"...The word "gypsy" with its lowercase "g" is analogous to the word 'nigger.'... "

Oh....come now.....that is one of the silliest sentences I've read in quite a while.

Just make your point, and make it convincingly, without resorting to this sort of business.

In any case, at least do your home-work; I just took the time to flip through several books (written in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries....and every mention of "Gypsy" was in upper-case.

thanks in advance,

David Terry

www.davidterryart.com

I'm Roma on my mother's side, her grandparents came from Romania at the end of the last century. I knew them well and our family is proud of our background.

For two generations we've had solid American educations - I have a master's degree, my brother is a pharmacist, my sister is a nurse. The only distant relative I know from Romania is a web designer. He struggled incredibly to get an education while my immediate family experienced no discrimination.

Roma culture encourages a searing practicality even when we have equal opportunity. Many of the Roma people I know online are accountants. We love stories, music, and wordplay but I think it's hard to have family acceptance for arts without a day job. It'll happen and I look forward to reading great Roma fiction someday, but you can find the accountants, scientists, and filmakers right now.

Canadian author Steven Galloway has published a wonderful book of fiction called "Ascension" about the Roma and one family in particular who make their living walking the wire. It's beautiful and fascinating, and no literary grouping of Roma/Gypsy literary is complete without this book.

The Roma have produced wonderful music and "oral" poetry which hold much of their narrative tradition - perhaps with full awareness that anything material can be destroyed - after all books can be burned and lost forever. But as long as a single Roma remains, the oral traditions can be carried forward. That too is a lesson of many years of oppression.

The flamenco and the rumba are just two of the great "narratives" of Gypsy tradition that have been gifted to the world.

Btw, the film Latcho Drom is an fascinating study of the Roma and their travels.

I welcome anything that enlightens us on the history and diversity of the Roma people. In a busy turnpike one early morning in Valencia, Spain, I met a 12 year old kid. Curious and talkative. He told me he was Portuguese, maybe because it is percieved somewhat less negative to be portuguese in Spain than Roma (I think he might have misjudged some spaniards prejudist towards portuguese, however, it probably didn´t make any difference to him, selling his tissues and washing car windows at the trafficklight) Anyway, he "revealed" himself when I told him I could send him a postcard, and he answered by telling me his grandmother didn´t approve of the written word. I often wondered about the reason for the distrust of the written among some Romas. I will now turn to the literature to find out. So often it is the grim face of poverty that is shown to us through photobooks and newspaperarticles portaying Gypsies. At least, the strong muscial culture is a positive image, and through your article I got my curiosity sparked again. No offense to sosiologists works on Roma people, but the picture never gets complete without the diversity of peoples own voices. Now I am looking forward to hear both.

It is totally true that the Rom have been persecuted throughout history.

It is also true that, (at least in the past), the culture of the Romani has condoned and justified taking whatever advantage of the non-Roms around them that they could - legal or otherwise.

Just a thought.

i first learned about the romani from their extensive websites. there was much there and it surprised me. i almost bought some great tshirts from the site too but didnt for some reason. many ethnic groups have great websites and i usually turn to them first before i buy serious books about culture.

A better way to get insight into Roma culture (aside from Fonseca's book - which is crucial), is through Roma music - from flamenco, rumba catalana (not to be confused with the Cuban or Congolese varieties), and manouche jazz in Western Europe to the brass band, cimbolom and wedding band traditions in Serbia, Romania, Hungary and other points East. Not to mention the incredible array of Roma musicians in Turkey, the Middle East and North Africa. For such a non-literate people, the Roma have done an amazing job of transmitting their history through the medium of music.

Another great film by the director of Latcho Drom - although the main actress is not Romani, which is kind of unfortunate, she is stunningly beautiful. The music is heartwrenching and gorgeous.

That said, I cannot imagine wanting to travel to find today's Romani. As a mysterious people of undecided origins (India, probably), today's European Rom are interesting. But as with any group of desperately poor and uneducated people, you have to watch yourself in their villages. This obviously doesn't apply to the world of online Rom accountants, but I would advise anyone taken with the "romantic" idea of traveling with the Rom to think twice about it.

Also Known As:

Étranger fou, L' (France)

Strainul nebun (Romania)

The Crazy Stranger

Meant to say, Lionsgate. Lionsgate Films.

European Roma are on the move again. With the borders of Europe open the Roma people are moving away from discrimination, hardship and poverty to make new lives. A community of Roma people mainly from The Czech Republic and Slovakia have moved to Ireland and receive the same housing benefits as all new immigrants to Ireland can. They are living in modern homes, most are working and their children are attending school. They are making new lives for themselves. With the change in Irish society the Roma people are not treated any differently to someone from Brazil, India or the many Polish and Lithuanians that live in the country. They have an opportunity to make new lives for themselves, but there are challenges. While the fathers learn English due to working the mothers do not. This will lead to isolation and makes it more difficult for the children to learn English. There are cultural challenges as well almost none of the Roma women drive and transport to and from school can be difficult when the father's are working. Ironically while economic conditions in Ireland are good, minimum wage 8 euro 50 the Roma families have discovered that health services in the likes of the Czech Republic was better, we have a two year waiting time for a child to get a dental appointment.