The Roma are an itinerant ethnic group that originated in Northern India. Over a thousand years ago, they migrated continuously West over the course of the next several centuries, splintered off into Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and particularly in Europe. When the Roma arrived in Europe, they were not welcome guests to the continent: in fact, they were viewed with suspicion as outsiders and practitioners of witchcraft due to their dark skin, isolated communities and non-Christian backgrounds. This suspicion led to racism and the Roma enduring centuries of brutal discrimination, during which they became known as "Gypsies" to the Europeans. The term "Gypsy" comes from the false notion that the Roma originated from Egypt, but oftentimes that term is used as a racial slur, which is why henceforth I will only use the term "Gypsy" for explanatory purposes, and in all other instances, I will use "Roma" and "Romani" throughout this page.
Many people come to know of the Roma only through stereotypes and misinformation, such as the idea that they are thieves, mystics, witches, illiterate imbeciles, etc. However, these stereotypes are wrong and misleading, and they have caused much harm in the Romani Community. For example, the Roma have been hunted for sport and prize money in the Netherlands, and they have always endured at least five hundred years of disgusting and inhumane chattel slavery in Romania. The earliest known record of this shows that in 1385, forty families were gifted to a monastery in Walachia. Furthermore, almost the entire population was experimented on, tortured and/or murdered during the Holocaust as part of Nazi Germany's Final Solution alongside Jews, Slavs, Homosexuals and more. And even today, the Roma endure terrible discrimination, and suffer from institutional racism in nearly every country they live in.
Credit: Elijah Vardo
Despite this, the Romani people have always endured. Since leaving India, they have built their own vibrant and beautiful culture. From delicious food like the famous Shah Hai Mas stew, to the enthralling flamenco dance of the Calé Romani of Spain, and so, so much more--Romani culture itself is filled with so many hidden treasures. The picture you can see on the title section is a picture of Kali Sara, the patron saint of the Romani people. She is widely considered to be based off of the Hindu deity, Kali, and she is an example of how the Romani people have stayed true to themselves and their culture even after all this time, including the parts that might have made them outsiders to the new cultures they found themselves in. Moreover, many Roma have also become successful actors, lawyers, politicians, authors, etc. many Roma today are active in civil rights, fighting for the protection of the human rights of Roma everywhere. All of this is not to say that the story of the Roma is entirely sad, nor is it true that those of Romani descent cannot rise above the numbers, but it is the case, and I have done my research, that the world in which we live in, by and large, is not very Roma-friendly. I encourage you to do further research and look deeper into this topic and to challenge the negative perceptions that we may see whether it be in the media or in just what other people might say. Always remember that stereotypes are just that: stereotypes. Not everyone falls under one generalization and it is wrong and unjust to hate an entire group of people based on that. The world truly needs more open-minded and tolerant people in it, and I think that you, and I, can take this first step by rejecting hatred and ignorance by choosing understanding and love instead.
Thank you.
English
For English, I choose to create a series of poems spoken in the point of view in three Romani individuals from three different nations and situations. The first Romani individual is a man who lives with his wife and children in Romania. They are all forcibly evicted from their home, and resort to begging as a last ditch effort to survive. The man also reflects on the legacy of his ancestors, from the many generations that have suffered through slavery, poverty and discrimination and then to the ones who went through the Holocaust and suffered immensely in it. The second individual is a Calé Roma from Spain, and she is a flamenco dancer. Flamenco is a traditional dance that originated in the region of Andalusia in Spain and it is highly associated with the Romani people who live there, as they were the ones to develop. Spain has also one of the largest populations of Roma in Western Europe and a large portion of the population also strongly dislikes the Roma in their community. I also wanted to explore the racial profiling that the Roma endure and how just being Roma can cause you to be killed of fired. And secondly, I had the last poem in the perspective of a Romani child living during the Kosovo War. During the Kosovo War and in the refugee crisis that followed, many Roma were forced to aid the violent acts of the Serbians against the Albanians, which caused the Albanians to view the Roma as Serbian collaborators, even though they both also endured the same violence and treatment from them. Thus, in the refugee crisis, they were treated as second priority to the Albanians and even today, many Roma are scorned by the Albanians for what happened during the war. I included many references to these important facts in a series of comments on the Google doc, which are enclosed on the right, next to the poems themselves. I highly encourage you read them alongside the poems to fully understand the context behind certain lines.
THE PROCESS This project was incredibly difficult to make for me because I had to take great care to avoid making any misrepresentations of the Romani people. Oftentimes, when the media misrepresents the Roma in a negative and stereotypical light, they give rise of misconceptions amongst non-Roma which is then put into practice in the form of discrimination against the Roma. One of the foremost examples of this is the French novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo. This novel is considered a hallmark of Parisian literature, and it even spawned a stage musical, a 1996 Disney animated feature and several other adaptations. However, The Hunchback and nearly all of its adaptations, including the Disney animated movie, often portray the Roma, which are featured prominently in the plot, and Romani women in particular, extremely negatively and in a sexist and racist manner. Therefore, to avoid making these mistakes in my poems, it was necessary for me to understand what went wrong and what to avoid in my own depiction of the Roma. To achieve this, I watched the aforementioned and eponymous Disney film and took notes while it played, in addition to listening to commentary from a Roma perspective (See Annotated Bibliography).
Art
For my art portion, I decided to make a series of watercolor paintings as companions to the poems I had written earlier. I took some pictures online, some were created by other artists or were photographs and pictures I found, and printed them out. After that, I transferred them onto watercolor paper, and painting over them.
Companion to the Roma of Romania Companion to Being Romani in Spain Companion to The Same Discrimination
The painting on the left depicts the main character of my first poem reflecting on the legacy of his family and people, from the slavery in Romania, to the discrimination they faced in the Porajmos (the Roma genocide) because of the Nazis. This legacy is one of sadness, hence why the path is a deep blue. To make this painting, I took a photograph of an actual slave who was Romani and traced the photo onto the watercolor paper. I also used an actual picture of a prisoner in a concentration camp for the holocaust prisoner depicted in striped attire. And lastly, I used a screen shotted illustration for the final figure on the bottom, and that illustration came from a YouTube video titled Forgotten History: The Romani (Gypsy) Migration From India To Europe by a YouTube channel called Wild Compass. The painting in the middle is the main character in my second poem, and like in the poem, she is a flamenco dancer. I chose bright hues and saturated and warm colors to depict how Romani culture is bright, beautiful and colorful and remains to be so thanks to the Roma of then and today who uphold its values regardless of the circumstances. I used some clipart of a flamenco dancer I found online and traced that onto watercolor paper for this one. And lastly, the painting on the right is a companion to my last poem, which depicts the Romani Kosovo refugees. This painting is perhaps the most open-ended and I intended it be so, because even after the Kosovo War, many Roma today still struggle with being refugees and gaining access to better homes and better lives because they are denied refugee status. Roma refugees from Ukraine in the current Russia-Ukraine crisis face the same problem that the Kosovo refugees faced before them. I also have done research on a Romanian Romani family who lived in Canada but had to flee to the United States as they were about to be deported to Romania again. The family, which consisted of Florin and Monalisa Iordache and their two young children, daughter Evelyn and son Eylen, drowned crossing the St. Lawrence River in a desperate attempt to avoid deportation. Ultimately, all of these refugees have one thing in common and that is the fact that they are Roma in a world where they are shamed and discriminated simply for existing. That is why I depicted a family. standing in front of the flag of the Romani people, united by their bond to each other and their shared identity, just as all of these Roma refugees have been. To make my last piece, I took a picture of the flag and also another illustration that came from the the YouTube video titled Forgotten History: The Romani (Gypsy) Migration From India To Europe by Wild Compass.
Below are my sources and research:
I would like to apologize if any misconceptions or errors come to revelation to you should you find it in my research, sources or the products themselves in regards to the accuracy of what is presented to you. Please forgive me, for I am only a high school student and not an accredited expert in this topic. However, again, I encourage you all to seek more research and seek out more reputable sources out there. Some of the experts whose published works and videography I have relied on extensively include Ian Hancock, Yaron Matras, and Florian Tacorian, and just as they have helped me with my research, I hope they help you with yours as well. Thank you for your time and consideration in viewing this project!