Journal of Post-Colonial Cultures and Societies „Colonized Culture: The Emergence of a Romani Postcolonialism.‟ Alan Ashton-Smith. JPCS Vol.1. No.2, April. 2010. http://www.jpcs.in 73 Colonized Culture: The Emergence of a Romani Postcolonialism Alan Ashton-Smith Introduction The study of postcolonialism is now a global and all-consuming field, encompassing almost all cultures and drawing on countless histories. Elleke Boehmer notes that the subject of colonial and postcolonial literature “would on a superficial reading seem to embrace the majority of the world‟s modern literatures” (1), and indeed, the postcolonial lens is one of the major outlooks with which we have come to view the contemporary world. However, some groups have not received in depth examination according to postcolonial terms, including the group that I wish to address here, the Roma 1 . Rather than attempting to rectify this omission by supplying an in-depth analysis of the concerns of the Roma as postcolonial subjects, I provide an overview of the approaches that might be used to study the postcolonial Roma. In an age of increasing globalisation, in which national identity is more fluid than it has ever been, the postcolonial subject can no longer be confined to the rigidly literal structure that it took in its earliest incarnations. It is now an appropriate time to consider the Roma in a postcolonial context, because such an investigation has the potential to broaden the areas of both postcolonial studies and Romani studies. Before commencing this survey, we should consider the reasons the Roma have been overlooked by postcolonial studies. The most obvious reason is the Roma‟s lack of a homeland. While Roma more often than not live in settled locations these days, they are traditionally a nomadic, diasporic race. Their presence is not confined to any particular country or region; although their most concentrated populations are in Eastern Europe, they can be found in large numbers all over the world. 2 However, these groups 1 Roma are often referred to as ‘gypsies’, and while there remains debate about the acceptability of this term, there are many who self-designate as gypsies. However, ‘Roma’ is considered to be the more empowering term, having been adopted by almost all Romani organisations, and therefore I feel this word is more appropriate than ‘gypsy’ in an essay on postcolonialism. 2 The large Romani population in Eastern Europe means that this region will receive particular consideration in this paper.
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Journal of Post-Colonial Cultures and Societies
„Colonized Culture: The Emergence of a Romani Postcolonialism.‟ Alan Ashton-Smith.
JPCS Vol.1. No.2, April. 2010. http://www.jpcs.in
73
Colonized Culture: The Emergence of a Romani Postcolonialism
Alan Ashton-Smith
Introduction
The study of postcolonialism is now a global and all-consuming field,
encompassing almost all cultures and drawing on countless histories. Elleke Boehmer
notes that the subject of colonial and postcolonial literature “would on a superficial
reading seem to embrace the majority of the world‟s modern literatures” (1), and indeed,
the postcolonial lens is one of the major outlooks with which we have come to view the
contemporary world. However, some groups have not received in depth examination
according to postcolonial terms, including the group that I wish to address here, the
Roma1. Rather than attempting to rectify this omission by supplying an in-depth analysis
of the concerns of the Roma as postcolonial subjects, I provide an overview of the
approaches that might be used to study the postcolonial Roma. In an age of increasing
globalisation, in which national identity is more fluid than it has ever been, the
postcolonial subject can no longer be confined to the rigidly literal structure that it took in
its earliest incarnations. It is now an appropriate time to consider the Roma in a
postcolonial context, because such an investigation has the potential to broaden the areas
of both postcolonial studies and Romani studies.
Before commencing this survey, we should consider the reasons the Roma have
been overlooked by postcolonial studies. The most obvious reason is the Roma‟s lack of
a homeland. While Roma more often than not live in settled locations these days, they
are traditionally a nomadic, diasporic race. Their presence is not confined to any
particular country or region; although their most concentrated populations are in Eastern
Europe, they can be found in large numbers all over the world.2 However, these groups
1 Roma are often referred to as ‘gypsies’, and while there remains debate about the acceptability of this term, there are many who self-designate as gypsies. However, ‘Roma’ is considered to be the more empowering term, having been adopted by almost all Romani organisations, and therefore I feel this word is more appropriate than ‘gypsy’ in an essay on postcolonialism. 2 The large Romani population in Eastern Europe means that this region will receive particular consideration in this paper.
Journal of Post-Colonial Cultures and Societies
„Colonized Culture: The Emergence of a Romani Postcolonialism.‟ Alan Ashton-Smith.
JPCS Vol.1. No.2, April. 2010. http://www.jpcs.in
74
do not function like most migrant populations. While Roma worldwide identify as a
single group, they have no home country. This means that they cannot be literally
postcolonial. Since they do not have a territory, they have always been exempt from
colonization, and are therefore in no position to react against colonialism in a typically
postcolonial fashion.
Another reason for their absence in postcolonial discourse is the lack of Roma
texts that might be considered postcolonial. The text is generally very important in
postcolonial studies, whether it be literary, cinematic, philosophical, or political. The
Roma have limited access to most of these media, being largely illiterate: their culture
places greater emphasis on the family unit than on formal education, so many young
Roma do not attend school. This is an even more pronounced situation in areas such as
Eastern Europe, where there is widespread discrimination, and those who seek education
are often denied it. One recent issue is the Slovakian practice of placing Romani children
in schools for the disabled, where the curricula give them fewer opportunities for
educational development. In addition, it has been suggested that the Roma are
unconcerned with their own histories (Barany 205, Stewart 28); this puts them in an
awkward position when they are considered from a postcolonial perspective, since to
become postcolonial would require them to engage with their collective past. “History
has been an alien concept in Romani culture,” says Barany, “where the dead are rarely
mentioned and seldom become the subjects of commemoration” (205). Derek Hawes and
Barbara Perez sum up the difficulties of engaging with the Roma as postcolonial subjects,
drawing an effective parallel with the Jews, to whom the Roma are frequently compared:
The very notion of Gypsydom is antipathetic to the creation of a
coherent programme of action or campaign for recognition and respect
for Gypsies in the modern world. There is no Zionist dream to act as the
central unifying nexus like that which sustained the Jews throughout a
2,000 year diaspora. No religious faith or body of literature unites,
through time and space, a Romany people; even the common language
is a poor fragmented thing, long since degenerated to a crude patois,
only of philological interest. (Hawes & Perez 144)
Although this passage describes a lack of unity, many Roma would refute the idea that
they are a disunited group. As I have pointed out, Roma generally identify as a single
Journal of Post-Colonial Cultures and Societies
„Colonized Culture: The Emergence of a Romani Postcolonialism.‟ Alan Ashton-Smith.
JPCS Vol.1. No.2, April. 2010. http://www.jpcs.in
75
group no matter where they are based. Romani scholar and activist Ian Hancock has said
that “any sense of having once been a single people has long been lost, the common
factor now being an awareness not of what we are, but of what all of us are not.
Romanies are not gadže or non-Romani people” (Hancock 2002, xx). So there is a
definite sense of the Roma as a unified group, even if what unites them is what they are
not rather than what they are.
Furthermore, there have been numerous recent attempts to overcome the lack of
knowledge that persists concerning what exactly it is that makes the Roma a single group.
There have been increasing instances of Romani activism, and the Roma Rights
movement in the past few decades seeks to raise awareness of the culture and issues
surrounding the Roma. Romani Organisations have been formed both globally and
specifically in Eastern Europe, and the number of these continues to grow (Barany 207).
The development of such groups has been slow; they remain in their infancy, and the
recent increase in Romani activism suggests that understanding of the Roma can only be
expected to develop. The Romany World Congress has met six times since 1971, and has
sought to promote the rights of Roma and their culture; the International Romani Union
was founded at the second congress, in 1978. Meanwhile, the European Roma Rights
Centre aims to combat racism and human rights abuse against the Roma and supports
activism. At present, we are halfway through the Decade of Roma Inclusion, an initiative
launched by European governments in 2005 with the aim of improving the status of
Roma. It emphasises the importance of Roma participation to its success, and strives to
engage with Romani organisations.
These activities can be taken as reactions against the centuries of
misrepresentation that the Roma have endured. The Roma have always fascinated
outside observers, who have been curious about their origins and way of life. Certain
aspects of their culture, particularly music, dress, and folklore have been adopted by the
inhabitants of every country that has a Roma population. However, other aspects, such as
notions of hygiene and attitudes to work and money, have been regarded with disdain.
This has resulted in a romanticised view of the Roma in which they are exoticized as
Journal of Post-Colonial Cultures and Societies
„Colonized Culture: The Emergence of a Romani Postcolonialism.‟ Alan Ashton-Smith.
JPCS Vol.1. No.2, April. 2010. http://www.jpcs.in
76
mysterious strangers, but feared as thieves and magicians. A comparison can very easily
be made between this treatment and Said‟s concept of orientalism. Just as the orient in
Said‟s text is misrepresented in Western culture, resulting in a split between East and
West, the Roma have been made to seem alien due to the manner in which outsiders
perceive them.
Postcolonial Origins
Said‟s dichotomy of East and West is worth keeping in mind as we consider the
origins of the Roma. Although these are not entirely certain, the general consensus
among scholars today, based on linguistic and genetic evidence, is that they lie in
Rajasthan, northern India.3 This makes the Roma a people from the orient who have
migrated to the West. The motive for their initial migration from India is uncertain, but
numerous suggestions have been posited. Ian Hancock believes that the Roma were a
warrior caste, who were engaged in fighting the Muslim Ghaznavid Empire, which
repeatedly invaded India during the eleventh century (Hancock 1999). According to
Hancock, they began as an assembly of non-Aryans, who were considered by the Aryan
castes to be expendable in battle, and accordingly were sent to the front line. As this
army fought the invaders, they gradually took a westerly trajectory, and commenced their
migration in this way.
Ronald Lee goes a step further, although he dates the beginning of the diaspora to
the same period. His theory is that some of the Indian troops defeated by the Muslims
were incorporated into the Ghaznavid army, and then became involved in raids in regions
further east, such as Armenia. Displaced from India, this group of captive refugees
eventually began to take on an identity that differentiated them from both their
conquerors and their ancestors. This marks another possible origin for the Roma (Lee).
It is worth noting that if this theory is correct, then the Roma have foundations that can be
considered postcolonial. Although they might initially seem to be a rootless people, they
are in fact a historical example of a group that was threatened by imperialism. Having
3 For example, Ian Hancock (1991) claims that “there has been no real doubt about an Indian origin for the Romani people for over two centuries,” but Judith Okely (1993) is more sceptical.
Journal of Post-Colonial Cultures and Societies
„Colonized Culture: The Emergence of a Romani Postcolonialism.‟ Alan Ashton-Smith.
JPCS Vol.1. No.2, April. 2010. http://www.jpcs.in
77
been colonized and conscripted by their invaders, this Indian group established
themselves as an entirely new race, in a move that can be thought of as radically
postcolonial. This would mean that we can view the subsequent migrations of the Roma
since their initial movement away from India as a protracted postcolonial reaction.
However, this is not the end of the postcolonial history of the Roma. Having
moved gradually west, many of them found a new homeland in the Balkans. Here, many
of them were enslaved. This seems to have begun almost as soon as they appeared in the
Balkans; Angus Fraser says that “the first mention of Gypsies in Rumanian archives
occurs in a document issued in 1385 [...that...] confirmed the grant of 40 families of
Gypsies” (58), while Barany tells us that such sources can be dated as far back as 1348
(85). Meanwhile David Crowe stresses that the widespread slavery of the Roma that
occurred for centuries in Romania set the precedent for that country‟s particularly poor
record of Roma integration, which persists to this day (61). In 1864, shortly after
Lincoln‟s Emancipation Proclamation in the United States, the Roma slaves in the
Balkans gained what Fraser describes as “complete legal freedom” (226). As we are
aware from responses to the Atlantic slave trade, slavery is very much associated with
colonialism, and any reactions to slavery, both those that occurred before and after its
abolition, can be taken to be postcolonial. This can also be applied to the Roma, and the
Roma Rights groups that we have discussed are reacting to a history of subjugation that
the Roma have endured.
In the twentieth century, direct persecution of the Roma continued. One major
manifestations of this, which is often overlooked, is the Holocaust perpetrated by the
Nazis, which arguably marked the nadir of the Roma persecution that had already gone
on for centuries. Although a number of historians and gypsiologists have begun to
comment on the lack of attention that the Holocaust‟s Romani victims have received, and
attempts to rectify this deficiency have lately been made, the loss of Romani life that
occurred is still generally treated as a footnote to the mass extermination of the Jews.
This is in part due to literacy levels, and the fact that the Roma give little attention to
their history. This means that survivors have been less likely to record their ordeal in
Journal of Post-Colonial Cultures and Societies
„Colonized Culture: The Emergence of a Romani Postcolonialism.‟ Alan Ashton-Smith.
JPCS Vol.1. No.2, April. 2010. http://www.jpcs.in
78
writing, and their descendants have allowed it to remain in the past. As a result, the
Roma Holocaust has been widely misrepresented and marginalised, and this may well be
the opening to another chapter in the history of their oppression.
This kind of systematic extermination is undoubtedly as severe as persecution of
any race or group can be, but the end of the Second World War nonetheless brought a
fresh form of oppression for the Roma. With most of Eastern Europe under Communist
rule, the Roma who lived there were expected to conform to the expectations of this
system. Accordingly, they were required to integrate, and any outward display of their
particular culture was generally forbidden. Many East European Roma now pine for the
greater stability that they were afforded during the socialist era, and while many were
better off, it was at the expense of their distinct identity. Perhaps the most significant
aspect of their identity that was revoked was their mobility; the communist policy
concerning the Roma‟s nomadism means that the fixed abodes of East European Roma
have now become an established fact.
This is in fact just one of many programmes of assimilation that have been
enforced for centuries. Almost since their first arrival in Eastern Europe the Roma have
been encouraged to settle, often in order that they could be taxed or enslaved. Angus
Fraser notes that Maria Theresa, ruler of the Habsburg Empire from 1740-1780, passed a
number of decrees aimed at removing the ethnic identity of gypsies so that they might be
incorporated into the Hungarian race (157). Although these were not fully enforced –
Fraser remarks that, “Had all the anti-Gypsy laws which sprang up been enforced
uncompromisingly, even for a few months, the Gypsies would have been eradicated from
most of Christian Europe well before the middle of the sixteenth century” (131) – they
will have contributed towards bringing the roaming of the Roma to a halt. This drive
towards forcing gypsies into settlement was finalised under communism. Attempts were
made throughout the communist controlled countries of Eastern Europe to assimilate
gypsies as far as possible. Zoltan Barany states that “Initially, at least, the communist
regimes‟ notion of assimilation appeared to be as simple as the application of the