French German Italian Portuguese Spanish Rroma In Romania Struggle For Self-Identification by Jennifer Tanaka
J ennifer Tanaka works for Rromani CRISS , the Rroma Center for Social Intervention and Studies in Bucharest, Romania. In this contribution, she discusses recent moves by the Romanian government to officially designate the Rroma or "Gypsy" population as "Tigani" and the moves within that community to self-identify as Rroma, moving toward use of the double "R" spelling. W hen thinking of the Gypsies of Europe, one may envision a dark-skinned group of people, traveling in a band of wagons and playing music - seemingly unaffected by their surroundings. If one has traveled in Eastern Europe he may think of the barefoot children walking the streets and singing in the Metro stations for money. One may also remember the typical warning by others to "Beware of the Gypsies, they will try to steal from you!" In fact, the Rroma (Gypsies) are a diverse group of people, differing in occupation, standard-of-living, historical experience of their home country, education and levels of "integration." Contrary to the typical stereotype, it has been estimated that only 5% of the entire Rroma population in Europe (estimated between 7 - 8.5 million) lead an itinerant mode of life. Though there are subtleties of different dialects, the Rroma share a common language based on old Sanskrit. Why Rroma and not Gypsies? | |
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