Scholarship and the Politics of Romani Identity: Strategic and Conceptual Issues Yaron Matras 211
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European Yearbook of Minority Issues VOLUME 10, 2011 LEIDEN • BOSTON 2013 © 2013 Koninklijke Brill NV ISBN 978 90 04 25634 7 Table of Contents 2011 Issue Foreword PART I: ARTICLES 1 A. General Articles Section 3 Th e Role of Law in the Minority Discourse in the Middle East Joshua Castellino and Kathleen Cavanaugh 5 Current and Future Challenges for International Minority Protection Francesco Palermo 21 Are the Copenhagen Criteria Undermined by the Lisbon Treaty? Kyriaki Topidi 37 Linguistic Rights in a Former Empire: Minority Languages and the Russian Higher Courts Federica Prina 61 Implications of Kosovo Independence for the Doctrine of Constitutional Self-determination Boshko Stankovski 91 Do Professional Linguistic Requirements Discriminate? A Legal Analysis: Estonia and Latvia in the Spotlight Dimitry Kochenov, Vadim Poleshchuk and Aleksejs Dimitrovs 137 Soft Solutions to a Hard Problem: Justiciable Minority Rights? Geoff Gilbert 179 © 2013 Koninklijke Brill NV ISBN 978 90 04 25634 7 Table of Contents B. Special Focus: Roma 201 Remarks on the Romani Movement and Inclusion Policies Dieter W. Halwachs 203 1. (Self)Defi nition of the Roma / Defi ning Roma 209 Scholarship and the Politics of Romani Identity: Strategic and Conceptual Issues Yaron Matras 211 Identifying “Roma” or Constructing “the Other”? Slovak Romani Men and Women in Processes of Identifi cation Barbara Tiefenbacher 249 2. “Roma Issues” in Jurisprudence 269 Th e Council of Europe and the Rescue of Roma as a Paradigmatic Case of Failed Integration? Abstract Principles versus Protection in Concreto Kristin Henrard 271 Th e Roma: A ‘Socially Disadvantaged Group’ or a ‘National Minority’? Unravelling the Dichotomy through the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities Roberta Medda-Windischer 317 3. Political Frameworks, Institutions and Participation 339 Th e European Union and the Roma: An Analysis of Recent Institutional and Policy Developments Peter Vermeersch 341 Th e Roma Issue in the European Multilevel System: Ideas, Interests and Institutions behind the Failure of Inclusion Policies Yana Kavrakova 359 Solidarity, Citizenship, Democracy: Th e Lessons of Romani Activism Márton Rövid 381 European Framework for National Roma Policies and the Roma in the Western Balkans Stephan Müller 397 vi © 2013 Koninklijke Brill NV ISBN 978 90 04 25634 7 Table of Contents Segregation and the Roma Rumyan Russinov 415 PART II: REPORTS 433 A. International Developments 435 Protecting Minority Rights through an Individual Rights Mechanism: Th e Strasbourg Court and some Signifi cant Developments to June 2012 Bill Bowring 437 Review of the Monitoring Process of the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities Charlotte Altenhoener 461 Developments in the Field of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in 2011 Vesna Crnić-Grotić 469 Th e Activities of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities January 2011 to December 2011 Stéphanie Marsal and Jennifer Croft 487 Th e European Union and Minorities in 2011 Gabriel N. Toggenburg and Karen McLaughlin 503 United Nations Practice in Minority Issues Michele Buteau, Belen Rodriguez de Alba and Aleksandra Plesko 523 B. National Developments 535 National Reunifi cation beyond Borders: Diaspora and Minority Politics in Hungary since 2010 Szabolcs Pogonyi 537 Recent Legal Developments in Sweden: What Eff ect for Finnish and Meänkieli Speakers? Heidi Öst 563 Th e Return of Property to Community Foundations in Turkey: Th e Legislative Decree Mine Yildirim 583 vii © 2013 Koninklijke Brill NV ISBN 978 90 04 25634 7 Table of Contents Th e Reform of the Romanian Education System and its Impact on National Minorities Sergiu Constantin 597 Fascist Legacies: Th e Controversy over Mussolini’s Monuments in South Tyrol Gerald Steinacher 647 Th e Language Issue in the Context of Minorities’ and Identity Policies in Montenegro Sofi ya Zahova 667 PART III: BOOK REVIEWS 701 Marc Weller (ed.) and Katherine Nobbs (assistant ed.), Political Participation of Minorities. A Commentary on International Standards and Practice (Oxford University Press, 2010), ISBN 978-0-19-956998-4 (hardback) Alexandra Tomaselli 703 Francesco Palermo and Natalie Sabanadze, National Minorities in Inter-State Relations (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers/OSCE HCNM, 2001), ISBN 978-9004175983 (hardback) Ugo Caruso 709 Tawhida Ahmed, Th e Impact of EU Law on Minority Rights, (Hart Publishing, 2011), ISBN 9781841138725 (hardback) Ulrike Barten 713 Emma Lantschner, Sergiu Constantin, Joseph Marko (eds.), Practice of Minority Protection in Central Europe (Nomos, 2012), ISBN 978-3- 8329-6025-4 (paperback) Zaira Vidali 717 Appendix 721 viii © 2013 Koninklijke Brill NV ISBN 978 90 04 25634 7 Yaron Matras* Scholarship and the Politics of Romani Identity: Strategic and Conceptual Issues I. A Legacy of Conflicting Terms and Agendas Every European and New World resident has a vague idea of what ‘Gypsies’ are. Th is idea is not necessarily based on any personal encounters or study of back- ground material, but on a cluster of images that are transmitted through cultural productions, fi ction, sayings, metaphors, and so on. Th erefore, no tabula rasa is available when it comes to briefi ng politicians, media, or the wider public about Roma/Gypsies and their needs or aspirations. My purpose in this article is to examine how conceptions of Roma/Gypsy identity are entangled in the European political discourse today. I agree with Kovats, who stated that “the Roma are a particularly diffi cult social group to conceptualise accurately”, and that “[o]nly when scholarship is suffi ciently developed will it be possible to eff ectively counter the inaccurate and misleading assertions of policy-makers and thus contribute to the development of better policy.”1 My aim is to identify some of the sources of confusion and to contribute to a more accurate and realistic conceptualisation of Roma. A century-old debate still continues around the question of whether Roma/ Gypsies constitute an ethnic minority or whether they are diverse populations who share a nomadic ‘lifestyle’.2 After surveying scholarly defi nitions, I review the emergence and self-ascription of the Romani political movement. I then examine the attitudes of European institutions and Romani activists toward three policy issues: political representation, migration, and the status of the Romani language. Th e fi rst defi nes the Roma as a constituency. Th e second is often associated with * Th e author is a professor of Linguistics at the University of Manchester, the Editor of Romani Studies (Liverpool University Press), and a member of the Steering Com- mittee of the European Commission’s Academic Network on Romani Studies. 1 Martin Kovats, “Problems of Intellectual and Political Accountability in Respect of Emerging European Roma Policy”, 8 JEMIE (2001), 1-10. 2 See a brief survey by Peter Vermeersch, Th e Romani Movement: Minority Politics and Ethnic Mobilization in Contemporary Central Europe (Berghahn, Oxford, 2006), 13-17. European Yearbook of Minority Issues Vol 10, 2011, ISBN 978-90-04-25634-7. pp. 211-247. Copyright 2013 Koninklijke Brill NV. © 2013 Koninklijke Brill NV ISBN 978 90 04 25634 7 Yaron Matras their lifestyle and culture but has also proven to be a useful instrument in the political struggle to gain the attention of European institutions. Th e third is argu- ably the quintessential manifestation of Romani culture—although not all Roma speak Romani (some Romani populations, such as those in Britain and Spain and many in Scandinavia and in Hungary, have shifted completely to the major- ity language over the past two centuries—only Roma speak Romani, and only Roma benefi t from the promotion of Romani. Th e status of the Romani language therefore constitutes a test case for policies that purport to support Roma equality. I conclude with a review of recent statements on national strategies for Roma inclusion submitted by EU member states at the end of 2011. Th ey show that the European discussion is stuck in an impossible cul-de-sac as a result of a lack of fundamental agreement on what is Roma/Gypsy identity. Th e quicker such fundamental issues of conceptualisation are resolved, the easier it will become to identify policy priorities. For a realistic understanding of Roma interests, policy- makers must accept the concept of non-territorial ethnicity. Th ey must also cut loose this concept from the preoccupation with the fi ctional image of ‘Gypsy’ as a kind of generic vagrant. II. From Enlightenment Scholarship to Contemporary ‘Expertise’ Since the 1980s, an intellectual debate has emerged that is devoted to the roots of Roma/Gypsy images in the arts, in scholarship, and in politics and media. One of the fi rst to take on the challenge was Martin Ruch in an unpublished PhD dissertation submitted to the University of Freiburg in 1986. Ruch discussed at length the positions of two intellectuals during the Enlightenment period, H. M. Grellmann and J. Chr. Chr. Rüdiger, and showed how their views and interpreta- tions of Gypsy3 culture and origin had left a long legacy in intellectual and politi- cal thinking well into the early twentieth century. Rüdiger was a humanist who regarded the Roma as an immigrant ethnic group and interpreted their destitute situation as the outcome of prejudice and social exclusion. Grellmann by contrast regarded them as a work-shy and anti-social population, unable and unwilling to conform to social order. He recommended their