Romani Literature/ Gypsy culture people are

Transcript:Romani Literature/ Gypsy culture people are:
Romani Literature/ Gypsy culture people are culturally rich, diverse, vibrant, oppressed, underrepresented, and misunderstood ethnic groups most commonly referred to as “Gypsies.” (Romanes for non-Romani people) use to refer to Roma, an ethnic group originating in India around the 11th century. After leaving India, Roma traveled West and were met by hostile, xenophobic Europeans, and so became nomadic due to persecution, oppression. Although many Roma are settled today and live all over the world, discrimination, hate crimes, and apartheid are ever-present. Travelers, sometimes known as “Tinkers,” are also traditionally nomadic and historically and presently suffer the same stigma and oppression that Roma suffer. Over time, Gypsy became a racial slur, insult, especially in the lowercase “gypsy,” and antigypsyist language is normalized in many languages. In American-English, for example, antigypsyist slurs are idiomatic (eg: That shopkeeper gypped me!). Racial slurs for Roma and Travelers include “Gypsy,” Gyppo,” “Gyp,” and for Travelers specifically, “Pikey” and “Knacker.” “being Gypsy” is a lifestyle choice or a state of mind or spirit. They are described as whimsical, sexual, or criminal, which both perpetuates harmful stereotypes and insulted groups. some Roma and Travelers choose to reclaim Gypsy as an act of linguistic and identity empowerment, whereas some Roma, especially of the older generations just prefer Gypsy. If they aren’t victims of racist reporting, then they are victims of wildly racist politicians or severe poverty. There is a common misconception that Roma and Travelers have no written language. There are many different Romani clans (Sinti, Manouche, Lovara, Kalderash, etc.) and each clan has its own dialect of Rromanes, but all of the dialects find their roots in Sanskrit. There are also rumors that Rromanes is somehow linguistically impoverished, that we don’t have words for “tomorrow,” “beauty,” “truth,” “possession” and many other essential human concepts. the storytelling tradition is dying out, particularly as Roma and Travelers lose their languages. In the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere, governments have made a habit of removing Romani and Traveler children from their parents and transferring them to orphanages where the language is beaten out of them. Historically, legislation across Europe has also prohibited Roma from speaking with their true tongues. Native Americans as well as other indigenous groups oppressed by the colonizers have also been subjected to language-killing. In European written culture ‘Gypsies’ are depicted as exotic, passionate, seductive, free-spirited, illiterate and ´uncivilized´ characters, but it is almost unknown fact that literature