29 November 2012

At some point in the future, I may probably teach a class on this subject since it is something I feel very strongly about.  For now, this is an assignment for a class, an annotated bibliography for a class I would like to teach.  The following will be a bibliography devoted to the inequality and history of the Rromani Peoples (prejudicially referred to as gypsies by gadje or non-Romanis).  This bibliography will be primarily intended for the students of a class on this subject as well as those interested in further learning about the subject.  While not every book will be assigned in whole, certain sections will.  This may vary from class to class to give each student as broad an overview as possible.

Hancock, I. (2002). We are the Romani People. Hertfordshire: University Of Hertfordshire Press.  Dr Ian Hancock (a Rromani himself), presents an overview of the Rromani from their point of view.  This is an introduction to the diversity of Rromani life, culture, and ritual, including its history, Indian migration and the reasons for the shifts in migration, as well as the history of the enslavement of the Rromani in Romania. He also provides cultural sensitivity advice for the gadje in their encounters with the Rromani.

Stewart, M. (1997). The Time of the Gypsies. Boulder: Westview Press.  Michael Stewart gives an overview of the Hungarian Rromani in relation to Austrio-Hungarian policies and their evolution in Communist Europe, and post communist Hungary.  He uses the plight of the Rromani during these regimes to better understand the regimes themselves.  Spending time among the Rromani as an anthropologist, speaking with them in their tongue, he allows them to speak for themselves to show us that we are all part of our one shared social network, in spite of differing histories and cultures.

Fonseca, I. (1995). Bury Me Standing: the Gypsies and Their Journey. New York: Knopf. Isabel Fonseca offers a personal and in depth account where she immerses herself completely in various branches of Rromani culture in several former Communist European countries, absorbing their personal histories, relating their ancient exodus out of India as well their history of enslavement, persecution, extermination by the Nazis, forcible assimilation by the Communists, their forced evictions by recent nationalistic mobs, and their recent fleeing to Western Europe, only to find violent attacks and persecution when they arrived.

Fraser, A. (1995). The Gypsies (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK.: Wiley-Blackwell. Angus Fraser offers a broad historical overview of the Rromani migration from India through the Middle East to Europe and to the United States.  Written from the point of view of a British citizen, he places the Rromani in historical context with the changes in Europe that brought upon the Industrial Revolution and the society that it destroyed following that industrialisation and includes the legal racism that has subjected the Rromani to varying degrees of outsider status and later forced assimilation.

Sutherland, A. (1986). Gypsies: the Hidden Americans. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Pr Inc. Anne Sutherland examines the Rromani of the United States, of one particular community.  It is written to dispel stereotypes, romantic and racist, to offer an overview of their cultural construction of their world view, to their ability to survive in the face everything and everyone that has attempted to exterminate them.  She examines internal social relations to understand how they deal with the legal and social relations in the outside world.

McGarry, A. (2009). Ambiguous nationalism? Explaining the parliamentary under-representation of Roma in Hungary and Romania. Romani Studies, 19(2), 103-124. Aidan McGarry examines the underrepresentation of Rromani minorities in national assemblies utilizing the Rromani political parties in Hungary and Romania as case studies.  There is particular emphasis in the question of whether or not it is the result of a vague representation of Rroma nationalism in these countries.

Costi, N. (2010). The spectre that haunts Italy: The systematic criminalisation of the Roma and the fears of the Heartland. Romani Studies, 20(2), 105-136.  Natassa Costi examine a particularly troublesome area of Rromani persecution that exploits legal fabrications to accomplish extralegal persecutions:  Italy.  She examines the impact of legal reforms to curb violent immigrant crime that, in effect, destroy entire communities in southern and northern Italy with the aid of right-wing populist groups that exploit violence to support the legal constructs of the Italian government, further segregating the Rromani communities from Italian society.