Abstract:Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, Roma Pentecostal converts in England continued to meet for religious gatherings and communal prayer, either outdoors or in private homes of church members, despite measures put in place by the British government that limited the number of social contacts between individuals and at times forbade visiting other households. Among the members of the Life and Light church are many who belong to one of the high-risk categories for complications from Covid-19. Why would converts take part in activities that involved increased risk of virus transmission and increase their possibility of getting ill? This paper draws on informal online and in-person conversations with Roma that took place during the summer and autumn of 2020 and reflects on religion and communal prayer as a strategy of coping with the heightened uncertainty brought by the pandemic. It argues that participating in religious meetings where people jointly pray for others, both those who present and those who are absent, is an intangible form of care that helps to forge, shape, and maintain social relationships and creates a sense of belonging and continuity. In addition, praying is an embodied expression of one's relationship to a transcendental entity, Jesus, and of placing oneself into the caring hands of God and Jesus. Lastly, the Church provides material support for members who are in a difficult financial situation. Participating in Church activities like prayer meetings is an expression of belonging to a religious collectivity and can help gain access to this material help in situations when access to state-provided care and material support is limited or absent, thus opening for church members the possibility of tangible forms of care. The paper looks at the role of religion in dealing with the uncertainty that Roma migrants experience when dealing with the state and going about their everyday lives and the upheaval and increased uncertainty brought by the pandemic.
{"title":"Praying through the pandemic: Religion, uncertainty, and care","authors":"M. Doležalová","doi":"10.3828/rs.2021.14","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/rs.2021.14","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, Roma Pentecostal converts in England continued to meet for religious gatherings and communal prayer, either outdoors or in private homes of church members, despite measures put in place by the British government that limited the number of social contacts between individuals and at times forbade visiting other households. Among the members of the Life and Light church are many who belong to one of the high-risk categories for complications from Covid-19. Why would converts take part in activities that involved increased risk of virus transmission and increase their possibility of getting ill? This paper draws on informal online and in-person conversations with Roma that took place during the summer and autumn of 2020 and reflects on religion and communal prayer as a strategy of coping with the heightened uncertainty brought by the pandemic. It argues that participating in religious meetings where people jointly pray for others, both those who present and those who are absent, is an intangible form of care that helps to forge, shape, and maintain social relationships and creates a sense of belonging and continuity. In addition, praying is an embodied expression of one's relationship to a transcendental entity, Jesus, and of placing oneself into the caring hands of God and Jesus. Lastly, the Church provides material support for members who are in a difficult financial situation. Participating in Church activities like prayer meetings is an expression of belonging to a religious collectivity and can help gain access to this material help in situations when access to state-provided care and material support is limited or absent, thus opening for church members the possibility of tangible forms of care. The paper looks at the role of religion in dealing with the uncertainty that Roma migrants experience when dealing with the state and going about their everyday lives and the upheaval and increased uncertainty brought by the pandemic.","PeriodicalId":52533,"journal":{"name":"Romani Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47745955","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:Since the beginning of the 1990s, various religious processes can be observed among the Roma community and other ethnic minorities in Bulgaria. In parallel with the conversion of Orthodox Christian and Sunni Muslim Roma to evangelical Christianity, processes of re-Islamization have also been taking place. Based on a series of legislative and judicial decisions taken by local and state institutions, cases of re-Islamization have been presented to the public as examples of the spread of radical Islam, a trend that could lead to ethnic conflicts and to the perception that the Roma are a threat to national security. Contrary to this already popular notion, the results of my ethnological study (2018–2020) among various local Roma Islamic groups in Southern Bulgaria led to a different conclusion. This paper draws attention to small groups of newly converted Turkish-speaking Roma and focuses on the emic perspective of the members of the studied groups regarding the interpretation of the new religious ideas they more or less adhere to.
{"title":"Cases of contemporary re-Islamization among Roma in Bulgaria","authors":"Yelis Erolova","doi":"10.3828/rs.2021.11","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/rs.2021.11","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Since the beginning of the 1990s, various religious processes can be observed among the Roma community and other ethnic minorities in Bulgaria. In parallel with the conversion of Orthodox Christian and Sunni Muslim Roma to evangelical Christianity, processes of re-Islamization have also been taking place. Based on a series of legislative and judicial decisions taken by local and state institutions, cases of re-Islamization have been presented to the public as examples of the spread of radical Islam, a trend that could lead to ethnic conflicts and to the perception that the Roma are a threat to national security. Contrary to this already popular notion, the results of my ethnological study (2018–2020) among various local Roma Islamic groups in Southern Bulgaria led to a different conclusion. This paper draws attention to small groups of newly converted Turkish-speaking Roma and focuses on the emic perspective of the members of the studied groups regarding the interpretation of the new religious ideas they more or less adhere to.","PeriodicalId":52533,"journal":{"name":"Romani Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41912208","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:People of Romani background are usually labelled as members of an "ethnic minority" and identified along dominantly ethnicized notions and markers. Discursively, this neglects individuals' different self-perceptions and multiple belongings. This contribution looks at interactional data and material from workshops conducted in Germany as part of the EU-wide initiative RoMed (Mediation for Roma). The initiative aimed to strengthen opportunities for local participation by people of Romani background in various European cities and communities between 2011–2017. A conversation analytical approach (e.g. at practices of categorization) is used to examine excerpts from group discussions ahead of a meeting with public officials. From an intersectional perspective I look at how boundaries are drawn, blurred, or destabilized between issues of religiosity and ethnicity. The article discusses boundary-drawing as a symbolic ordering process, highlighting the hegemonic discourses which are reproduced and challenged in the investigated linguistic material. The boundaries drawn and negotiated show the delicate balance between the staging of ethnic and religious affiliations and concerns and their political mobilization.
{"title":"Intersecting religion and ethnicity: Drawing boundaries in talk-in-interaction","authors":"Maria Klessmann","doi":"10.3828/rs.2021.12","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/rs.2021.12","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:People of Romani background are usually labelled as members of an \"ethnic minority\" and identified along dominantly ethnicized notions and markers. Discursively, this neglects individuals' different self-perceptions and multiple belongings. This contribution looks at interactional data and material from workshops conducted in Germany as part of the EU-wide initiative RoMed (Mediation for Roma). The initiative aimed to strengthen opportunities for local participation by people of Romani background in various European cities and communities between 2011–2017. A conversation analytical approach (e.g. at practices of categorization) is used to examine excerpts from group discussions ahead of a meeting with public officials. From an intersectional perspective I look at how boundaries are drawn, blurred, or destabilized between issues of religiosity and ethnicity. The article discusses boundary-drawing as a symbolic ordering process, highlighting the hegemonic discourses which are reproduced and challenged in the investigated linguistic material. The boundaries drawn and negotiated show the delicate balance between the staging of ethnic and religious affiliations and concerns and their political mobilization.","PeriodicalId":52533,"journal":{"name":"Romani Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47300805","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:Joel Robbins (2003) described Pentecostalism as both continuous, taking into account local ontologies, and discontinuous, rupturing against certain social structures or epistemologies. He refers to this as Pentecostalism's double paradox. In this framework, Pentecostalism is local in that it often addresses the questions and issues emerging from a particular context. However, there is also a global Pentecostal identity which is reinforced through conferences, mission partnerships, shared music, and sermons.Roma Pentecostals in Southeastern Europe are also in the process of negotiating their Pentecostal identity. On the one hand, Pentecostalism is the dominant form of Christianity spreading among the Roma in Serbia because of its flexible ecclesiology, its openness to miraculous signs and wonders, its non-hierarchical structure, and its emotive personality. On the other hand, there is a rising number of mission agencies and Western missionaries working with Roma churches. Roma leaders are often negotiating what to accept and what to reject in terms of Christian theology and praxis, teaching, and programs and activities. Thus, the Pentecostal identity of their churches is being shaped in response to their own local questions and needs but also in response to the partnership from others, both through good experiences and negative ones.This paper will explore this church identity negotiation, looking at two case studies of Roma churches in Serbia. First, this paper will establish the wider conversation in Pentecostal studies regarding the relationship between inculturation and globalization. Next, this paper will analyse some of the factors of the decisionmaking process regarding how Roma leaders decide what to accept and what to reject in terms of outside influences. This analysis will bring to the foreground the operating cultural and religious values and how that contributes to the dialectical process of Pentecostal identity.
{"title":"Between global and local: Roma Pentecostal Church identity in Serbia","authors":"Melody J. Wachsmuth","doi":"10.3828/rs.2021.10","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/rs.2021.10","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Joel Robbins (2003) described Pentecostalism as both continuous, taking into account local ontologies, and discontinuous, rupturing against certain social structures or epistemologies. He refers to this as Pentecostalism's double paradox. In this framework, Pentecostalism is local in that it often addresses the questions and issues emerging from a particular context. However, there is also a global Pentecostal identity which is reinforced through conferences, mission partnerships, shared music, and sermons.Roma Pentecostals in Southeastern Europe are also in the process of negotiating their Pentecostal identity. On the one hand, Pentecostalism is the dominant form of Christianity spreading among the Roma in Serbia because of its flexible ecclesiology, its openness to miraculous signs and wonders, its non-hierarchical structure, and its emotive personality. On the other hand, there is a rising number of mission agencies and Western missionaries working with Roma churches. Roma leaders are often negotiating what to accept and what to reject in terms of Christian theology and praxis, teaching, and programs and activities. Thus, the Pentecostal identity of their churches is being shaped in response to their own local questions and needs but also in response to the partnership from others, both through good experiences and negative ones.This paper will explore this church identity negotiation, looking at two case studies of Roma churches in Serbia. First, this paper will establish the wider conversation in Pentecostal studies regarding the relationship between inculturation and globalization. Next, this paper will analyse some of the factors of the decisionmaking process regarding how Roma leaders decide what to accept and what to reject in terms of outside influences. This analysis will bring to the foreground the operating cultural and religious values and how that contributes to the dialectical process of Pentecostal identity.","PeriodicalId":52533,"journal":{"name":"Romani Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46497463","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:This article proposes a model for analyzing contested local policies for Roma and Sinti people, starting with a case study on a Sinti "village" established by Venice's local authority. A multidimensional analytical framework is adopted, investigating how the local setting and the political and discursive opportunity structures existing at higher territorial levels intersect, and how local residents' collective actions influence the public authorities' behavior. Concerning the first aspect, we identify a mutually reinforcing effect of legal culture, policies, and common-sense representations that contributes to consolidating the representation of Roma and Sinti people as "foreigners" and "nomads." As for the second aspect, our analysis shows how the different perceptions of citizenship (and of the relationship between the Sinti and citizenship, in particular) of the various protagonists in the conflict affect the practices that are implemented.
{"title":"Public administration, legal culture, and empirical research: Residential policies for the Sinti in Venice","authors":"C. Mantovan","doi":"10.3828/RS.2021.6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/RS.2021.6","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article proposes a model for analyzing contested local policies for Roma and Sinti people, starting with a case study on a Sinti \"village\" established by Venice's local authority. A multidimensional analytical framework is adopted, investigating how the local setting and the political and discursive opportunity structures existing at higher territorial levels intersect, and how local residents' collective actions influence the public authorities' behavior. Concerning the first aspect, we identify a mutually reinforcing effect of legal culture, policies, and common-sense representations that contributes to consolidating the representation of Roma and Sinti people as \"foreigners\" and \"nomads.\" As for the second aspect, our analysis shows how the different perceptions of citizenship (and of the relationship between the Sinti and citizenship, in particular) of the various protagonists in the conflict affect the practices that are implemented.","PeriodicalId":52533,"journal":{"name":"Romani Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44295881","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:The history of Soviet Roma literature from the middle of 1938 to the beginning of the Second World War cannot be explored through an analysis of published books, since no books were published in those years. Moreover, a very specific chronological dilemma arises. In Soviet historiography, the events of the Second World War, which began on 22 June 1941, are considered separately from the events of the war that took place beyond the territory of the USSR. This period is also significant for the history of Soviet Roma literature, since for a period lasting almost two years–from September 1939 to June 1941 (when the interwar period formally ended)–Roma writers enjoyed a time of relative peace, which they spent in an intense search for new opportunities, interactions with authorities, and attempts to revive Roma book publishing. This article presents a study and analysis of this period based on previously unexamined archival documents and letters from Roma writers. The analysis of these documents helps create a picture of this time period and clarifies aspects of the plans and hopes that Roma writers had "relatively speaking, after the brief era of Romani Gutenberg."
{"title":"Obscure years of Soviet Roma literature (1939–1941)","authors":"V. Shapoval","doi":"10.3828/RS.2021.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/RS.2021.2","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:The history of Soviet Roma literature from the middle of 1938 to the beginning of the Second World War cannot be explored through an analysis of published books, since no books were published in those years. Moreover, a very specific chronological dilemma arises. In Soviet historiography, the events of the Second World War, which began on 22 June 1941, are considered separately from the events of the war that took place beyond the territory of the USSR. This period is also significant for the history of Soviet Roma literature, since for a period lasting almost two years–from September 1939 to June 1941 (when the interwar period formally ended)–Roma writers enjoyed a time of relative peace, which they spent in an intense search for new opportunities, interactions with authorities, and attempts to revive Roma book publishing. This article presents a study and analysis of this period based on previously unexamined archival documents and letters from Roma writers. The analysis of these documents helps create a picture of this time period and clarifies aspects of the plans and hopes that Roma writers had \"relatively speaking, after the brief era of Romani Gutenberg.\"","PeriodicalId":52533,"journal":{"name":"Romani Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45665014","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:In this article, the authors unveil the social context surrounding a publicly funded project to improve the extremely poor housing conditions of a Roma community in Poland. The focus was on one Carpathian mountain village in which a Bergitka Roma settlement has existed for more than 80 years. A brand-new apartment house for the local Roma minority partly replaced the earlier settlement in a village populated by Górale, a highlander group that is the local majority. At present about 70 Roma live in the new building. The ethnographic material was obtained during fieldwork carried out in 1994–2017. Herein the authors reconstruct the most significant moments in this investment from different points of view: the Roma and non-Roma neighbors. Each side interprets the fact in its own, rather paradoxical manner; each side has learned different new things in the process. The ambitious housing policy undoubtedly led to improvement of the Roma standard of living; it did not, however, increase the extent of their integration. The natural geology as well as manmade elements (e.g. a fence and a bridge) create and maintain boundaries. Nevertheless, analysis of the broader social context is decidedly more crucial than an analysis of facts. Ultimately, the sense of such publicly funded housing projects needs to be scrutinized from the diverse perspectives within the local community.
{"title":"A tale of one home, one fence, and one bridge: Roma and non-Roma perspectives","authors":"M. Witkowski, E. Nowicka","doi":"10.3828/RS.2021.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/RS.2021.4","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:In this article, the authors unveil the social context surrounding a publicly funded project to improve the extremely poor housing conditions of a Roma community in Poland. The focus was on one Carpathian mountain village in which a Bergitka Roma settlement has existed for more than 80 years. A brand-new apartment house for the local Roma minority partly replaced the earlier settlement in a village populated by Górale, a highlander group that is the local majority. At present about 70 Roma live in the new building. The ethnographic material was obtained during fieldwork carried out in 1994–2017. Herein the authors reconstruct the most significant moments in this investment from different points of view: the Roma and non-Roma neighbors. Each side interprets the fact in its own, rather paradoxical manner; each side has learned different new things in the process. The ambitious housing policy undoubtedly led to improvement of the Roma standard of living; it did not, however, increase the extent of their integration. The natural geology as well as manmade elements (e.g. a fence and a bridge) create and maintain boundaries. Nevertheless, analysis of the broader social context is decidedly more crucial than an analysis of facts. Ultimately, the sense of such publicly funded housing projects needs to be scrutinized from the diverse perspectives within the local community.","PeriodicalId":52533,"journal":{"name":"Romani Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44665098","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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