VASILE BURTEA THE ROMANIES in the Synchrony and Diachrony of the Contact Populations Translators: Mihaela Mădălina MĂNESCU, English teacher at School No. 146, “I.G.DUCA” in Bucharest, Romania Mihai-Bogdan IOVU, Fulbright researcher at Rutgers School of Social Work, the State University of New Jersey, (U.S.A), during 2010-2011 Review and Correction: Andrei Plaveţ, sworn translator (English and Arabic) CONTACT: Centrul Național de Cultură a Romilor – Romano Kher National Centre for Roma Culture Director : Mihai NEACȘU Volum coordonat de : Gabriela Murgescu Splaiul Independenței 202A, et.9, sector 6, București, Romania E-mail : [email protected] Telefon : +40/21 313 52 11 Fax : +40/21 313 520 10 www.cncr.gov.ro Descrierea CIP a Bibliotecii Naţionale a României BURTEA, VASILE The Romanies in the synchrony and diacrony of the contact populations / dr. Vasile Burtea. – Bucureşti : Editura Centrului Naţional de Cultură a Romilor, 2016 Conţine bibliografie ISBN 978-606-93895-6-0 323.1(=214.58)(498) THE ROMANIES in the Synchrony and Diachrony of the Contact Populations To my parents, Dumitru and Gheorghiţa, and to the entire Romanies’ professional group of Ironsmiths, for all they did and meant The Romanies in the Synchrony and Diachrony of the Contact Populations 5 TABBL OF CONTENTS A word about the readers of this edition .......................................................................... 13 Foreword .......................................................................................................................... 15 Chapter 1: BRIEF HISTORY ........................................................................................ 19 1.1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 21 1.2. Controversial origins ................................................................................... 26 1.3. Migration reasons and the access paths ....................................................... 35 1.4. Denominations and their implications ......................................................... 42 Chapter 2: THE ROMANY GROUPS ......................................................................... 47 2.1. Necessary premises ..................................................................................... 49 2.2. The difficult issue regarding Roma categorization ...................................... 51 2.3. Constitution, structure and dynamics of the Romanies’ professional groups 53 2.4. Roma professional groups within the research............................................ 67 1. The Roma professional group of Ironsmiths ........................................... 70 2. Boot-makers ............................................................................................ 78 3. Musicians ................................................................................................. 79 4. Florists ..................................................................................................... 81 5. Horse dealers (copers) ............................................................................. 83 6. Sieve makers ............................................................................................ 85 7. Silversmiths ............................................................................................. 86 8. Whitewashers ........................................................................................... 87 9. Artisans working în bones ....................................................................... 88 10. Bear-leaders ........................................................................................... 89 11. Coppersmiths ......................................................................................... 91 12. Gold diggers .......................................................................................... 93 13. Silk traders ............................................................................................. 94 14. Settled .................................................................................................... 94 2.5. Other Romany professional groups in Romania ......................................... 99 15. The Romanies’ professional group of bricklayers (Quarrelsome) ......... 99 16. Barbers ................................................................................................... 100 17. Nomad warriors (Ancient chiefs’ descendents) ..................................... 101 18. The group of “stealers” .......................................................................... 102 2.6. Thoughts at the end of the chapter .............................................................. 110 Chapter 3: THE MARGINALIZATIONPROCESS OF THE ROMANIES ............ 115 3.1. Premises and elements of marginalization .................................................. 117 3.2. Marginalization – definition ........................................................................ 123 3.3. Forms of marginalization ............................................................................ 125 3.3.1. Margins – result of the physical-geographical marginalization ........ 125 3.3.2. Complementarity in economic activity ............................................. 129 3.3.3. Commerce .......................................................................................... 131 3.3.4. The scission of the religious component ........................................... 136 3.3.5. Cultural symbiosis ............................................................................. 139 6 Vasile BURTEA 3.3.6. Education or disappearance ............................................................... 145 3.4. Modern and contemporary marginalization ................................................ 149 3.4.1. Out with gypsies ................................................................................ 150 3.4.2. They are all the same ......................................................................... 151 3.4.3. Romany “little angels” ...................................................................... 151 3.4.4. Death to gypsies ................................................................................ 151 3.4.5. Mercenary police ............................................................................... 152 3.4.6. The twicer but bargainee Government .............................................. 153 Chapter 4: CHANCE DETERMINATIVES FOR THE ROMANY POPULATIO ...157 4.1. Contextual notes .......................................................................................... 159 4.2. Angles of analysis ........................................................................................ 160 4.2.1. A look inside ...................................................................................... 160 4.2.2. External hope ..................................................................................... 172 4.3. Elements for preventing some antisocial effects ......................................... 178 Chapter 5: LAWS AND DOCUMENTS ONROMANIES AND OTHER MINORITIES ............................................................................... 193 5.1. Minorities in the European socio-political context ..................................... 195 5.2. Minorities in the context of enlargements of the Council of Europe (C.E.) and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (O.S.C.E.) .................... 196 5.2.1. International documents on minorities ..................................................... 196 5.2.2. Internal normative continuity on minorities ............................................. 204 5.2.3. Romanian minority in Romania – an argument ....................................... 210 5.2.4. The evolution of interest on Romany minority ........................................ 212 Chapter 6: ROMANIESBETWEEN ORGANIZATIONAL WISH AND NEED ..... 221 6.1. Some notes on the traditional organization forms ....................................... 223 6.1.1. The institution of Gypsy baron (bulibasha, head of Romany community) ....................................................................................... 225 6.1.2. Borrowed forms and names ............................................................... 228 6.2. Modern Romany organizations ................................................................... 229 6.3. Romany intellectual elite ............................................................................. 232 6.3.1. The old-type of Romany intellectuals ............................................... 233 6.3.2. The new-type of Romany intellectuals .............................................. 234 6.3.3. Romany intellectuals and their role in the Union act ........................ 235 6.4. Why is it impossible to have a quick Union of Romanies? ......................... 237 Chapter 7: ROMANIES – IS A NEW NATIONALMINORITYOR A (TRANSNATI- ONAL) EUROPEAN HUMAN RACE? ..................................................... 239 7.1. Stating the problem ..................................................................................... 241 7.2. Constitutive elements .................................................................................. 242 7.3. The same parameters from a different perspective ...................................... 245 7.4. Final thoughts .............................................................................................. 250 AFTERWORD – by diplomat Zainea Ștefan .............................................................