We are the Romani People

About the book

This highly readable introduction to Roma life, written by a Gypsy, considers culture, language, politics, society, health, and food to provide an insightful portrait of this fascinating minority.

In surveying the Gypsies, their origins and history and their exclusion from society, Ian Hancock offers candid advice on rejecting prejudices and stereotypes and getting to know the Roma as individuals.

There is also a section of short biographies of Roma from many different walks of life.

View the table of contents

	Foreword by Ken Lee	ix
	Anglune Lava by Jorge M. Fernández Bernal	xv
	Introduction	xvii
	A note on Romani spelling	xviii
	A note on names	xviii
	Gypsy, Gipsy, Romany, Romani and Rromani	xxi
	‘Gadže’ and other words for non-Romanies	xxii
1	History	1
	How Westerners learnt the Romanies’ true origin	2
	O Teljaripe: The move out of India	6
	O Aresipe: arrival in Byzantium and the West	14
2	Rrobija: Slavery	17
	Desrrobireja: Abolition	23
	The enslavement of Romanies in other places	26
3	The Buxljaripe: Out into Europe	29
	What the Europeans thought	31
4	O Baro Porrajmos: The Holocaust	34
5	Explaining antigypsyism	53
	Romanies as foreign intruders and non-Christians	54
	Physical appearance	56
	Exclusionary culture	58
	Way of life	59
	The parallel, created ‘Gypsy’ image	61
	Scapegoatism	62
	The vague understanding of Romani origins	62
6	The Gypsy image	64
	Origins of the fictionalized gypsy	64
	The two faces of Romani identity	67
7	How Indian are Romanies?	70
8	How European are Romanies?	77
9	Cuisine	80
10	Health	88
11	How to interact with Romanies	91
	Crime	94
	Slave mentality	97
	Anger	97
	Personal hygiene	98
	Nomadism	99
	Morals	100
	Magic	102
	Our stereotypes of non-Romanies	102
	Some suggestions	103
12	The emergence of Romani organizations	111
13	Contributions, accomplishments and persons of note	125
14	Amari Čhib: Our language	139
	Romani vocabulary	143
	Samples of the language: Some useful phrases	144
	Samples of the language: Some proverbs	145
	Samples of the language: A joke	148
	Appendix: Romani grammar	150
	Recommended sources	161
	Standards in Romani Studies	161
	Works referenced in the text	166
	Index	174

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: 978-1-902806-19-8 Format: Paperback, 208pp Published: Nov 2002

We are the Romani People

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