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Home > Romani Studies > Danger! Educated Gypsy
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Danger! Educated Gypsy

Selected essays

Author: Ian Hancock

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"

“Hancock’s tireless and confrontational campaign for his people makes for uncomfortable reading at times, and leaves him with numerous enemies in its wake. However, his particular type of scholarly confrontation is just what is needed if political injustices are to be noticed and redressed and if the kind of respect and protection shown to many other minorities today is to be at last shared by the Roma.”

-Lorna Gibb,
The Holocaust in History and Memory

About the book

Professor Ian F. Hancock, Gypsy, scholar, linguist, activist (although not necessarily or always in that order), has spent a good deal of his life kicking against the received opinions and dearth of opportunities that have long oppressed the Romani community.

His impact upon Romani Studies has been truly remarkable, both in terms of his contributions to linguistics and Gypsy historiography and in his re-assessment of Romani identity within the Western cultural fabric. No less influential has been his personal development as a scholar and activist for his own community.

  • More about the book

    Professor Hancock was the first Gypsy to attain a PhD in the UK. His book The Pariah Syndrome was the first to document the enslavement of Roma in Europe and came as a revelation to those who were accustomed to think of slavery as an institution restricted to Europe's colonies.

    His seminal work, We Are The Romani People (Hertfordshire, 2002), has become an established resource for teachers who wish to present the Romani self-statement to their students. Author of over three hundred research publications, esteemed teacher to generations of students, and tireless spokesman for the Romani peoples of the world, Ian Hancock has achieved much fame and even a little notoriety in his eventful life.

    This timely collection of Ian Hancock's selected writings is an attempt to introduce this dangerously educated and educating man through the medium of his work. Within its covers you will find some personal stories and much persuasive scholarship, heartfelt criticisms and sincere advice.

    A compendium of his views on Romani history, culture, language and politics, no one will agree with everything he has to say, but that has never been his expectation. The point is that his voice and others from the Romani community are now finally beginning to be heard.

  • View the table of contents

    Contents


      About the Editor vii
      Foreword ix
      Testimonials xix
    Section One Introduction 1
    1 Djabravoki3
    2 Family tales 5
    3 Talking back 38
    Section Two Introduction: History and culture 45
    4 The Hungarian student Vályi István and the Indian connection of Romani 47
    5 On Romani origins and identity 54
    6 Gypsies, gadže, languages and labels 95
    7 Romani religion 105
    Section Three Introduction: Language standardisation and education 115
    8 The standardisation of the Romani language: an overview and some recommendations 117
    9 The schooling of Romani Americans: an overview 128
    Section Four Introduction: Image 147
    10 Duty and beauty, possession and truth: the claim of lexical impoverishment as control 150
    11 George Borrow's Romani 160
    12 The concocters: creating fake Romani culture 177
    13 Gypsy Mafia, Romani saints: the racial profiling of Romani Americans 195
    14 The ‘gypsy’ stereotype and the sexualisation of Romani women 212
    Section Five Introduction: Holocaust, racism and politics 223
    15 Responses to the Porrajmos (the Romani Holocaust) 226
    16 The consequences of anti-Gypsy racism in Europe 264
    17 Our need for internal diplomatic skills 273
      Endnotes 281
      Bibliography 287
      Index 317

  • About the Author/s:

    Ian Hancock

    Ian Hancock is Director of the Romani Archives and Documentation Center at The University of Texas at Austin, where he has been a professor of English, linguistics and Asian studies since 1972.

    He was born in Britain and descends on his father's side from Hungarian Romungre Romanies and on his mother's side from English Romanichal Gypsies.

    He has represented the Romani people at the United Nations and served as a member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council under President Bill Clinton.

ISBN: 978-1-902806-98-3 Format: Ebook, 320pp Published: May 2010

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Any questions

Contact us at UH Press if you have any queries or would like to find out more about this book.

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