The Roma People

Introduction:

T

hroughout history human culture has proven itself humans greatest evolutionary adaptation however it has proven costly for many. Some cultures have thrived and died off and others have suffered and survived. The Roma people exemplify the latter of the previous sentence. They have quite a diverse geographical and cultural history ranging from India to North America. They have shown themselves, their culture, to be quite adaptive. They have endured many hardships from extreme poverty to slavery and other social atrocities (Trumpener, 1992). However, regardless of these conditions forced upon their culture they have come to thrive with primary groups developing and expanding in the United States, Latin America, Middle East, Southern and Eastern Europe, and Western Asia. It is the intended purpose of the essay to delineate in an ethnographic tone the culture and history of the Roma people (Fontenot, 1999).

Who Are the Roma?

History of the name Roma:

Over time the Roma have like many other cultures incurred ignorant name attachments such as "gypsies" bringing with it in many cases deleterious social judgments. Even though the name Gypsy is offensive to the Roma people it is still considered a proper term. The Roma or Romani have many proper and tribal or traditional names. In the proper sense they have been given the names Gypsies or Gipsies, Tsigani, Tzigane, Cigano, and Zigeuner. However, traditionally they have referred to themselves as Rom or Rrom (singular), Roma or Rroma (plural), Romani or Rromani (plural), and Romaniya (plural) (Fontenot, 1999). In legal issues they use their traditional names only (Charnock, 1966). For the interested, turn to page 16 to see the Roma flag (Figure 3) and its description.

Language affiliation:

Most Roma are bilingual, speaking the language of the country in which they live as well as some branch of the Roma language. The Roma or namely the nature of their culture is adaptive. Which particular region they occupy often dictates the language they speak. It is part of the reason why they are successful as a group (Hamlin, 1863). However, most speak Romani, which is an Indo-Aryan language of the subcontinent of India. Because the Roma are wide spread it is difficult to track all their language particularities that they assimilate in each region they encounter. Each regional dialect of Romani would carry with it nuances of the language they are immersing themselves into. Tracking the history of the Romani language is difficult as there is no current or existing living language to compare it to (Charnock, 1966). However, connections have been made to Hindi, Punjabi, and Dardic languages; however the Romani versions have dialectic changes (Soravia, 1984).

Demographics:

The population size of the Roma is a difficult one to measure. As a People they do not classify themselves in the same manner as many other cultures do. They may give the same nick-name to 30 different people, or they may also not take part in census measures, or in contrast are not measured by the census groups, furthermore, many are nomadic. Whatever the reason, and there are many it is difficult to measure Roma populations. In addition to these structured difficulties there are culturally or socially based reasons why they are not counted. Many Roma have reserved feelings of shame and regret for their heritage and as a result do not indicate it on census material and other population categorizing measures. Regardless of these impediments, estimates do exist. It has been estimated that there are 3-12 million Roma (Fontenot, 1999).

Habitat and Ecology:

Geographic locations:

There is currently no explanation as to why the Roma decided to spread out from their Asian home land. At this point in time most of the Roma reside in Europe. The largest groups are found in the Balkan Peninsula (Wikipedia, 2006). As elucidated previously the Roma migrated to North America where significant numbers can be found in both Canada and the United States (Cohn, 1973). Furthermore, they can be found in Russia, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa (Wikipedia, 2006).

The Roma create divisions among the various Roma groups around the world. They base these divisions on territory, culture and dialectal differences. Many variations exist on the following information but on average they are divided into five main categories or groups: a) Kalderash, they are the most numerous consisting of for example coppersmiths of which many had moved to central Europe and North America. b) Gitanos aka CalÐ"© who are associated with entertainment venues. They are predominantly located in the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, and Southern France. c) Sinti aka Manush are often shown men and circus people who predominantly reside in Alsace and other regions of France and Germany. d) Romnichal are found mostly in Britain and North America. e) Erlides aka Yerlii or Arli they settled in Southeastern Europe and Turkey (Wikipedia, 2006).

As generalized earlier the first Roma migration occurred in India with many subsequent migrations at later times. The second great migration was from SW Asia into Europe in approximately 1856-1864. Modern times show Roma living in urban and rural living settings and furthermore they have been noted to reside in a reclusive manner in mountains and wooded regions keeping clear of cultural influences that clash from their own (Fontenot, 1999).

What do they look like:

Because the Roma have historically been nomadic they would have physically changed over time as they would have adapted and also intermarried with the locals, a practice that would been generally looked down upon. However, when the Roma first entered Europe they stood out. The Roma had darker skin and black hair. Since their integration into Europe they can be found to have lighter skin and hair to match (Gropper 1975).

How do they make their living?

Division of labor:

Like many cultures around the globe men and women do not share in the work that must be accomplished, they instead segregate men and women to a particular job(s). Concerning the Roma men are the "artisans" and women are the service people. The women sell what the men produce and also perform fortune telling and other related activities. However, unlike most cultures the women bring in the money and divide or distribute it into necessary pools of spending (Gropper, 1975).

Occupations:

The