Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.12.2019, Page 15

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Lögberg-Heimskringla • 1 desember 2019 • 15
University of Iceland –
“Gypsies have been always
portrayed between two extremes
– a very exotic one (the colourful
and free spirited gypsy) and
a very negative one (stealing,
begging, living marginal way
of life), but in fact most of the
Roma around the world are just
living the life of the lay people
– they are settled citizens,
have housing, are educated
and do the jobs that all people
do.” So says Sofiya Zahova, a
postdoctoral researcher at the
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Institute
of Foreign Languages at the
University of Iceland, who was
involved in organizing a major
conference on the Roma people
that took place at the University
of Iceland last August.
The conference, which
is held in Veröld – House of
Vigdís, focused on the position,
history, culture, and language of
the Roma. This was the largest
annual conference on Romani
studies in the world. One
hundred and forty participants
from 33 different countries
attended the conference, which
was organized by the oldest
scientific organization in the field
of Romani studies, the Gypsy
Lore Society, in collaboration
with the University of Iceland,
the Vigdís Finnbogadóttir
Institute of Foreign Languages,
and the City of Reykjavík.
Roma, or Gypsies as many
people know them, are a
people that make up the largest
minority group in Europe. The
largest numbers of Roma live
in Eastern Europe, but they
have also been renowned for
migrating in search of a better
life. Roma have their own
language, Romani, which was
one of the topics of discussion
at the conference.
Some people will
undoubtedly think it odd to
have held a conference on
Romani studies in Iceland, but
Sofiya pointed out that at the
University of Iceland there has
been considerable research
in the field in recent years,
not least due to international
collaboration and academic
staff exchange. “There have
been a couple of PhD students
and post-docs working in the
field. The School of Humanities
and the Vigdís Finnbogadóttir
Institute have initiated and/
or been involved with several
international projects related to
Roma culture and history. The
Vigdis Finnbogadóttir Institute
places great emphasis on the
importance of language as a
bridge and core of any culture,
especially when it comes to
small languages and stateless
communities,” says Sofiya, who
herself manages several projects
related to Romani studies
grouped under the title Roma in
the Centre.
Roma among migrant
labourers in Iceland
Sofiya pointed out that
the conference provided a
great opportunity for scholars
in Iceland to strengthen
international conference in the
field of Romani studies, since the
leading academics in the world
in this field attended. “Iceland
is already part of all global
processes. Processes such as
labour migration of EU citizens
and international adoption have
brought Roma to Iceland, and
actually Romani families from
Romania, Bulgaria, Poland have
been living and working here as
part of the East European labour
migrant communities. There is
an expertise in both practical and
academic matters that Icelandic
society needs and the conference
is a great opportunity for transfer
of knowledge, networking and
establishing collaborations,”
says Sofiya.
Romani studies is
interdisciplinary in its nature,
and the conference included
research involving many
different fields within the
humanities and social sciences,
as was evident from the
conference program. “Among
the topics addressed at the
conference are the fate of Roma
in the Second World War and
the Nazi genocide, the richness
of Romani literature in recent
decades, and linguistic research
into the Romani language.
There is also a panel on how
Romani studies can learn from
methodologies, epistemologies,
practices, debates and
terminologies used in other
subjects such as indigenous
studies, gender studies, critical
race studies and Jewish studies,”
says Sofiya.
Women at the forefront of
Romani literature
Sofiya herself presented a
lecture at the conference. Her
research has focused on Romani
culture, literature, and identity.
Sofiya worked for two decades
as a manager in a foundation
supporting publications in
the Romani language, and
through that work she became
acquainted with Roma authors
and Romani literature and
culture. She also learned
the language and eventually
decided to devote herself to
research in the field of Romani
culture. She completed a PhD
in South Eastern European
Ethnology and, in 2016,
became the first postdoctoral
researcher to be hired at the
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Institute.
For the last three years, she
has worked at the Institute
managing research that focuses
on the global development of
Romani literature and creating
a database of publications in
the language. “Among the
outcomes of my research is
that although Romani language
literature is a rather recent
phenomenon, its development
is neither unique nor without
parallels when compared
to other minority-language
literatures, which developed
alongside nation-building in
Europe. Similarly to all other
European language, including
Icelandic, the first Romani
language printed texts featured
folklore materials collected and
published by folklorists and
Biblical translations in Romani
dialects,” she says. The Romani
literary tradition differs,
however, from many other
peoples in the sense that female
authors were often pioneers in
writing about certain topics,
such as the Holocaust, and in
some countries, in fact, female
Roma authors outnumber the
males.
Discussion of Roma needs a
more nuanced approach
Gypies and Roma have
been viewed rather negatively
in Western countries. Sofiya
says that there are many,
often interrelated, reasons
for this, both historical and
contemporary. “Roma/Gypsies
in Western Europe have been
often viewed and treated as the
ultimate Other, the unwanted
dark-skinned foreigner that
either needed to be civilized,
cultivated or dispelled, with
physical persecution that
culminated in the Holocaust
when many Roma/Gypsies
were persecuted or killed. But in
other regions, such as in Eastern
Europe, where Roma have
been living settled among other
communities for many centuries,
the attitude is different. For
people who come from this
region, like me, co-habitation
with Roma has always been the
norm,” she says.
Asked whether increased
research in Romani studies
has changed attitudes at all,
Sofiya said that the Roma
rights movement and increased
discussion of human rights in
Europe has opened people's
eyes in recent decades to the
diversity of Roma and their
culture. Roma have certainly
become more visible through
the media, politics and activism,
but not necessarily in a positive
sense. “Sometimes, in both
public and academic discourse,
light has been shed only on the
most problematic issues, such
as begging, marginalization,
poor living conditions, and lack
of education. We need a more
nuanced approach and this is
exactly what will happen at this
conference.”
No research into Roma in
Iceland
Asked whether any research
has been conducted into the
arrival and status of Roma in
Iceland, Sofiya reports that the
groups who have settled here
have been a sort of hidden
people. “My experience in
researching Roma in Iceland
has shown that a territory such
as Iceland that is considered
Roma-less is just an under-
researched one. There has not
been any research on Roma in
Iceland in the past. There are,
however, written records of
Roma coming to Iceland in the
early 20th century that match a
photo of Roma in Seyðisfjörður
from the same period. My
preliminary research shows that
historically Iceland has been
part of the Nordic routes of
Roma groups who were living
in the Nordic countries in the
past, but maybe there were just
not enough economic niches for
them here. Or maybe they just
didn’t like the weather?” says
Sofiya with a smile.
Sofiya says that there is
a need to remedy this lack of
research into Roma in Iceland,
particularly with regard to the
social and educational needs of
Roma families. The possibility
of conducting such research is
being explored. “We hope to
be able to work on this at the
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Institute
and within the University of
Iceland, in cooperation with the
City of Reykjavík.”
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ROMA ARE A SORT OF HIDDEN PEOPLE IN ICELAND
PHOTO: BJÖRN BJÖRNSSON. SOURCE: NATIONAL MUSUM OF ICELAND VIA VIGDÍS INSTITUTE
Roma family in Seyðisfjörður, 1912.