migration of Roma to Romania
  • The exact time and path of the migration is
    uncertain
  • One theory Roma arrived with the Ottoman Turks,
    or perhaps earlier with the Tatars --- earliest
    historical record of Roma in Romania is 1385
  • Today Roma people are the second largest minority
    in Romania (although accuracy of the population
    estimate is debatable)

5
Dialects of Romani in Romania
  • As all dialects of Romani across Europe are
    derived from the Indian languages of their
    ancestors, they have evolved with respect to
    influences of various European languages the Roma
    have been exposed to
  • Black sea region Balkan (Usari)
  • Transylvania region Carpathian
  • In various regions Vlax (also spoken in many
    other countries across Eastern and Western
    Europe)
  • Due to pressures to assimilate into Romanian
    society linguistically, many Roma no longer speak
    dialects of Romani today

6
Where are the Roma in Romania?
Highest concentrations in the south, eastern
Moldavia, Dobruja (below Moldova) and
south-eastern Transylvania.
7
Different groups of Roma people
  • Rural/Nomadic Groups some are called tiganii de
    carute which means Gypsies of the carts in
    Romanian -- this group retains the oldest Roma
    traditions in Romania
  • City-dwellers urban gypsies speak Romanian
    almost exclusively, although must still
    understand and speak some of the Romani dialects
    although their traditions are still distinct
    from non-Roma in the cities

8
History of persecution
  • Persecuted, ostracized and discriminated against
  • legally regarded as slaves for five centuries
    until the great slobozie
  • Nomadism was prohibited post-WWII during the
    communist regime
  • Political change collapse of the communist
    regimes in Central and Eastern Europe brought new
    hope to the Roma
  • The new Romanian Constitution finally
    acknowledged the Roma to be national minority ?
    independent political force in the Bucharest
    Parliament, as other national minorities had been
  • Efforts of standardization of Romani
  • Many Roma left Romania

9
Education Policy in Modern Day Romania the Roma
case
  • Delana Lensgraf

10
The Roma
  • Romas are among Romanias poorest people,
    accounting for over a million inhabitants
  • Roma children face serious difficulties enrolling
    in school
  • 1998 UNICEF funded research study only 61 of
    Roma children aged 7 to 16 were attending school,
    compared to 98 of Romanian children.
  • The rate is even lower for pre-school children,
    where a mere 20 of Roma children under the age
    of 7 go to kindergarten

11
Non-enrollment, non-attendance and school
drop-out among Roma children what are the causes?
  • Causes are social, economic, cultural
  • Precarious health condition
  • Delays in psycho-intellectual development
  • Low learning motivation of Roma children two
    thirds of Roma children who have dropped out show
    a lack of interest in school
  • Gender-based differences (according to which
    girls get married early, and their social role is
    to raise children and take care of the family)
  • Poor self image 20 have attitudes of rejection
    or repugnance, while only 10 have a positive
    attitude
  • Source

12
Lack of Educational Resources Available to Roma
Children
  • School buildings are older overcrowded in
    comparison with majority Romanian schools
  • Often lack a library
  • Fewer qualified teachers
  • Significantly higher teacher transfer rates
    especially in those with grades 1-4
  • 67 of Roma schools had a deficit of qualified
    teachers, and among schools with 50 or more Roma
    students, the deficit was over 80.
  • Teachers are the worst paid professionals
  • Change careers or
  • Become unmotivated by their work
  • This in turn effects students, cycle!

13
The Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015an
unprecedented international effort
  • Who? Initiative developed by the World Bank and
    the George Soros Foundation, supported by the OSI
    and the World Bank, and endorsed by nine Central
    and Eastern European countries
  • What? 65 projects have been launched in 13
    Eastern European countries, for improving the
    integration of Roma children in the regions
    education system. The conference will call for an
    increased commitment of all stakeholders and in
    particular government to sustain some of the
    small progress of the past years and urgently
    scale up the efforts so that the objective of the
    decade of Roma inclusion could be met.
  • Objectives? to combat discrimination , close the
    gap in welfare and living conditions , break the
    cycle of poverty and exclusion, to accelerate
    progress in economic status of Roma
  • How? The Decade focuses on four main areas
    education, housing, employment and healthcare.

14
Roma Education Fund ConferenceApril 2-3, 200?,
Budapest, Hungary
  • Eastern Europes largest conference on the
    education of Roma children
  • Organized by the Roma Education Fund (REF), in
    collaboration with the Hungarian government, 250
    participants from all over the world! will
  • Goal to discuss the achievements and the lessons
    learned since the launch of the Decade of Roma
    Inclusion in 2005
  • Some of the conference participants include such
    high-ranking officials as, Marko Bela, Deputy
    Prime Minister of Romania Dusan Caplovic, Deputy
    Prime Minister for the Slovak Republic Viktoria
    Mohacsi, Hungarian Member of the European
    Parliament among others.
  • BIG names! closing speech of the conference
    Education Reforms and Roma Inclusion in Eastern
    and Central Europe presented by Mr. Jan Figel,
    European Commissioner for Education, Training,
    Culture and Multilingualism. Hungarian Prime
    Minister, Vice President of the World Bank for
    Europe
  • Goal of the conference to assess the progress
    made in increasing enrolment and attendance of
    Roma children throughout the region in the past
    ten years
  • Comprehensive analysis in four countries
    Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Serbia
  • basic educational indicators
  • main constraints and barriers preventing Roma
    from full access to quality education

15
International Collaboration for Educational Reform
  • The EUMAP reports on Equal Access to Quality
    Education for Roma
  • Aims to
  • Support the goals of the Decade in the key area
    of education
  • Establish a framework for regular monitoring
    throughout the decade
  • Provide an assessment of the state of
    implementation of Government education policies
    for Roma
  • Promote consultation with Roma communities on
    education issues, and to
  • Provide data on key education indicators
  • Present case studies on selected communities

16
The Future of Roma Education
  • Stress the importance of early education
  • School curriculum needs to be modernized to
    reflect the reality of todays world
  • Child-centered teaching methodologies
  • Development of critical thinking and
    problem-solving
  • Roma traditions and history
  • Rights of every individual!

17
Roma People in pre-20th Century Spain
18
Origins
  • Generally accepted that the Roma migrated out of
    India into Europe sometime in the 11th century.
  • The reason for migration is thought to be a
    result of the advance of Islam.
  • Most research acknowledges Roma appearance in
    S.E. Europe sometime in the 1300s, C. Europe in
    the 1400s, and W. and N. Europe in the early
    1500s.

19
  • Linguistic evidence points to a northern route,
    exiting through the upper Indus Valley.
  • Their route was likely through the Himalayas, to
    the Silk Road west of the Caspian Sea, up the
    foothills of the Caucasus mountain range, through
    Armenia, and to the Byzantine Empire.
  • The abundance of Romani words
  • with Persian, Armenian, and Greek
  • origin supports this hypothetical route.

20
The Importance of 1492
  • 1492 was a crucial year as it indicates the end
    and the beginning of an era of close encounters
    with ethnic Others that have had a lasting
    influence on Spains identity. Centuries of
    Spanish colonialism not only left their mark on
    the racist attitudes of settlers and their
    descendants towards the indigenous population and
    the enslaved Africans in the Americas, but also a
    feeling of racial superiority in Spain itself.

21
Timeline of Roma in Spain (pre 20th cent) Until
1499 Acceptance The first Roma to reach Spain
were thought to have arrived between 1415 and
1425. 1490s-1633 Expulsion Persecution of
Roma began with the reign of Ferdinand and
Isabella of Aragon and Castile in the late 1400s
with their efforts to create a homogenous Catholic
state. Ethnic and religious minorities,
including Roma, were ordered to either assimilate
or leave the country. Non-integrated Roma were
branded as highway robbers, thieves, and
sorcerers. Although faced with the prospect of
expulsion and the loss of their language, many
Roma decided to stay in Spain, while at the same
time attempting to preserve their traditional way
of life. 1630-1783 Forced Assimilation With
Spains economic growth in the early 1600s,
policies toward Roma shifted from expulsion to
forced assimilation. Various laws were passed in
an attempt to end the nomadic lifestyle of Roma
and settle them. The government hoped that Roma
would simply seek formal employment and
assimilate into the larger population. Again,
however, Roma overwhelmingly managed to maintain
their traditional way of life outside of
mainstream society.
22
Incorporation Equity In 1783, Charles III
signed a decree that formalized legal equality
between Roma and non-Roma citizens. The
establishment of anti-Roma laws which was
forbidden and Roma were not to be singled out as
a distinct ethnic group in official texts. These
actions were followed by a period of relative
incorporation, when further attempts were made by
the government to extend the rights of Roma and
to reduce anti-Roma sentiments. For example, the
Constitution of 1812 stressed the recognition of
legal equality for Roma, granting Roma the full
rights and responsibilities of citizenship. At
the same time, the government gave little
attention to improving their social and economic
status within Spain. During this period, there
were no government initiatives to assist Roma.
23
"Do not call us Gypsies. We are the Roma people!
  • The Roma were classified as foreigners or
    semi-foreigners because they were not integrated
    into the local community.
  • In 17th and 18th century Spain, integration in a
    local community was essential to the
    classification of people as Spaniards.
  • A discourse focused on integration was used to
    exclude all minorities, including the Roma.

24
The Anti Gypsy Laws
  • First Anti Gypsy laws passed in Spain in1492
  • 1499-Medina del Campo in Spain ordered Gitanos to
    find a trade and master, cease traveling with
    other Gitanos, all within sixty days. Punishment
    for failure to obey was 100 lashes and
    banishment. Repeat offences were punished by
    amputation of ears, sixty days in chains, and
    banishment. Third-time offenders became the
    slaves of those who captured them.

25
Laws cont
  • For around 300 years, Gypsies were subject to
    many laws and policies designed to eliminate them
    from Spain as an identifiable group.
  • Gypsy settlements were broken up and the
    residents were dispersed sometimes, Gypsies were
    even required to marry non-Gypsies. They were
    denied their language and rituals. They were also
    excluded from public office and from guild
    membership.

26
Who were the gypsies?
In Castile and in other parts of Spain, it was
believed that Gypsiness was taken on
voluntarily by people who sought out a bad life.
27
Education Policy in modern day Spain the Gitanos
case
  • Philip Carim

28
The Roma people in Spain
  • The Roma were granted equal rights in 1978 when
    the new Constitution of Spain was implemented
    after the death of Franco (equal protection of
    language right to education)
  • Despite their severely repressed past, the Roma
    community in Spain kept growing. Today, there are
    an estimated of 650,000 to 800,000 living in
    Spain. They represent the largest ethnic minority
    in Spain. Yet "Their political organization
    consists in the absence of permanent power
    structures" within Spain (Salinas 2007, 33)
  • While they are Spanish citizens, still they are
    very often treated as second-class citizens
  • The Gitanos have their own language in Spain,
    Caló, that differs from what other Roma
    populations scattered around the world would
    speak.

29
The Roma people in Spain
  • Although there are Gitanos all over Spain (as
    opposed to France where they are predominantly
    found in the South), they are concentrated in
    Andalucía (218,000), Catalunya (80,000), Madrid
    (60,000) and Valencia (50,000)

30
Institutional and Political Visibility
  • There are roughly 600 Roma associations of all
    types spread across Spain. Although this is a
    lot, many of them have very few members. These
    associations usually spring up due to public
    subsidies that they receive Most of them are
    family associations and represent, all together,
    less than 1 per cent of Spanish Roma (Salinas
    2007, 34)
  • There are state-sponsored organizations the
    Ministry of Social Affairs created the Advisory
    committee for the Gypsy Development Program the
    Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs created the
    State Council of Gypsy People in order to
    represent Gypsy associations in various official
    and governmental institutions

31
Institutional and Political Visibility
  • "Gypsy participation in all these bodies is only
    of an advisory nature, without official
    decision-making power or direct access to
    resources or control over budgets
  • In the past 30 years of democracy in Spain, only
    one Gypsy has been elected MEP (not MP). there
    are currently two Gypsy representatives one in
    Extremadura and one in Valencia, but none in the
    National Assembly.
  • The Nationalist Caló Party was created about ten
    years ago "has few followers, has gained no
    prominence, and has had no votes in elections."
    The Alianza Romani, created in 2002 "has not yet
    sponsored candidates to elected offices."
    (Importance while these parties do not enjoy any
    political power, they are created and organized
    by the Gypsy people

32
Language Caló
  • The Roma in Spain speak a dialect of Romani
    called Caló (Spanish Romani). It blends native
    Romani vocabulary with Spanish Grammar
    (Wikipedia "Caló"). Nowadays however, a very
    vast majority of Gypsies speak Castilian Spanish
    and full use of Caló has been lost.
  • A lot of Caló words entered the Spanish lexicon.
    However, these words are predominantly slang
    words. Does this reflect the stigmatization of
    the Roma people?
  • Caló is a result of centuries of language contact
    and hence linguistic change Spanish Romani
    assimilated phonologically and syntactically to
    Castilian Spanish. Competence in Caló varies
    greatly from person to person and from community
    to community.

33
Educational Policy Laws
  • Spanish Constitution of 1978 Guarantees equal
    rights to everyone and the right to free
    education in native language. It does not
    specifically mention the Roma people.
  • There has been no legislation since the onset of
    Spanish democracy that specifically targets Roma
    educational policies and Roma language rights.
    Exception in 1978-86 creation of "bridge
    schools" bridge schools are segregated schools
    for Roma children of low socioeconomic status and
    the law mediated between the Catholic Church and
    the Ministry of Education (they were eventually
    eliminated).

34
Educational Policy Laws
  • The Organic Law on the Right to an Education
    (1983) and the Organic Law on the General
    Structure of the Educational System (1990). The
    purpose of these two laws were to 1) to foster
    the exercise of freedom, tolerance and solidarity
    in a pluralistic society 2) to foster respect
    for the linguistic and cultural plurality of
    Spain
  • In May 2006, the parliament passed the Education
    Law which acknowledges cultural diversity but,
    yet again, does not specifically mention or refer
    to the Roma people.

35
Education policy the facts
  • Historic trend of rejection of compulsory
    education by Roma families (Caló versus Payo
    identity)
  • Reversal over the past two decades nearly all
    Roma children attend school
  • Despite successes at the elementary level, very
    few Gypsy students attend secondary education
    Of those who do continue to secondary education,
    80 per cent drop out before graduating (Salinas
    2007, 42)
  • Only 31.9 per cent of Roma students pass all
    subjects (ibid)
  • 70 per cent of Roma adolescents over the age of
    16 have not completed primary education
  • there is a lack of Gypsy role models with
    strong educational and professional backgrounds
    (ibid 43).

36
Education policy the facts
  • 7 out of 10 Roma over fifteen years old are
    either totally or functionally illiterate
  • The Roma as a people are virtually inexistent in
    the history books. Out of 208 textbooks used in
    elementary and secondary schools between 1990 and
    2000, there are only 18 explicit references to
    the Roma people
  • This sends a confusing message the laws preach
    (and mandate) linguistic and cultural tolerance,
    yet the curricula and textbooks employed in
    schools almost completely overlook the biggest
    ethnic minority in the country

37
Last thoughts
  • These problems cannot be fixed by simply granting
    Roma children space within the educational
    system they must feel like they can succeed and
    they must feel that their language and their
    culture are equally recognized and appreciated
  • Lack of education severely impedes access to jobs
    and to the labor market. Hence, the Roma are
    forced to take low-paying, unskilled jobs which
    only reinforces the existing stereotypes
  • Must overcome institutional and political absence

38
Bibliography
  • Achim, Viorel. Roma in Romanian History. New
    York, NY, USA Central European University Press,
    2004. p 122. http//site.ebrary.com/lib/uncch/Doc?
    id10133539ppg128
  • Dragomir, Marius. Europes Beggars, Romanias
    Roma. Central Europe Review. Vol 2, No 41. 27
    November 2000. http//www.ce-review.org/00/41/dra
    gomir41.html
  • Garfias, Robert. Dance among the Urban Gypsies.
    Yearbook for Traditional Music, Vol. 16. (1984),
    pp. 84-96. http//links.jstor.org/sici?sici0740-1
    55828198429163C843ADATUGO3E2.0.CO3B2-W
  • Szilassy, Eszter. The Roma population in Romania.
    CST Transylvania. http//www.east-west-wg.org/cst/
    cst-trans/e_eszter.html

39
Bibliography
  • Romania. UNICEF Romania. 6 November 2007.
    http//www.unicef.org/romania/education.html.
  • Roma Education Conference will highlight Best
    Practice and Future Plans. Romea.cz. 26 March
    2007. Romano Vodi. http//www.romea.cz/english/ind
    ex.php?id.detaildetail2007_184

40
Bibliography
  • Salinas, Jesús. "Reflections on Educational
    Policies for Spanish Gypsies." European
    Education. Vol. 39, no. 1, Spring 2007, pp.
    32-49.
  • "Caló (Spanish Romani)." Wikipedia, The Free
    Encyclopedia. 19 Sep 2007, 1532 UTC. Wikimedia
    Foundation, Inc. 7 Nov 2007.lthttp//en.wikipedia.o
    rg/w/index.php?titleCalC3 B3_28Spanish_Romani
    29oldid158965618gt

41
Bibliography
Dijk, Teun A. van. Racism and Discourse in Spain
and Latin America. Philadelphia, PA, USA John
Benjamins Publishing Company, 2005.
http//site.ebrary.com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/lib/
uncch/Doc?id10084591ppg26 Ringold, Dena. Roma
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