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Beyond the Stereotypes: A review of Gypsies/Roma/Travellers and the Arts in Wales

Beyond the Stereotypes: A review of Gypsies/Roma/Travellers and the Arts in Wales - Yvonne Cheal August 2012

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Beyond the Stereotypes: A review of Gypsies/Roma/Travellers and the Arts in Wales Yvonne Cheal August 2012 1 CONTENTS Page 1.0 Introduction
 INTRODUCTION Image A: Dark-haired exotic women in colourful skirts, dancing sensuously by campfires under the open skies and playing the tambourine. Men with dark flashing eyes which glint in the firelight, wildly playing the fiddle … an element of danger … they travel in decorated caravans, carefree spirits, stopping only to tell fortunes with crystal balls or Tarot cards. Proud, fiery and independent people, travelling at whim, enjoying the freedom of the open road with their extended family. ‘Of a sudden her eyes blazed again and you were solely conscious of a beautiful wild creature.’ [Francis Hindes Groome, in Okely 1983] Image B: Hordes of asylum-seeking Gypsy thieves are overrunning our welfare state and using their children as props to beg money on our streets … On Monday, the Sun announced "victory" for the 52,876 readers who supported its "Britain Has Had Enough" campaign to rid the nation of Gypsy beggars. ("Labour research," the article claims, "shows begging refugees is voters' third-most important issue after health and education.") http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2000/mar/24/immigration.immigrationandpublicservices Gypsies, Roma and Travellers in Britain today have an unenviable task when faced with the above images, as the first one they can’t live up to, and the second they can never live down. Since their first appearance in Europe in the fourteenth century, Gypsies have been an emotive subject, and themselves subject to centuries of prejudice, persecution and discrimination. As the Voice Literary Review states, `Everyone has an opinion on Gypsies, and no one knows any. The opinions are almost always bad.’ While Gypsies/Roma are Europe’s largest ethnic minority, they remain the least integrated and the most persecuted people of Europe today. Yet the Romani culture and language, whilst not always recognised as so doing, has formed part of Europe's cultural and linguistic heritage for over 500 years. During these centuries Gypsies/Roma were at best little understood, and mostly misunderstood. At worst they were the victims of racism, violence and the death penalty (for the crime of being a Gypsy); of various policies of exclusion, containment and forced assimilation; of social ostracism and eventually mass extermination as part of Hitler's Final Solution. Yet in spite of the worst injustices that humanity can throw at them, Gypsies/Roma have demonstrated a remarkable facility for survival [12 million worldwide], an ability to adapt to the vagaries of settled populations, governments and laws, and above all they have retained their distinct language, culture and identity. However, the question of ‘identity’ is itself problematic, as Gypsy/Roma identity has been forged through non-Roma means, such as literature, art, film and academic research. As a result, one of the main problems faced by Gypsies/Roma now is that of the stereotypes, good and bad, foisted upon them. Jake Bowers[G] runs the Gypsy Media Company and is a professional journalist. He says: It's a complex issue: the settled community looks at us through a prism of stereotypes. The two main Gypsy stereotypes are the thief (or degenerate) who contributes nothing, or the romantic Gypsy, unmaterialistic and carefree, who wanders down country lanes with a tambourine. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/apr/02/4 3 The most common stereotypes are the ‘sexy Gypsy’; ‘Gypsy fortune teller’; ‘folklore/rural Gypsy’; ‘rhapsodic/dancing Romany’; ‘Gypsy thief/beggar’; ‘uneducated Gypsy’; and the ‘Gypsy carefree lifestyle’ [see http://thegypsychronicles.net/gypsystereotypes-aspx/]. In reality, most Gypsies/Roma would prefer to tell you about the suffering and persecution they and/or their ancestors have endured, and to ask you to join the fight against ignorance, prejudice and stereotyping. Dr. Adrian Marsh[G], an English Gypsy, notes: Like beauty, the image of the various peoples described as Gypsies is frequently to be found in the eyes of the beholder […] re-presenting the Gypsy using tropes we have come to expect – excessively poor, often itinerant, ignorant and under-educated, disenfranchised politically and marginalised economically, socially excluded and culturally appreciated in a very narrow context. (Marsh, 2008) The romanticised image of the Gypsy is alive and well in songs, literature, music groups, fancydress costumes and other forms of cultural imagery. A Wikipedia entry on fictional representations of Romani people has an extensive list of Gypsies represented in film (from 1897), literature (from Shakespeare in 1596), games and other media. These are examples of popular culture and do not include the works of the ‘Gypsy scholars’ in the nineteenth century, or of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century ‘orientalists’, which would extend the list into hundreds of examples: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictional_representations_of_Romani_people. It also does not include the hundreds of Gypsies/Roma depicted in art over many centuries, including examples by Caravaggio, Vincent van Goch, Augustus John and Renoir. Dr. Ian Hancock[G], Director of Romani Studies at the University of Texas, commented at the GRT National Symposium 2012 held in Cardiff that the romantic Gypsy image proliferated in nineteenthcentury literature, and that was ‘a safe place to leave it’. 2.0 AIMS & OBJECTIVES OF REVIEW The aim of this review is therefore to review Gypsy/Roma/Traveller (GRT) ‘issues’ as they currently stand in Wales, by providing some background context on Gypsies and Roma, and to assess where links are currently being made with the Arts. It will also place the Gypsies of Wales in their historical context, with particular reference to music and the links between Welsh Gypsies and Welsh traditional music. The extent of Arts Council of Wales funding for GRT projects over recent years will be reviewed to assess whether the objectives of the Arts Council and the needs of GRT communities are being met. Hopefully information will be as clear as possible for use by grant assessors, allowing them to move beyond the stereotypes that cause such problems for GRT communities. It must be borne in mind that reports on GRT subjects are invariably delivered by non-Gypsy institutions with a view to dovetailing their conclusions with the latest ‘citizenship’ and ‘social inclusion’ policies. National and international policy-makers seek to establish a (non-Gypsy) framework in which to construct narratives of ethnicity and identity, and this is no less so the case in Wales. While this review has less grand ambitions, it does fall into the same category of being produced by a non-Gypsy for a non-Gypsy organisation. Therefore it was important to seek the views of Gypsies/Roma/Travellers wherever possible. Interviews have been carried out with a range of individuals who are either Gypsy/Roma/Travellers themselves, or who work closely 4 with GRT communities. Individual responses are not always explicitly identified throughout the text, as some of the interviewees wished to retain their anonymity in order to speak freely. This has been respected and, whether an interviewee is identified or not, it is noted whether the comment is made by a Gypsy or a non-Gypsy by means of a superscript[G] or [NG]. Those who work with GRT communities (such as liaison officers or educationalists) have been identified with a superscript [GW]. 3.0 TERMINOLOGY & DEFINITIONS Almost all terms referring to Gypsies have been given to them by outsiders, with many different derivations and translations in different countries. A confusion also exists due to the great diversity of groups and subgroups with different names worldwide. The following generally-accepted definitions and terms have been used in this review. ‘Traveller’ refers to anyone with a nomadic way of life and applies to anybody living in vehicles such as caravans, buses or campervans. Travellers are divided into two groups: (1) ethnic travellers such as Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers, and (2) those who live on the road for economic or ideological reasons, such as New Age Travellers and Showmen. There are two legal definitions of ‘Gypsy’: (1) a recognised ethnic minority under the Race Relations Act, and (2) under planning law, people with a culture of nomadism or of living in caravans and all other persons of nomadic habit of life whatever their race or origin. The communities recognised as distinct ethnic minorities are English or Welsh Romany Gypsies, Irish Travellers and Scottish Gypsy Travellers. To achieve this designation communities have to prove that they meet the following conditions, known as the ‘Mandla Criteria’: • Long shared history • Cultural tradition of their own • Common geographical origin • Common language • Common tradition • Common religion • Being a minority or being oppressed by a dominant group within a large community Gadjé Plural noun – Romani word for non-Roma or non-Gypsy. Gaujo/Gorgio Anglicized versions of the Romani word for a non-Gypsy. Gadjikane Romani adjective for non-Romani/foreign. Gypsy An abbreviation of the word `Egyptian', a name given to the Romany people in the Middle Ages when it was thought they originated in Egypt. Anglicized version, used in preference to the alternatives of Gipsy, gypsy or gipsy. 5 Kalé Gypsies The branch of Roma that settled in Wales and continued to speak pure Romanés. Nomad 1. A pastoral nomad, moving with flocks. 2. A commercial nomad, moving to find work. Pavee The name used for themselves by Irish Travellers. Porrajmos Romani word meaning ‘the Devouring’ = the Holocaust. Rom/Roma The name used for themselves by the majority of Gypsies in Europe. Rom = singular noun for person/man/husband Roma = plural noun for people The word ‘Rom’ has only one linguistic reference; in Ancient Egyptian ‘Rom’ = Man. European Roma Recognised as an ethnic minority in the same category as British Gypsies who also speak Romani. However, they are distinct from the UK’s Gypsy community, with limited interaction between the two groups. Many immigrants have come to Britain from long-settled communities in Eastern Europe. Romanichal Noun – Romani word for British Gypsies. Romany Noun – anglicized version of the word `Rom/Romanichal' referring to British Gypsies. First recorded in Britain in 1547. Recognised as an ethnic group for the purposes of the Race Relations Act (1976) in 1988. In Britain, Romanies are further subdivided into English Gypsies/Romanies, Welsh Gypsies/Romanies and Scottish Gypsies/Romanies. These divisions refer to the regions where incoming Gypsies traditionally settled. As Irish Travellers are distinct from these groups ethnically, they were not originally referred to as Gypsies or Romanies. Romani Adjective – as in Romani language, history, culture. Romani/Romanés Noun – the spoken language of the Romany people. Traveller 1. Irish nomads of Celtic descent speaking Cant, Gammon or Shelta. First recorded in Britain in the 1850’s. Recognised as an ethnic group for the purposes of the Race Relations Act (1976) in 2000. 6 2. Scottish Gypsy Travellers, made up of a range of different groups and may refer to themselves as Scottish Travellers, Scottish Gypsies, Nawkens or Nachins. May also speak Cant. Recognised as an ethnic group for the purposes of the Race Relations Act (1976) in 2008. 3. An overall term, applied indiscriminately, covering Romany Gypsies as well as Irish and Scottish Travellers. New-Age Traveller Members of the settled community who have taken up a nomadic lifestyle in recent decades, with no history of travelling or links to ethnic Romany or Traveller families. Originating in the Peace Convoy and free-festival movements of the 1960s, these are people wishing to live an alternative travelling lifestyle for ideological reasons. Occupational Traveller Includes showmen or fairground and circus people who have a long history of travelling for a living. This group also includes bargees or boat dwellers living primarily on narrowboats. Showmen are a cultural minority that have owned and operated funfairs and circuses for many generations, but are not classed as an ethnic minority as their identity is connected to their family businesses and the community can include ‘outsiders’. Kenrick & Bakewell (1995) have divided Gypsies within the U.K, into five main groups: (1) The Romanies – descendants of the Romanies who came to England in the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This group includes house-dwelling families in England and Wales. They previously spoke Romani, but now speak an anglicized Anglo-Romani dialect. (2) The Kalé of North Wales – descendants of the (mainly) Wood family who migrated from south-west England to Wales in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and who spoke the best-preserved inflected Romani until recent years. (3) The Roma – Gypsies who have come to England from Europe this century, some of whom speak Romani as their main language. (4) Irish Travellers – a nomadic ethnic group from Ireland (non-Romani speaking). (5) Scottish Travellers – a nomadic group formed in Scotland in the period 1500-1800 from intermarriage between local nomadic craftsmen and immigrant Gypsies. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Sources: Kenrick & Bakewell (1995); Travellers Aid Trust www.travellersaidtrust.org; Travellers’ Times magazine http://www.travellerstimes.org.uk/downloads/lifestyle_history_and_culture_24052010111520.pdf 7 4.0 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND The history of the Roma people (or perceived lack of it) has a direct influence on GRT communities in the UK today. There has been a great deal of speculation, research and discussion on the origins of the Roma people, with a traditional consensus that they originated in north-west India. Some of the initial connections between Romani and Indian languages were highlighted by Johann Rüdiger, a German scholar, in 1782 and traditional explanations of Roma origins and early migrations since that date have favoured the north-west India theory, based mainly on linguistic research. An Indian connection has been contested by academics, however, and despite many centuries of research, the results are still inconclusive; but there are certain important recurring themes in the history of the Roma which have ‘been incorporated into the notions of self-identity for a large number of Gypsy groups’ (Marsh, 2008). Research into the origins and history of the Roma is therefore ongoing but it is precisely this lack of clarity that adds to the confusion over who/what Roma people are and how they should be treated within individual countries. Many Roma are not aware themselves of their history and over centuries have been unable to say definitively who/what they are or where they are from. Instead they relied on inherited traditions, customs and lifestyles, and remained largely within extended family groups. As their collective memory is transmitted as an oral tradition, only fragments of written evidence about these people are found in records of the non-Roma. When questioned, suspicion of the enquirers’ motives often led to disingenuous replies from Roma/Gypsies seeking to protect their traditions and lifestyle. This lack of a wellrecognised history and clear ethnic identity has led to misunderstanding and misapprehension of Roma/Gypsies, and to research that concentrates on resolving ‘problems’ or dealing with the social inclusion of a group that often wished to remain deliberately excluded. So on the one hand there is a body of research by organisations such as the Research and Action Group on Romani Linguistics, set up by the European Commission, which produces research and documentation under the auspices of the Gypsy Research Centre at the Université René Descartes in Paris. This research centre, formed at the request of the Council of Europe, undertakes various studies and produces books, magazines, information documents, and reports, on all aspects of the current Roma/Gypsy situation in Europe. On the other hand, research into Romani history has been undertaken increasingly by Gypsies/Roma themselves, and particularly over the past decade a growing body of Romani-led research has appeared, and is continually being augmented. Of interest to this review is how Gypsies, and then subsequently Irish Travellers and European Roma, ended up in Wales. Below is the traditional version of events, updated at 4.5 with current hypotheses and contentions and at 7.0 with how Gypsies arrived in Wales. 4.1 Who are the Gypsies? Present-day Gypsies consist of many different groups, `tribes' and families scattered throughout almost every country in the world. Many of these groups speak Romani (or a Romani dialect) besides the language of the country in which they travel or reside, and most retain certain distinct customs and traditions. However, as Fraser (1995) points out, `If a people is a group of men, women and children with a common language, a common culture and a 8 common racial type, who can be readily distinguished from their neighbours, it is a long time since the Gypsies were that.' During centuries of travel, the Gypsies have become a highly dispersed and a highly diverse people, in many countries becoming confused with the ethnic itinerant group(s), and in many countries suffering from conflicting legal definitions as to who is, or is not, a Gypsy for purposes of the law. 4.2 Where did they come from? Gypsies/Roma have always been perceived as a nomadic people, seemingly wandering from place to place, and with no homeland of their own. After their arrival in Europe in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries they most often claimed to be ‘Egyptians’, which obscured their true origins for three or four centuries. Linguistic research finally identified that the Romani language was closely related to Hindi. Further studies during the nineteenth century concluded that the language must have originated in north-west India, which effectively pinpointed their land of origin as present-day Pakistan. Other linguistic evidence suggested that they left India over a thousand years ago, as their language is more closely related to Sanskrit than to other contemporary Indian languages. On the basis of linguistic analysis, it is possible to reconstruct the route that the Gypsies/Roma took on their westward journey to Europe. They migrated to the Persian Empire via Kabulistan, Iran and Armenia, reaching the Byzantine Empire by way of Phyrgia and Laconia (Tomasevic & Djuric, 1989). It seems that they spent a relatively stable period in Armenia and later in Greece, before moving into central Europe. It is important to note that `at no time did they move in a solid mass from east to west but their pattern of migration was probably similar to that of today with one family group overtaking another, according to local circumstances and opportunity for work,' (Kenrick & Bakewell, 1995). It is from their time in Greece that one explanation of the `Egyptian' origin arises: `Alexander, Count Palatine by Rhine, described a hill near Modon [in the Peloponnese] called Gype, which in 1495 had about 200 huts inhabited by Gypsies: "some call this hill and its appurtenances Little Egypt",' (Fraser, 1995). When Gypsies began to reach western European towns and cities, they claimed they were from Little Egypt, which began the myth of their Egyptian origin and provided the name by which they are most generally known today. A second possible explanation was provided by Sebastian Münster in his Chronographia Universalis of 1550 who also suggested an ‘Egyptian’ origin, but with Lesser Egypt being located in the Gangetic or Indus regions (McLean, 2007). A third possible explanation is outlined below at 4.5. 4.3 Why did they come? Kenrick (1993) places the departure from India of the majority of the ancestors of the European Romanies as taking place at various times between 250 and 650 AD. Whilst there is no conclusive evidence to explain why the Gypsies/Roma left India, there are many plausible explanations connected with successive invasions of the north-western region. Following the capture of north India by the Persians, thousands of labourers were brought from India to Persia by Shapur I between 241 and 272 AD. The Shah of Persia brought 12,000 musicians and dancers to Persia between 420 and 438 AD and 10,000 1ute players were brought in 1011 to 9 Shengil (Kenrick, 1993). Three legendary conquerors followed the Persian invasions – Mahmud, Genghis Khan and Tamerlane – and many scholars believe that these three invaders caused mass movements of the Gypsies/Roma, and impelled many of them to leave India (Tomasevic & Djuric, 1989). There is also a suggestion that even earlier movements were caused by the inroads of Alexander the Great into north-western India in 327-326 BC (Fraser, 1995). After leaving India, the groups moved from country to country, stopping for varying periods in each, but constantly moving on to avoid the frequent wars and conflicts they encountered, until staying for fairly lengthy periods in Armenia and Greece. It is important to note that they were not pastoral nomads, but on their travels the groups continued to practice the crafts and trades they had followed in India as a means of economic survival, as well as adopting and adapting trades from the countries through which they travelled. 4.4 Who are European Gypsies? By the fourteenth century Gypsies/Roma were appearing in many western European towns and villages, with their path following a general east-to-west route. The first written mention of Gypsies/Roma in France was recorded in 1419, in Spain 1425, and in Britain 1505. They travelled in large family groups, usually under the leadership of a `king' or `count' and carried letters of recommendation or documents of safe-conduct from various dukes, kings, princes and heads of State. In 1422 a group of Gypsies/Roma arriving in Basle produced letters of safe-conduct from the Pope. They most often claimed to be on a religious pilgrimage and at this time `it was still considered a duty to entertain the pilgrim and help him on his journey' (Fraser, 1995). For purposes of trade and expediency, the Gypsies/Roma usually learned the language of any country in which they stayed for any time, and usually adopted the religion of that country. They generally made a living as craft workers and entertainers. However, they were not always welcome and were often suspected of espionage. Arriving in countries at a time when the state was attempting to bring order and control, the Gypsies/Roma were treated with mistrust, fear and rejection. `This rejection, localized at first, rapidly became a state affair with the passing of royal edicts condemning and banishing the Roma on pain of corporal punishment' (Liegeois & Gheorghe, 1995). Within a relatively short space of time, Gypsies/Roma were subject to penal servitude, slavery, expulsion orders, Gypsy hunts and a variety of other medieval anti-Gypsy legislation, including the death penalty for the sole crime of being a Gypsy. With very little evidence, Gypsies were often accused of crimes and a `negative image was deliberately stressed in order to serve as a basis and justification for repressive measures'. Anti-Gypsy legislation was gradually repealed after 1780: `Tolerated when they were useful as farm labour, blacksmiths or entertainers, made to move on when their services were no longer needed, the Gypsies survived on the margins of society until the outbreak of World War II' (Kenrick & Bakewell, 1995). By this time, the `German preoccupation' of suspected espionage was still being quoted as a justification for genocide (see Kenrick & Puxon 1972 for a full account of Gypsy treatment under the Nazi regime). However, despite estimates of over 500,000 Gypsies having been murdered by the Nazis, the Gypsy/Roma populations throughout the whole of Europe are today conservatively numbered at 9.8 million [‘average estimates’ of the Council of Europe, 2007], bearing in mind that many Gypsies/Roma do not self-identify themselves as such in order to avoid discrimination and prejudice. 10 These populations are extremely diverse; made up of different groups, subgroups and extended families and with their language splintered into a myriad of dialects, creoles and regional variations. Their social organisation has been described as `a worldwide mosaic of diversified groups' (Liegeois, 1994). However, the majority of these groups were born in Europe, as were their ancestors, and besides their group, subgroup or family name, each group is also classified as a French Gypsy, Spanish Gypsy, Italian Gypsy or British Gypsy, depending on where they were born or reside. Whilst there are Spanish Gypsies living in France, and British Gypsies working in Germany to add to the general confusion, there can be no doubt that these Gypsies are a people of Europe: `... the long association and intermingling with other peoples in Europe have indelibly marked their language, their ancestry, their culture and their society. After so many centuries, they have every claim to be considered "of Europe". They are indeed among the continent's few pan-Europeans' (Fraser, 1995). 4.5 Current theories Dr. Ian Hancock[G], speaking at the GRT National Symposium 2012 in Cardiff, provided an update on current thinking with regard to research on the Roma. He pointed out that the research into origins is still extremely important, as Roma people are still unable to explain where they are from, and non-Roma therefore remain vague and unable to ‘pigeonhole’ Gypsy/Roma groups. Lack of clarity leads to stereotypical images being augmented and romanticised, and to incomprehension regarding traditions and taboos which affect Gypsy/Roma culture and lifestyles today. The summarised points of current theories are:  Researchers are now learning much more about Roma origins, and the current estimate of Roma populations is 12 million worldwide.  ‘A geneticist’s summary of [our] data would describe the Gypsies as a conglomerate of Asian populations … unambiguous proof of the Indian ancestry of the Gypsies comes from three genetic marker systems … found on the same ancestral chromosomal background in Gypsy, Indian and Pakistani subjects’ (Kalaydjieva et al, 2005).  It is now thought that the Roma began as a composite people from India, but they were not originally one people. Instead, the population was occupationally rather than ethnically-defined, being drawn from mercenary soldiers, camp followers, itinerant castes of artisans and entertainers, musicians and dancers, smiths, metalworkers, basket weavers, etc.  The language has been identified as a composite of different Indian languages, which would support this theory, with development of Romanés as an individual language happening through ‘contact’ with other cultures and languages outside India.  Whilst their earliest components are traceable to India in the East, Roma essentially constitute a population that acquired its identity and language in the West. The idea that Roma had Indian roots, but crystallised into a cohesive people during the Byzantine period is now gaining credence. The self-ascribed name ‘Rom/Roma’ is from the Greek-speaking, Christian, Byzantine Empire and was acquired during the population’s long stay in Anatolia. ‘Any originally acquired characteristics they might 11 still share … are greatly outweighed by characteristics accreted from the non-Romani world.’ There is no longer one people in India clearly related to the Roma.  Dr. Adrian Marsh[G] (2008) states: ‘The argument that they were ‘forged’ in the borderlands of Anatolia between the hammer of the Saldjūk Turks and the anvil of the Byzantine Empire in the twelfth century is becoming more widely accepted, though not uncontested.’  Dates for leaving India remain contested, with the earliest migrations seemingly dating from the time of Alexander the Great’s incursions, and successive migrations coinciding with other military incursions. However, the main exodus appears to be between AD 997 and 1030 as a result of invasions by Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni, ruler of the Persian Ghaznavid Empire. This dislocated the ‘composite’ groups from north-west India [Pakistan] who migrated to the Persian Empire via Kabulistan [Afghanistan], Iran and Armenia, before reaching (1) Anatolia [Turkey]; (2) Jordan and the Levant coast; and (3) the Byzantine Empire [eastern Roman Empire whose capital was Constantinople].  Byzantine sources refer to Roma as Athínganoi (people who practised ritual purity ablutions, and who practised magic, soothsaying and snake-charming) and Aiguptoi (‘Egyptians’ – people who maintained similar pollution taboos, and who practised sorcery and divination). These two terms are the root of all designations assigned to Gypsies by non-Roma. Athínganoi  the terms Cigány, Tsigan, Zingaro, etc. Aiguptoi  the terms Aigypt[an]oi, Gypsy, Gitano, etc. (Marsh, 2008 and Avraham, 2012) The arrival of Roma in Jordan and the Levant coincides with the period when the region was controlled by the Fatemide Egyptians (late 900s to 1070 AD).  The entry of the Roma into Europe from Anatolia was not as a single exodus, but as a number of smaller migrations over as much as a two-century timespan, leading to a splintering across European countries. This accounts in part for the lack of cohesiveness among the various groups in Europe self-identifying as Roma, and for the major dialect splits within the language.  The first wave travelled the furthest, reaching Britain, Scandinavia and Spain. The second wave reached ‘less far’, to central Europe. The third wave reached only as far as the Balkans, where many Roma were held in slavery.  As the Roma arrived in Europe as different groups, they therefore hold different notions about self-identity and divide into different factions. There are also different levels and retention of Romani culture between groups. These differences have not been acknowledged and accommodated, with different groups being defined by their behaviour, rather than culture and ethnicity. Within Europe, others who shared similar behaviour (itinerants, economic migrants, show people) were lumped together with Roma and all labelled ‘Gypsies’. 12  Within the UK, Romanies, Gypsies, Irish/Scottish Travellers, Showmen and other economic travellers are often all labelled Travellers.  Most Travellers no longer travel.  The current call for Roma ‘reunification’ is misguided as the Roma were never one people in one place at one time. Their roots are in Asia, but they were not originally unified in Asia and only existed as a relatively cohesive group in the West. 5.0 TRADITIONS AND TABOOS Romany Law is at the heart of the cultural and spiritual character of the Roma people, and these cultural and spiritual aspects have been classified by Sándor (2012) into two main categories: 1. Hebrew-related* beliefs, laws, rules and practices; very important within Roma community life. 2. Fire-worship-related practices and some elements connected with belief; mostly regulating the relationship with the non-Roma environment. *Other authorities trace Romany rituals to Hindu sources, although their essential practice remains the same. A wide range of customs and traditions have also been adopted by Gypsies/Roma from each country through which they have travelled or stayed for any length of time. For example, many ancient fire-worship practices were adopted during sojourns in the Persian Empire, and divination practices adopted from the Persian magi. These customs vary from country to country, but the main traditions which have remained consistent, and which continue to affect the Gypsy/Roma way of life today, are:  Strict cleanliness rituals and taboos – that differ from those of the settled community  Justice and Religion  Strict rituals regarding marriage, sexual relations, birth and death  Nomadism/travelling/freedom  Self-employment, self-reliance and independence  Strong oral traditions and shared culture  Importance of extended family The most conservative and exclusivist of European Roma have strict patterns that are strongly founded on the Romani language and Romany Law. They do not consider as Roma any groups who do not speak Romanés, or who speak a dialect of it that is unintelligible for them (such as British Romanies who have largely lost the pure Romanés language). Differences between groups are also established according to the degree of observance of the Romany Law, and many groups have either lost their strict adherence to ancient traditions, or adhere to traditions without knowing why they do so. This ancient psychological heritage is transferred unconsciously from generation to generation, and the most important element of it is the marimé or mochadi cleanliness laws (see below). 13 In Britain, each ‘Traveller’ group has distinct customs and traditions which sets them apart from others, and which can vary from group to group within a specific community. Romany Gypsies in particular feel very strongly that they should not be grouped together with other ‘types’ of Traveller, including other ‘traditional’ Travellers, which can be very offensive to them and creates a strong divide. However, due to living in close proximity with other traveller groups, there has been some cross-over of customs and practices between them. In particular, Irish Travellers have adopted some Romany Gypsy customs and traditions. There has been inter-marriage between the groups despite their differences and tensions, and different groups live and work alongside each other without conflict due to the common features of nomadism, self-reliance, and a strong sense of family and community. There are also forums where different Traveller groups work together to achieve common aims. However, it is very important to acknowledge and respect the differences between the various groups of Travellers in the UK today, who have invariably been herded together by a non-Gypsy local authority onto a designated site. The lists of customs and taboos below are not therefore comprehensive, as there are many variations across groups and countries, but these are the ones that appear to remain consistent, either in practice or in the group’s folk memory and which cause great misunderstanding in Britain. 5.1 Cleanliness rituals and taboos In matters of cleanliness Gypsies/Roma take into account spiritual purity as well as physical hygiene. Complex pollution taboos demonstrate a fundamental distinction between the inside of the body and the outside. The outer body symbolises the public self and acts as a protective covering for the inside which must be kept pure and inviolate. The inner body symbolises the secret ethnic self, a sustained individuality, and is reaffirmed by the solidarity of the Gypsy group. Gypsies/Roma distinguish between something being dirty and something ritually unclean. The word chikli means ‘dirty’ in a harmless way. But the word mochadi (or marimé) means ‘ritually polluted’. A person’s face and clothes can be black with grime but not mochadi, so long as the inner body is clean. The Gadjé are condemned as mochadi by definition since they are not Gypsy and do not distinguish between the inner and outer body. The outer body (or skin) with its discarded scales, accumulated dirt, by-products of hair and waste such as faeces are all potentially polluting if recycled through the inner body. By contrast, anything taken into the inner body via the mouth (and eating implements) must be ritually clean … the outer body must be kept separate from the inner. (Okely, 1983) There also is a spiritual rationale. Gypsies/Roma believe in the importance of spiritual energy, called dji, which is drained when too much time is spent in the jado, the non-Romani world. The only remedy is to reimmerse oneself in an all-Romani milieu, which is another reason that the Roma tend to keep to themselves. The Gypsy/Roma beliefs create and express symbolic boundaries between themselves and the majority society, leading to endless conflicts, confrontations and cultural misunderstandings. The concept of marimé is the inverse of the Jewish concept of kosher – what is marimé for a Rom is not kosher for a Jew – and extensive measures are taken to avoid becoming spiritually defiled or polluted. If contamination is unavoidable, clear rules are followed to become 14 purified. The rules that regulate marimé/mochadi are a fundamental value in Romany society that conditions their relationship with the external world. Gypsies/Roma classify everything into two categories: vuzho (pure) or marimé (impure – although the term used more commonly in Britain is mochadi, so this will be used here). This classification covers the human body, the spiritual realm, the house or camp, animals, things and Gadjé (non-Roma). Some examples are:  As Gadjé do not know the laws regarding mochadi, it is assumed that they are impure and are avoided. Many Roma will not enter a Gadjé house or eat with them.  A Gadjé person visiting a Gypsy caravan may not be allowed entry due to the expense involved in destroying and replacing the caravan. Separate crockery and utensils are used for Gypsy and any non-Gypsy visitors (tea often taken outside the caravan). Irish Travellers, whilst adopting many customs of Romany Gypsies, are more likely to admit visitors to their caravans.  Gadjé institutions are used as a ‘free trade area’ where impure activities may be performed with safety (such as a hospital).  The lower part of the body and genitals are considered impure.  Bodily discharge is impure.  The upper body is pure.  Whatever is touched by the lower body is impure (beds, shoes, chairs, floor); anything touched by the upper body is pure (tables). Any plates or cups placed on the floor, or accidentally dropped, are destroyed.  The act of sleeping is considered impure, and Gyspies/Roma do not greet anybody until having washed after waking.  Cats, rats, mice, dogs and foxes are impure because they lick themselves; impure animals cannot be eaten.  Horses are ritually pure.  The hands have to perform pure and impure acts, therefore must be washed in a particular way – with separate soap and dried with a separate towel.  Different soaps and towels are always used for the upper and lower body.  Showering in running water is pure, sitting in a bath is impure.  Most Gypsy/Roma men still retain facial whiskers, a tradition that supposedly originated in a commandment from God.  Washing activity of the person, clothes or dishes must take place outside the caravan, with different non-interchangeable bowls used for different types of washing. This adds up to a large stock of bowls per family, all used for different purposes.  Dishes and cooking utensils must be washed in a bowl kept specifically for that purpose. Only the washing-up bowl is allowed inside the caravan, all other bowls are placed outside the trailer but not on the floor.  Animal receptacles must be washed in an entirely separate bowl.  Impure clothes (lower body clothes) must be washed in separate bowls from pure clothes (upper body and children’s clothes); pure clothes must be separated from tablecloths, napkins, etc. which have a further separate bowl.  All women’s clothing is impure during menstruation.  The camp (or house if necessary) is spiritually pure, and physiological activity must take place outside it. This means that toilet facilities are placed outside the camp, and Gypsies will not use the built-in toilet or shower in their caravans (this compartment is 15 usually used for storage). Public health inspectors then prosecute Gypsies for not having toilets in their caravans.  Houses, wherever possible, should have an outside toilet. Local authorities build separate washing blocks on their designated caravan sites for Gypsies and Travellers, but often Gypsies will not use them if the washing facilities are combined with cooking facilities.  Gypsies board up the sinks provided in caravans, or commission trailers without them – ordering a continuous Formica ledge instead on which to place crockery bowls.  Garbage must be thrown at an acceptable distance from the camp (giving rise to spotlessly clean interiors of caravans, and scrap and garbage gathering outside the caravan). No waste bins are kept inside a caravan.  If cooking on an outdoor fire, it must be a separate fire from one used for burning or cleaning metal.  Doctors are impure because they deal with illness and death.  Vaccination is impure because it introduces pollution to the inner body. Many Gypsy families refuse to allow their children to be vaccinated. 5.2 Justice and Religion JUSTICE  There are no social classes. The only sharp division exists between Roma and Gadjé.  Most Romany law is passed on verbally.  The Romany Court is the Assembly or Kris, composed of family/clan judges. In the UK this takes the form of the Romany Council.  Disputes among Roma cannot be judged by Gadjé, only by the Kris.  All Roma are equal before the Kris, which must be impartial.  If a serious offence is committed by a Roma person or family, the Kris can judge that the person/family be banished from the territory of other Roma.  Roma cannot maintain any kind of relationship with the banished person.  Roma cannot ask interest on loans from their own people, but they can so do from Gadjé.  The custom of asking for items from Gadjé (begging) is believed to be an ancient commandment from God RELIGIOUS BELIEFS Roma usually confess an ‘official’ religion, based on the religion of their adopted country. Beyond this, their essential beliefs include:  Strict monotheism.  An accessible God with no intermediary.  No traditional image, symbol or portrayal of any Divinity.  The existence of a spiritual world, consisting of pure and impure spirits representing good and evil.  Blasphemy is considered a great sin, as is cursing an elder (but cursing Gadjé is an acceptable way of ensuring distance with the ‘impure’).  Current phenomenon of conversion to Evangelical movements, leading to abandonment of ancestral fire-worship elements and divination practices. 16 Complementary superstitious elements:  Having a lighted fire in the house permanently, day and night, winter and summer (a tradition that is still kept by the most conservative families, while in general is evolving into a ‘symbolic’ fire like the TV set, always switched on though nobody is actually watching).  Contrary to popular belief, Roma do not believe in divination themselves, but use practices such as fortune-telling, palmistry and Tarot outwardly to earn money from Gadjé. 5.3 Marriage, sexual relations, birth and death MARRIAGE  Virginity before marriage is essential.  Tokens of virginity are shown to assembled relatives after the wedding.  Incest is forbidden with close relatives, but marrying cousins is acceptable.  Marriage is an obligation for men and women who are expected to marry in their late teens.  Dating before marriage is strictly forbidden. Matches are made by family elders, sometimes to forge ties with another family.  The custom of ‘grabbing’ (as seen on Big Fat Gypsy Weddings) relates to a custom of abduction or capture of brides followed by Irish Travellers. This is based on the Celtic practice of ‘dragging home the bride’ in Ireland. (Jarman, 1991)  The groom’s family pays a dowry to the bride’s family.  After marriage, the bride usually becomes a part of the groom’s family and lives with his parents.  The bride is expected to work for the groom’s family.  Runaway couples are considered legitimately married.  In Wales, a traditional Gypsy marriage was ‘over the broom’: … a branch of broom, preferably in flower, or failing that a besom made of broom, was jumped over by the bride and bridegroom (Jarman, 1991). Possibly borrowed from the rural Welsh communities, references to these Gypsy marriages preserve the last examples of their survival in Wales.  Marriage among Gypsies/Roma is usually within the same group of families – not a rigid rule but observed by the majority of Gyspies/Roma.  Marrying a non-Roma is usually taboo.  Divorce is acceptable, but a re-married woman cannot return to her first husband.  Members of the Kris must be married. SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR  Female sexuality is seen as polluting if mismanaged; therefore virginity before marriage is essential, and prostitution strongly condemned.  The Gadjé view of Gypsy women as sensual and provocative contrasts starkly with the Gypsy view of Gypsy women, who are scrutinised and their sexual behaviour controlled (a Romany woman cannot be alone with a man who is not her husband). Gadjé women are thought by Gypsies to demonstrate uncontrolled sexuality, with revealing clothes and provocative make-up; many are seen as prostitutes.  Nakedness is taboo except between husband and wife. 17  To show one’s legs before an elder is a lack of respect.  Images of erotic scenes are forbidden with a Romany home.  Gypsies/Roma are not allowed to wear clothes of the opposite gender, even in jest.  Homosexuality is considered shameful and an abomination, and is quite rare; it usually entails exclusion of the individual from the community.  A Cardiff Romany woman has recently been convicted of homophobic abuse, demonstrating the difference between her beliefs and beliefs of the wider society: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2186095/Jayne-Collins-Woman-claiming-Romany-gypsy-princessfacing-jail-homophobic-abuse-Cardiff.html BIRTH  Menstruation is considered impure and a woman may not cook, wash up or handle food during this time. She must not step over a fire, a man sitting down, or anything else that may become defiled. She must pass behind rather than in front of a man. She must not step over or cross a stream with running water.  Any Romani Gypsy woman in the higher floors in a house ‘pollutes’ the rest of the people in the house below her (Weyrauch, 2001). Walking over water-pipes buried in the ground would make the tap water mochadi (Jarman, 1991).  Childbirth is an impure event and should take place outside the camp. This makes it acceptable for childbirth to take place in a Gadjé hospital, which is already impure.  The mother and child are isolated for seven days, followed by 33 days of semiisolation.  During the 40 days of a woman’s child-bearing and recovery (purification), she cannot touch any pure items or perform an activity such as cooking. She is allocated separate crockery which is destroyed at the end of the 40 days. Clothes and beds used during the 40 days are also destroyed.  Gypsies/Roma consider the firstborn son to be a special blessing for the family.  Gypsy/Roma families often have many children, in keeping with the Romani aphorism but chave but baxt (many children much luck). Children are often viewed as an economic resource, helping to earn income and keep employment within the family. DEATH  Death is a definitive passage to the spiritual world, there are no ideas of reincarnation.  The dead person is impure during their journey to the realm of the souls, and all items connected with the person are impure. The body cannot be touched.  Relatives of the dead are impure for seven days and cannot bathe, comb hair or cut their nails during that time. On the third day they must wash and perform ritual cleansing.  All food in the dead person’s house is considered defiled and is thrown away.  All property belonging to the dead person is destroyed, preferably burned (ritually cleansing). This extended to valuable wooden caravans, even if it left the remaining family homeless.  Mourners stay at home, sit on low stools, cover the mirrors, do not use perfumes or cosmetics, do not wear new clothes, do not listen to music, nor take photographs, nor watch TV, do not paint, cannot cook and cannot greet people.  The dead must be buried intact, which means organ removal and autopsy are not allowed. Burning the dead is a great sacrilege.  Gypsy/Roma destiny after death is Paradise. 18 5.4 Nomadism/travelling/freedom Since leaving India so many centuries ago, Gypsies/Roma have travelled through numerous countries without any sense of a `homeland'. They have moved because of migration due to wars, expulsion due to legislation against them, forced migration due to racist attacks, eviction and deportation, but always for survival – and primarily in order to earn a living. Gypsies/Roma have never been nomads in the sense of herding or agriculture. Commerce is one of the most important factors in the decision to move and travel, and for Gypsy/Roma tradesmen or craftsmen finding customers has always been the main motive for travel. However, with members of the extended family so dispersed, travel is also necessary to maintain social ties, and after so many centuries of travelling as a way of life, the ethos of freedom and travel is part of the Gypsy's heritage. However, Gypsies remain `nomadic' even when not travelling, and one of the most important concepts to understand when considering Gypsy principles of freedom is that `nomadism is more a state of mind than a state of fact' (Liegeois, 1994). Even when they `settle’ Gypsies are still `travellers' and retain a nomadic frame of mind. The essence of travel as a folk memory is as much a psychological need as an economic one, and the two have combined to produce a fundamental component of Gypsy life and `culture' in the UK. A ‘settled’ Gypsy will often have a caravan parked outside the house and ‘always petrol in the motor'[G]. Gypsies who have been forcibly `settled' on sites would continue an economic nomadism if they were not prevented from doing so by outside forces, or the terms of their site licence. The most common response to the concept of freedom, however, is: `freedom means the freedom to stop without being harassed'[G]. The ability of Gypsies and Travellers to maintain a mobile lifestyle, key to their definition in law, has become increasingly difficult. UK planning legislation has reduced the number of places where Gypsies and Travellers can legally stop. Work patterns have also changed in recent years and many Gypsies and Travellers undertake work which does not require them to adopt a nomadic lifestyle. Access to services and education have also affected Gypsy and Traveller patterns of travelling. The pattern of travelling within GRT groupings varies between: a) Maintaining an entirely nomadic lifestyle. b) Residing in settled housing for part of the year. c) Residing in authorised local authority campsites. d) Residing in private campsites. e) Residing in unauthorised campsites. f) Maintaining an entirely settled lifestyle but retaining the identity of ‘Traveller’. While there are exceptions, the general picture built up of residential Gypsy/Traveller sites is that they are stable, with long-term residents who travel little during the course of a year. It may be that, for many residents, the attractions of a site lie in the possibilities of living within a culturally distinct community among friends and family. However, to remain a ‘Gypsy’ in terms of planning law, part of a Gypsy’s living must be earned in a nomadic way. Gypsies living on authorised sites therefore began relying more on the horse fairs for their cultural and legal nomadism, and for retaining extended family ties. However, as Liegeois (1994) has noted: `As 19 far as Gypsies and Travellers themselves are concerned, there is generally no sense of "progress" attached to passing from a caravan to a house: such change is a temporary result of compromise, and may indeed, if too strongly imposed from without, be seen as a step downwards.' Recently a Gypsy won the right to live in a caravan after saying he couldn’t get a good night’s sleep in his three-bedroom home: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2187354/Gypsy-wins-right-livecaravan-saying-good-nights-sleep-home.html ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Source: Select Committee on Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions Thirteenth Report http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmodpm/633/63306.htm 5.5 Self-employment A Gypsy/Roma family unit typically encompasses multiple generations, and includes a patriarch and matriarch, their unmarried offspring (both young and adult), and a married son, his wife, and their children. By the time an older son is ready to establish his own household, a younger son often will have married and brought his wife and children into the family to take the place of the departing sibling. Economic activities take place within the framework of the family group, which is the basic economic unit, and children learn the various trades of the family alongside their parents on a day-to-day basis. This method also provides training in diversity, change, variety and flexibility. As a people on the move, their oral tradition imparts economic training as well as entertainment and the core ideas of their culture. Gypsies/Roma have never been self-sufficient in the same way as pastoral nomads, but have always been dependent upon the larger economy. They have always been peripatetic economic nomads through the sale of goods or services. Pastoralism  labour, livestock and pasture. Peripatetics  labour, customers and goods or skills. Having been displaced from India, the main occupations which the Gypsies/Roma had followed were continued on a nomadic basis when they began to move from country to country for survival. The four main occupations were metalwork, entertainment, craftwork and general trading. Many variations of these basic trades were developed, and many other skills added as the need arose, but even today many Gypsies still follow a modern version of these original occupations. More important is that the strategies for economic survival which were originally employed are still in use, although adapted and varied to suit modern conditions in different countries and regions. As itinerant communities their sources of subsistence have always been in relation to sedentary customers through the provision of specialised goods or services, and through the exploitation of seasonal or periodic opportunities. Below is a breakdown of traditional and current trades and occupations. In order to maximise their economic opportunities and chances of survival, certain fundamental factors are of paramount importance to Gypsies/Roma/Travellers: a) adaptability to social, geographical, occupational and economic situations; b) self-employment and independence from wage-labour; and c) nomadism – the ability to travel to find customers. 20 It is these factors which contribute in large measure to the essence of being a Romany Gypsy (whether `settled’ or not) and their `economic independence has been a near-universal correlate of the maintenance of ethnic identity’ (Acton 1974). However, it is just these same factors which have been the cause of centuries of prejudice and discrimination – problems which are still apparent today and which are central to European Union policies on Roma/Gypsies. GYPSY/TRAVELLER TRADES AND OCCUPATIONS Metalwork Entertainment (Main) Entertainment (Secondary) Craft work Labour Trade/Service Traditional Trades and Occupations Weapon makers Singers Circus artistes Woodcarvers Forced soldiers General traders Tinsmiths Dancers Jugglers Basket makers Mercenary soldiers Hawking small goods Blacksmiths Musicians Horse traders Leather workers Guards Rag collection Coppersmiths Jugglers Vets Shoe makers Agricultural workers Gold panners Animal handlers Bear trainers Peg makers War labour (snipers, scouts, vets, soldiers) Munitions workers Soothsayers Snake charmers Camp providers Knife grinders Healers Scrap dealers Astrologers Fortune tellers Most Common Current Trades and Occupations Scrap dealing Singers Horse trading Wagon building Farm work Roofing/Building Car breaking Dancers Boxing Wagon restoring Fruit/veg picking Tarmac laying Secondhand car dealing Musicians Factory work Barn spraying Cabaret artists Tree lopping/logs Fortune tellers Carpet selling Antique/general dealing Lawyers Teachers Politicians Journalists Gypsies/Travellers in the UK do not train generally for a single occupation. They are involved in a number of activities, any one of which may come to the fore at any given time, to meet the needs of the moment. Traditionally, a family may have been involved in scrap collection in the winter, fruit or potato picking in the spring and summer, general building work as it became available, and the buying and selling of horses or general goods at Gypsy horse fairs during the fair season. Activities are dropped or taken up as circumstances or the seasons dictate. Gypsy/Traveller children typically receive just a basic education to the end of primary school, and are then often withdrawn from school in order to take part in the family’s economic activities. 21 Due to site provision and enforced settlement, full economic nomadism is being replaced by mobility from a semi-fixed base. Improved transport makes it possible to work a relatively large area from a fixed base, without having to move the whole family so often, and Gypsies/Travellers have adopted the use of the mobile telephone very extensively. However, these are strategies to adapt yet again to imposed restrictions, as forced sedentarism militates against moving freely to provide labour, goods and services. Site provision in its present form equates with control, not freedom of movement. The truly geographically mobile trader can gain significant advantages in price differences and availability of goods in different areas, as well as capitalise on untapped markets for his goods and services. This economic freedom is denied those Gypsies/Travellers forced to live on sites, who in many cases must resort to social security as their only means of survival. Whether ‘settled’ or mobile, Gypsies and Travellers prefer to retain their self-employed status at all times. GYPSY/TRAVELLER REASONS FOR SELF-EMPLOYMENT Wage-labour employment Gypsy/Traveller occupations 1. Employee. 1. Self-employed. 2. Dependence on a single trade or industry. 2. Diversified occupations. 3. Capital-intensive technology. 3. Labour-intensive. 4. ‘Unskilled’ labour or specific skills. 4. Less specific, more wide-ranging aptitudes or skills. 5. Work away from the family and home. 5. Family often involved in production. Some work in home setting. 6. Work/leisure division of hours, days and weeks. Set holidays. 6. No work/leisure division. Time off a personal choice. No set holidays. 7. Orders from above. Usually fixed routine. 7. Self-imposed orders and decisions. Routine is selfstructured. 8. Training and education in institutions external to the family, e.g. school and college. 8. Family-based training and education. 9. Wage payment. 9. Individually negotiable prices and profits. 10. Short-term security of a regular fixed wage. 10. Short-term insecurity with unpredictable losses, but the promise of a windfall. 11. Possibility of long-term insecurity; the sack or redundancy. 11. Some long-term security; independence from an employer and flexibility in occupation. 12. Sick benefit and unemployment money. Diminished support from kin and neighbours. 12. No sick benefit, no unemployment money. No Social Security benefits if no fixed address. Assistance from kin and neighbours. 13. Compulsory retirement in most cases. Pension or Social Security. 13. Some self-employment in old age. No pension. Social Security benefit available. 14. Fixed location. 14. Geographical mobility. 15. Work may be available but no housing. 15. Work may be available but no legal stopping-place. Source: Judith Okely, The Traveller-Gypsies (1983) The fact remains that Gypsies/Travellers continue to follow particular trades and to supply goods and services to the host community because a demand exists, and because they have the skills to satisfy those demands. They also have the flexibility to adapt their skills as circumstances or their customers' demands change. But in order to do this, they must travel to where their customers are, and stop long enough in one place to supply the services required. This invariably means stopping on the outskirts of a town – close enough to service their clients, but separate enough to be considered vagrants, parasites, outcasts, marginalised or deviants in need of assimilation or integrationist policies. 22 The tightening up of regulations on small-scale trading is a general problem in Europe, with many EU regulations and imposition of new laws now making it impossible for Gypsies/Travellers to practise traditional independent trades. Even when operating from a fixed base on a regular trade circuit, the complex red tape and requirement for licences causes huge problems for an under-educated group. Within the UK the introduction of written examinations as a compulsory part of the British driving test automatically discriminated against an uneducated Gypsy/Traveller minority. As driving is an integral part of the Gypsy/Traveller way of life, the inability to gain a licence decreases substantially the scope for earning a living. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Sources: Judith Okely, The Traveller-Gypsies (1983); Travellers Aid Trust http://travellersaidtrust.org; Sándor[G],‘Comparison of Romany Law with Israelite Law and Indo-Aryan Traditions’ http://www.imninalu.net/Roma.htm; National Geographic online at: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/american-gypsies/romani-cultureand-traditions/ 6.0 LEGAL STATUS In the UK Gypsies/Roma/Travellers are subject to the same laws as the settled community. However, there are certain laws that affect the travelling community disproportionately. The area where there is most conflict relates to their nomadic existence and unauthorised encampment. Due to this nomadic lifestyle Gypsies/Travellers are frequently subject to offences regarding criminal damage, refuse disposal, road traffic and trespass. Since the introduction of the European Convention on Human Rights, however, a toleration policy has been developed by the Department of the Environment regarding unauthorised encampments. Given the lack of official campsites in the UK a non-harassment policy has become necessary, although implementation of this policy has been fragmented nationally, with some areas adopting this policy and others resorting to legislative measures. Use of these powers can prove problematical with the potential for breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights and Race Relations acts. There is now a general duty on the police and government authorities to eliminate unlawful racial discrimination; to promote equality of opportunity, and to promote good race relations between people of different racial groups. The few cases regarding Gypsy/Traveller issues that have been decided in the European Courts commented that there had been interference with Gypsy/Traveller rights. The main Convention rights affecting Gypsies/Roma/Travellers are the right to private and family life, and the right of prohibition of discrimination. At present the definitions currently employed in UK law (used variously, depending on the case in hand), are: (a) The definition of a Gypsy in the Caravan Sites Act 1968 is: Persons of nomadic habit of life, whatever their race or origin, but does not include members of an organised group of travelling showpeople or persons engaged in travelling circuses travelling together as such. (b) However, in May 1994, Lord Justice Neil found the 1968 Act definition unsatisfactory, and defined Gypsies as: Persons who wander or travel for the purpose of making or seeking their livelihood (not persons who move from place to place without any connection between their 23 movements and their means of livelihood). It is this definition which is currently used by Government. It focuses on habitual lifestyle rather than ethnicity and includes ‘born’ Gypsies and Travellers and ‘elective’ Travellers such as New Age Travellers. (c) For the purposes of the Race Relations Act 1976 the essential conditions for persons to constitute a ‘racial group’ are: (i) a long shared history, of which the group is conscious as distinguishing it from other groups, and the memory of which it keeps alive; (ii) a cultural tradition of its own, including family and social customs and manners, often but not necessarily associated with religious observance. These various definitions all serve to confuse the issue of who is and who isn’t a Gypsy in the eyes of the law, governments, the Gypsies themselves, and the non-Gypsy population. A 1994 appeal case ruled that the term `nomad' entailed `not just travel, but regular travel for an economic purpose.' As Kenrick & Bakewell (1995) point out, this means that Romany Gypsies living on a caravan site who travel only to visit fairs to see friends and relatives lose their status as ‘Gypsies’ under the 1968 Act. On the other hand New Age Travellers who travel either to work or to seek work may acquire the status of ‘Gypsies’. The broad term `Traveller' is now used to cover all types of travelling groups, whether Gypsy or not, with the result that all Gypsies are Travellers (whether settled or mobile), but not all Travellers are ethnically Gypsies. Many Gypsies and Travellers now live increasingly sedentary lifestyles. The current definitions imply that those within the community who do not adopt a nomadic lifestyle are not actually Gypsies and Travellers. In Wales the Welsh Assembly Government has a general duty to ensure equality of opportunity for all people without reference to membership of specific groups. The Equality of Opportunity Committee argued that Gypsies and Travellers should have the right to selfidentify. Timeline for British Gypsies/Travellers and Legislation From their first appearance in Britain, Gypsies came in small family groups seeking opportunities to carry on existing trades and occupations amongst settled populations. There was little space for them and no chance to establish … the only place for the Gypsies was, therefore, on the fringes of society where they had to make a living as best as they could. (Kenrick & Bakewell, 1995) 1100s Ireland Travellers first recorded in Ireland. Travelling tinsmiths mentioned in Scottish records. By the twelfth century the name Tynkler and Tynker (derived from ‘tinceard’, meaning ‘tinsmith’) emerged in reference to a group of nomads who maintained a separate identity, social organisation, and dialect. 1200s Britain Many fairs are created by Royal Charter. 24 1505 Scotland First authenticated record of Gypsies in Scotland. This means they probably arrived some time during the fifteenth century. King James IV of Scotland pays seven pounds to ‘Egyptians’ stopped at Stirling, who may have come from Spain. Parish records from around this time show that Irish Travellers are already living in England. 1510 England Two ladies dressed up as Gypsies for a masked court ball, indicating Gypsies were in England for some years prior to this date. 1514 England First mention of a Gypsy in England recorded at Lambeth. 1530 England and Wales Gypsies are forbidden to enter England under Henry VIII. Those already there are deported. 1540 Scotland Gypsies allowed to live under their own laws. 1544 England Gypsies deported to Norway. 1547 Andrew Boorde, an English physician and writer, published The Fyrst Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge in which the Romani language is recorded as ‘Egipt speche’ for the first time. 1554 England – Egyptians Act Queen Mary passes the Egyptians Act. Being a Gypsy is punishable by death, as is being found in ‘the fellowship or company of Egyptians’. This is the only time that fraternising with an ethnic community has been punishable by death. The death penalty is imposed for any Gypsy not leaving the country within a month. 1562 England Provision of previous Acts widened to include people who live and travel like Gypsies. Travelling is either on foot or with two-wheeled tilted carts with a canvas cover. Many Gypsies live in makeshift bender tents, and will continue to do so until the mid-late twentieth century. 1572 England First recorded Gypsy presence in Leeds Parish registers. 1573 Scotland Gypsies ordered either to stop travelling and settle down or leave the country. 1579 Wales First records of Kalé Gypsies in Radnor. 25 1596 York, England Mass execution of Gypsies in the city. 1596 England Shakespeare refers to Romanies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream – ‘Sees Helen’s beauty in the brow of Egypt’. 1600 England Shakespeare refers to fortune telling in As You Like It. 1603 England In Othello, Desdemona’s handkerchief is a gift from a gypsy ‘Egyptian charmer’. 1611 Scotland Three Gypsies hanged (under 1554 law). 1650s England Last known hanging for the crime of being a Gypsy, in Suffolk, England. Gypsies are deported to America. 1685 England Appleby Fair granted chartered fair status in 1685 by James II. 1714 Scotland Two female Gypsies executed. British Gypsies are shipped to the Caribbean as slaves. 1715 Scotland Ten Gypsies deported to Virginia. 1768 England The first modern circus is held in London. 1780 England Anti-Gyspy legislation gradually repealed from this date. 1800s Britain Fairs start to include mechanical rides, as they still do today. 1820s Britain Tents start to be used for fairs under George IV. 1820 Britain Specially-commissioned wooden caravans start being used for travel by showmen (Showmen’s wagons). 1822 United Kingdom Turnpike Act introduced: Gypsies camping on the roadside to be fined. 26 1835 United Kingdom – Highways Act 1835 This Act strengthened the provisions of the 1822 Turnpike Act. It became an offence to `be a Gypsy encamping on the highway' which meant that under this legislation Gypsies on a verge or in a layby were committing an offence while a foreign or British tourist could park a caravan alongside without being summonsed. This Act was still being used until its repeal in 1980. 1840s Large groups of Irish Travellers arrive in mainland Britain due to 1840s famine in Ireland. 1840 England Specially-commissioned wooden caravans start being used for travel by Romany Gypsies (Gypsy vardos). 1880s England Agricultural depression in England. Many Travellers and Gypsies are poverty-stricken and move to urban squatters’ areas. Hundreds of Irish Travellers leave Ireland for Britain. 1889 Britain Showmen in Britain form the United Kingdom Van Dwellers Association, later called the Showmen’s Guild, to fight the Moveable Dwellings Bill, which restricts travellers’ movements. 1908 England – The Children’s Act Education is made compulsory for Travelling children in England by The Children’s Act, but only for half the year. 1930s Local Acts of Parliament Many local authorities were given additional powers against Gypsies under these local acts. 1930s-60s Groups of European Roma come to live in Britain. 1936 England – Public Order Act 1936 An Act originally designed to cover anti-semitic propaganda. ‘True’ Romany Gypsies may be considered an ethnic group for the purposes of section 5A of this Act. 1939 World War II In Britain, the government builds caravan camps for Gypsies serving in the forces or doing vital farm work. These are closed when the war finishes. In Germany, Roma, Sinti and other Gypsies are stripped of all human rights by the Nazis. As many as 600,000 are murdered in camps and gas chambers. Known by Roma as the porrajmos (the ‘devouring’), the Roma holocaust in Europe. 27 1942 Germany Central Security Office in Berlin started to collect information on the Gypsy population of England, in preparation for a planned invasion of Britain. 1945 Britain Travellers start to use motor-drawn trailers, and some buy their own land to stop on. 1947 England Committee set up by Norman Dodds, Labour MP, which included Gypsy and Gorgio members which drew up a nine-point Charter regarding Gypsy and Traveller needs in England and Wales. 1954 United Kingdom – Convention on Stateless Persons (1954) The UK signed the Convention which states The contracting states shall as far as possible facilitate the assimilation and naturalisation of stateless persons. In practice the Home Office ignored this convention. 1960 England and Wales – The Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 The 1960 Caravan Sites Act made it illegal for any piece of land to be used as a caravan site without a licence – and a licence was unobtainable without planning permission. A Gypsy could not buy a piece of land and park his own caravan on it without first obtaining planning permission and then a site licence. Many Gypsies were also driven off private land by benevolent landowners now unable to obtain a site licence, and farmers using seasonal workers were fined under the same Act. Under section 24 of this Act, local authorities were given discretionary powers to provide caravan sites, but there was no mandatory duty. The aim was to regularise static caravan sites and raise standards for site residents through requirements for planning permission and site licences. Caravans were prohibited from common land. This led to a reduction in the number of places where Gypsies could stop. Some central funds were available to fund provision of sites, but by 1967 only 14 had been built. 1960s Mass evictions and public harassment of Gypsies and Travellers. Irish Government ‘Commission on Itinerancy’ begins a programme to assimilate Irish Travellers. Huge influx of Irish Travellers to mainland Britain. 1960 Commons Act Camping on commons prohibited. 1965 National Survey of Gypsies took place which recorded 15,500 ‘Gypsies and other Travellers’ (approximately 75% of the real number). 1966 Britain Gypsy Council (Romany Kris) founded. 28 1968 England and Wales – Caravan Sites Act 1968 This Act placed a duty on county councils and districts to provide accommodation for Gypsies ‘residing in and resorting to’ their areas. The Act required counties to assess the level of provision required, and to acquire the land. In Shire counties districts were responsible for the management of sites. If the Secretary of State deemed adequate provision to have been made, counties (and later individual districts) could apply to be 'designated'. This gave them increased powers to deal with illegal encampments. There was no time-scale given for local authorities to make provision, and some authorities failed to meet their obligations. The Secretary of State could direct a county to make adequate provision of sites but these powers were rarely used. The 1968 Caravan Sites Act promised to provide a solution to the problem of not being allowed to stop, by providing official caravan sites for Gypsies, but this turned out to be an empty promise. The main provisions of the Act were that: a) County Councils had a duty to provide accommodation for Gypsies ‘residing in and resorting to’ their areas; b) a London Borough need not provide accommodation for more than 15 caravans; c) the Secretary of State for the Environment may direct any local authority requiring them to provide sites; d) an Area can be designated as an area in which Gypsies cannot station their caravans except if there are pitches free on the official site – it is a criminal offence to do so. Problems arose almost immediately, because many Councils did not fulfil their obligations (and still haven't) to build the requisite number of sites, and those Councils that did, quickly provided the minimum number of pitches, based on inadequate counts of families in the area, and then claimed `designated' status. Under the 1968 Act, `designated' areas of the country are those where Gypsies cannot station a caravan on vacant land without committing a crime, making many areas of the country legally a Gypsy-free zone. Those families who managed to secure a place on a site became legal, but hampered in their ability to travel and find work and those who didn't secure a pitch became automatically criminalised as there was nowhere for them to legally stop elsewhere. Not being able to stop without harassment and forced roadside evictions meant that economic adaptability became severely difficult, whilst many site regulations prohibit the carrying on of a trade or business on the site. 1968 England The NGEC (National Gypsy Education Council) was set up with a committee of Gypsy activists and educationalists. Lady Plowden became its first Chair. 1970 Britain People from the settled community start to take to the road and live in caravans. They are designated as ‘New Age Travellers’ in the media. 1970 Part 2 of the Caravan Sites Act comes into operation. Councils must provide sites for Gypsies. Largely ignored. 29 1971 England First World Romani Congress held near London. Scotland Advisory Committee on the Travelling People starts work. 1972 England Romani Guild founded. 1976 The Race Relations Act 1976 States that Gypsies and Travellers must not be discriminated against and they must be treated fairly. It creates a general duty on a wide range of public authorities, including the police service, to eliminate unlawful racial discrimination; promote equality of opportunity, and promote good race relations between people of different racial groups. The Act requires local authorities to assess the impact of any proposed policies on all ethnic minorities; Romany Gypsies were recognised as an ethnic minority in 1989, and Irish Travellers in 2000. 1977 England and Wales John Cripps appointed to study the workings of the 1968 Caravans Act, and to report on the way in which local authorities had ignored its provisions. 1979 England To ensure adequate numbers of sites and monitor progress in meeting the provisions of the 1968 Act, a bi-annual count of Gypsy caravans and families was introduced in England in 1979. It is voluntary, although has a high return rate; 94% of authorities completed the relevant form in January 2003. The Count is based on two returns made by local authorities to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: GS1 is a count of the number Gypsy caravans, families, adults and children on unauthorised sites, authorised local authority sites and authorised private sites in each local authority area on specified dates in January and July. Numbers on unauthorised sites are split according to land-ownership (Gypsy owned land and other) and 'toleration' status (local authorities may 'tolerate' some unauthorised encampments in the sense that they will not take enforcement action). GS2 assess the provision of local authority Gypsy sites. This return requires details of the address, total number of pitches, type of pitches (residential and transit), total caravan capacity, and date of opening for all local authority Gypsy and Traveller sites at a specified date in January each year. 1980 Local Government Act Incorporated many suggestions from the Cripps Report. 1980 The offence of ‘being a Gypsy encamping on a highway’ is abolished. 1980 Education Act Gypsies on illegal sites are entitled to a school place. 30 1983 Mobile Homes Act This gives people who live on protected site extra protection from eviction. However, at present, local council sites for Gypsies and Travellers are not protected. 1985 England Bradford’s attempts to make it illegal for nomadic Gypsies to come within city limits overthrown by the Courts. 1986 Public Order Act 1986 Statutory protection of Gypsy Travellers from racially motivated crimes in mainland UK. Trespass on vacant land becomes a criminal offence: reinforces law on racial harassment. There are further powers contained within the Act which have been utilised where there has been notification or awareness that large numbers of Gypsies or Travellers have intended encamping at identified locations. There are also powers regarding regulation and prohibition of assemblies, which can be enforced prior to or during the assembly if known when and where it is taking place. 1988 Education Reform Act New fund for Traveller education. 1989 Britain Romany Gypsies are first recognised as an ethnic minority. 1990 Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TPCA 1990) and 1991 Planning and Compensation Act 1991 Planning legislation is the main tool used to tackle unauthorised development on land owned by Gypsies and Travellers. Under the TCPA 1990, local planning authorities have a number of powers: a) Where an apparent breach of planning control has taken place, a planning contravention notice may be served requiring information regarding activities on the land or interests in the land. b) An enforcement notice may be served requiring that steps be taken to remedy a specified breach within a given period of time. c) Direct action may be taken where steps required by an enforcement notice have not been taken within the compliance period. d) A stop notice may be served which immediately stops any activity which contravenes planning control. e) A breach of condition notice may be served where a condition or limitation imposed through a planning permission is not complied with. There is no statutory right of appeal against a breach of condition notice. f) High Court or County Court injunctions may be served in order to restrain any actual or expected breach of planning control. g) Compulsory purchase can take place following authorisation from the Secretary of State. In addition, local authorities have the option to take civil action for trespass in their capacity as landowners. 31 1993 Scotland Scottish Gypsy Traveller Association set up. 1994 Britain – Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 This is the greatest blow to a nomadic way of life. Under this Act, the 1968 Caravan Sites Act is repealed, which means that councils are no longer obliged to build sites, and can close those already built. At the same time, it is now a criminal offence to stop on a roadside with six or more vehicles, which means that a maximum of two families (two caravans and two towing vehicles) can stop together. The powers given to `designated' areas have been strengthened and now apply across the whole of England and Wales, against all caravans. Not moving after being asked to do so by a local council becomes a further criminal offence (Kenrick & Bakewell, 1995). This Act provides the police and local authorities with powers to tackle unauthorised encampments where no trespass is involved. Grant aid for the provision of sites was also withdrawn. Instead Travellers were encouraged to buy their own land. However, Barkham (2005) noted that over 90% of planning applications are refused as opposed to 20% of non-traveller applications. As the Commission for Racial Equality has noted, `Gypsies will have two choices: either to become house dwellers or to be criminalised for following a nomadic way of life.' The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act received Royal Assent in the U.K. in the same week as the Committee of Ministers signed a new Council of Europe framework convention on the protection of national minorities, linked to the European Convention on Human Rights (November 1994). The main legislation contains police powers applicable to unauthorised encampment in the mainland UK, although use of the police powers is inconsistent throughout the UK. Additional powers are also provided in Section 62 of the Act, regarding seizure of vehicles from the land where the unauthorised encampment is located. Powers to prohibit trespassory assemblies have been used regarding large unauthorised encampments of Travellers on the grounds primarily of ‘serious disruption to the life of the community’. Use of the powers contained in the Act and other legislation may result in liability for civil wrongs arising under the Race Relations Act 1976 as amended by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 or the Human Rights Act 1998, depending on the particular circumstances. There are several alternative procedures available to deal with unauthorised encampment dependent on individual circumstances including powers and offences contained within the Highway Acts, local byelaws and planning legislation. An accompanying Department of the Environment circular, Gypsy Sites Policy and Unauthorised Camping recommended that local authorities consider adopting a policy of toleration and a more humane response towards unauthorised encampment, identifying wider obligations which Local Authorities may have to the travelling community. 32 Toleration policy The Department of the Environment and the Regions publication details considerations that should be made when considering toleration of unauthorised encampments. The current guidance suggests in the absence of specific welfare needs considerations regarding eviction should include the following: i) The nature, suitability or obtrusiveness of the encampment. ii) The size of the group, their behaviour and the level of nuisance. iii) The number, validity and seriousness of complaints. When a decision is made not to evict, the period the encampment remains should be determined by the specific circumstances of the particular encampment and could include the following: a) The educational needs of the children. b) The recent birth of children. c) Where Gypsy Travellers wish to stay for a short period, and they are unlikely to cause disruption or damage during their stay, a negotiated date of departure may be appropriate which if exceeded may trigger eviction. d) Consideration should be made by authorities as to whether Gypsy Travellers should be referred to a more suitable nearby site. e) Other considerations include consultation with local planning authorities regarding the impact of particular unauthorised encampments. Implementation of toleration policies is at present fragmented nationally. 1996 Housing Act 1996 This Act defined a person as homeless if they have accommodation but: i. Cannot secure entry to it, or ii. It consists of a moveable structure, vehicle or vessel designed or adapted for human habitation and there is no place where he is entitled or permitted both to place it and to reside in it. Consequently Gypsies on unauthorised sites are, by law, homeless. A target was set for local authorities in England to significantly increase accommodation for Gypsies and Travellers by 2011, though research commissioned by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (2009) indicates that most local authorities are far from meeting this target. 1997 England Roma refugees from the Slovak Republic arrive in Dover in November/December seeking asylum and receive mainly negative reactions and hostility from local residents and the national news media. 1998 Human Rights Act This Act came into effect in October 2000 when provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights were incorporated into UK law. The Act makes it unlawful for a public authority to act in breach of Convention Rights unless it could not have acted differently under primary legislation. Any interference with a Convention Right must be proportionate to the objective in question and must not 33 be arbitrary, unfair or oppressive. Several Articles of the Act are important in relation to Gypsies and Travellers: a) Article 1 states: i. Every natural person or legal person is entitles to the peaceful enjoyments of his possessions. ii. No one shall be deprived of his possessions except in the public interest and subject to the conditions provided for by the law and by the general principles of international law. b) Article 8 states: i. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence. ii. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedom of others. In relation to Article 8 the European Court of Human Rights has held that, occupation of [a] caravan is an integral part of [...] ethnic identity as a gypsy, reflecting the long tradition of that minority of following a travelling lifestyle. This is the case even though […] many gypsies increasingly settle for long periods in one place […]." Other Articles are also relevant: a) Article 2, the right not be denied access to education (this may be significant if eviction is considered by a local authority) b) Article 3, prohibiting inhuman or degrading treatment c) Article 11, freedom of peaceful assembly and association d) Article 14 refers to the right of prohibition of discrimination: The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status. Section 6 (1) states: It is unlawful for a public authority to act in a way which is incompatible with a Convention right. 1998 Crime and Disorder Act Statutory protection of Gypsy Travellers from racially motivated specified in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 in mainland United Kingdom. 2000 Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 Irish Travellers recognised as an Ethnic Minority under Race Relations Act. The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 states that public authorities must help all racial groups to be treated fairly. 34 2000 England Start of Gypsy-led protests at the ban of the 600-year-old fair at Horsemonden in Kent which are successful and the ban is finally lifted in 2006. 2001 Race Relations Act (Statutory Duties) Order 2001 Additional specific duties are placed on public authorities already bound by the general duty. These specific duties will be imposed on individual public authorities by the Act in England and Wales, and by the Race Relations Act (Statutory Duties) (Scotland) Order 2002 in Scotland. 2001 Gypsy Sites Refurbishment Grant The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister introduced this Grant in 2001 to provide funding for refurbishment of existing local authority Gypsy and Traveller sites in England. £17 million was made available over three years to local authorities, who were required to bid for funds. The grant provided 75% of the total costs, with local authorities funding the remainder. For 2003/04 the grant was extended to allow local authorities to bid for funds to build temporary sites and emergency stopping places. A further two years’ funding of £16 million was announced for 2004/5 and 2005/6. 2002 Homelessness Act 2002 By July of 2003, all local authorities were required to develop housing strategies that reviewed and predicted levels of homelessness within the authority's area. The strategy is required to ensure there is sufficient accommodation for all homeless people in the area. 2003 Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 On 26 July 2002, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Home Office issued a joint press release outlining the Government's new approach to tackling unauthorised camping, introducing stronger police powers to move unauthorised encampments provided there was adequate site provision. This Act provided the police with additional powers when a suitable pitch is available on a relevant site. A relevant site is defined as one within the same local authority area, although in a two-tier authority, the availability of a pitch would be on a county-wide basis. There is no definition of 'suitable pitch'. The powers of the Act may be used when: a) At least two people are trespassing; b) There is at least one vehicle; c) It appears that there are one or more caravans or; d) The trespassers are on the land for the purpose of residing there for any period of time. In such circumstances, a police officer may direct trespassers to move off the land. However, the police and local authority are bound by the Human Rights Act and the local authority should first undertake a welfare check at the encampment. Efforts should be made to keep members of the encampment together; where this is not possible, dependant members of the encampment should not be separated. 35 2003 Wales In May 2003 the Welsh Assembly Equality of Opportunity Committee published its "Review of Service provision for Gypsies and Travellers". It recommended that there should be a duty to provide, or facilitate the provision of accommodation for Gypsies and Travellers and that this should be supported by additional funding. 2004 Guidance on Managing Unauthorised Camping In February 2004 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Home Office published guidance on managing unauthorised camping. It identifies a number of principles to be followed in managing unauthorised camping. The principles involved are: a) To enforce the same standards of behaviour by unauthorised campers as are expected of the settled community. b) To respond rapidly to any deterioration of behaviour and growing disruption from an encampment. c) To facilitate access to services for Gypsy and Travellers on encampments. d) To keep all parties informed of decisions and actions. 2004 Housing Act A statutory requirement is introduced under section 225 of the Housing Act 2004 that there should be an accommodation needs assessment of all Gypsies and Travellers, which is then included in housing plans. The Needs Assessments in some areas were very poor to start with but have improved over time. 2005 Britain The Sun newspaper launches its ‘Stamp on the Camps’ campaign against Gypsies and Travellers. The Conservatives try to get re-elected by targeting Gypsies’ supposed flouting of planning laws. 2006 Britain BBC starts Rokker Radio, the first programme for Gypsies and Travellers in its history (discontinued in 2008). 2006 Circular 01/2006 Planning For Gypsy and Traveller Caravan Sites Planning guidance issued. There has been an increase in site provision through the planning system, but the majority of these are only temporary permissions whilst the new regional planning system, Regional Spatial Strategies (RSS’s) gets under way. In the meantime, some districts and boroughs are objecting to providing pitches even though the identified numbers are very small compared to housing provision. 2007 The Showman circular Issued as many local authorities ignored the fact that Showmen should also have their needs assessed. The majority of the early assessments did not include Showmen. Showman families have a tradition of travelling and living in caravans for centuries and have their own planning circular, Circular 04/2007 Planning for Travelling Show people. 36 2008 Britain Britain celebrates the first Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month. In Italy, Roma camps are firebombed by neo-nazis. Scottish Gypsy Travellers are recognised as an ethnic minority for the first time. 2008 A Bill was launched by Chris Johnson (Community Law Partnership) to promote security of tenure for local authority Gypsy caravan sites. During the Housing and Renovation Bill, the clause that made local authority sites exempt from the 1983 Mobile Homes Act was removed. 2010 Equality Act Places a duty on public authorities to stop prejudice; ensure equality; encourage good relations between different groups. 2011 Annual Census For the first time the Annual Census categorised Romanies (including Roma) and Irish Travellers as distinct ethnic groups. 2011 Coalition Government Policy on Gypsies and Travellers Under the current Coalition Government there is a move towards decentralising the planning system for Traveller sites with the aim of giving local councils the responsibility for determining the appropriate level of site provision (Communities and Local Government 2011). The Rowntree Charitable Trust has provided funding to the Travellers Aid Trust (TAT) to look at the impact of the Decentralisation and Localism Bill on Gypsies and Travellers. TAT (a Wales-based UK-wide organisation) facilitated a Panel Review to provide a platform to bring together a wide range of stakeholders, enabling them to share their wealth of knowledge and experience in this area. The convened Panel was composed of a range of politicians from the main political parties and a number of established academics and legal experts. In February 2011 the Panel heard evidence from local government, other service providers, the police and Gypsies and Travellers themselves. Discussion centred on the four key themes of: a) Site Delivery b) Empowerment and Localism c) Community Cohesion and Fairness d) Social Inclusion The final Report represents a series of recommendations to determine means by which Government proposals can be strengthened and made more effective in terms of site delivery and social inclusion. The report also considers the potential impact of NHS reforms on initiatives to improve the health and reduce inequalities in Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ 37 Sources: Kenrick & Bakewell (1995) Cardiff Council Traveller Education Service http://www.cardiff.gov.uk/content.asp?nav=2869,3047,3049,3073,3932&parent_directory_id=2865&pagetype=&key word=&id=7786 Select Committee on Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions Thirteenth Report http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmodpm/633/63306.htm Gypsy Travellers: A Policing Strategy, Inspector Ian Taggart LLB, Grampian Police http://www.bemis.org.uk/resources/gt/scotland/home%20office%20-%20gypsy%20travellers%20- %20a%20policing%20strategy-UK.pdf GRT History Month http://grthm.natt.org.uk/timeline.php Royal College of Nursing, Gypsy & Traveller Communities http://www.rcn.org.uk/development/practice/social_inclusion/gypsy_and_traveller_communities A Big or Divided Society? Final Recommendations and Report of the Panel Review into the Coalition Government Policy on Gypsies and Travellers http://www.travellersaidtrust.org/big_or_divided_society.pdf 7.0 ARRIVING IN WALES The Roma who came to Britain spoke at least two different dialects of their language and called themselves by two different names, Romanichal and Kalé. The Romanichal travelled mainly in England, and the Kalé eventually decided upon Wales. It was the latter dialect that became ‘the dialect of the Gypsies of Wales’. The most likely entry point for the Kalé was via Spain, France, crossing to Cornwall, and then to the Welsh borders and various towns in Wales. There were many different family groups that traversed England and Wales, but the family that became renowned in Wales for its tri-lingualism and musicianship was the Teulu Abram Wood (family of Abram Wood) and its descendants, in particular the family of John Roberts of Newtown. Abram Wood became the ‘father’ of generations of music makers. Originally each Gypsy family restricted its wanderings to an established and well-defined circuit which, in the case of the Woods, must originally have included the whole of Wales. The Woods were apparently the first Gypsies to adopt Wales as their home, but as other families followed them they tended to limit their wanderings to north Wales. Also travelling in north Wales were the Lee, Lovell and Ingram families, whilst the Locks preferred the Welsh Borders. In south Wales the families were mainly Romanichal from England. It is probable that Abram Wood and his family entered Wales from the Somerset region as a small group of closely related individuals during the later part of the seventeenth century, or earlier part of the eighteenth century, and certainly before 1760. They travelled on foot and used mules or donkeys to carry their possessions in large leather saddle-packs. As the years passed they were accepted as part of the background of rural life in north Wales because of their contribution to the social life of the community. A living was made from harp and fiddle playing; horse dealing; basket making; wood cutting; peg, net and lace making; fishing and fortune telling. On their travels they usually slept in barns, or sometimes tents. They helped farmers with harvest work and provided amusement in the evenings with their fiddles and harps. Those who followed barns used to call gentlemen’s houses with the harps, and used to be called in and make a good thing of it. (John Roberts) 38 Timeline in Wales 1579 Earliest recorded reference to Gypsies in Wales – the Sheriffe of the countie of Radnor ‘apprehended the number of xltie vagrant personnes, terming themselfes Egiptiens’. Late 16th century Morris Kyffin refers to siapsach a gweflau sipswn in a cywydd (strict-metre rhyming couplets). Siôn Tudur in an englyn met ‘a great Gibbsie of an Alehouse, in St Asaph’ (a female, apparently Welsh-speaking). Hityn Grydd in an englyn mentions ‘A number of Gibbsies or counterfeight Egiptians came to Wrecsam’. 1676 Earliest estimated date for the arrival of Abram Wood and his family. ‘He brought with him a violin, and he is supposed to be the first one that ever played upon one in Wales.’ (John Roberts, great-grandson of Abram, 1876) 1700 Estimated date for the arrival of Gypsies in Llanidloes (who adopted the local gentry name ‘Ingram’) and in Carmarthen (who adopted the local gentry name ‘Wood’). 1703 Ellis Wynne refers to ‘a pack of hungry gipsies’ and ‘twenty demons … which turned out to be gipsies’ in Gweledigaethau y Bardd Cwsg (The Visions of the Sleeping Bard). 1715 Baptism of ‘Bohemia, the son of Abraham Wood, as supposed King of ye Gypsyes, of ffroom, in Co. Somerset’ registered at Selattyn. 1730 Latest estimated date for the arrival of Abram Wood and his family. 1760 Baptism record of ‘Solomon the son of Abram Wood … a vagrant’ at Llangernyw. This is the first record of the family that became known in Wales as Teulu Abram Wood and which produced many generations of musicians. 1770 John Walters in An English-Welsh Dictionary (1770-94) stated that Gypsy was ‘corrupted from Egyptian’ and signified ‘a vagabond of tawny complexion, who pretends to tell fortunes, &c.’ 1785 Burial of Sarah Wood ‘a travelling woman’ at Selattyn. 1787 The play Pleser a Gofid (Pleasure and Grief) by Thomas Edwards/Twm o’r Nant has a Gypsy character called Aunty Sal from south Wales. This play includes the first portrait of a Gypsy in Welsh literature and the earliest literary allusion to Abram Wood, founder of the principal family of Welsh Gypsies. 1796 Thomas Pennant in The History of the Parishes of Whiteford and Holywell states ‘… in some distant time a gang of gipsies used to haunt this dingle, and that eighteen of them were executed, after which the gipsey race never more frequented the neighbourhood’ [Whitford in Flint]. 39 1799 Burial of ‘Abram Wood, a travelling Gypsy’ at Llangelynnin. 1822 Gwallter Mechain in his Journal and Diary observed that ‘formerly there were two Branches of Gypsies perambulating Wales – one of the surname Woods, the other of Ingram’. 1823 A letter in Seren Gomer (February) includes a list of Romani words and their Welsh equivalents spoken by the Shipswnt ‘who have lived in our country for ages’ and the writer comments on their ‘proneness to live in tents’. 1823 Seren Gomer (May) reports on a band of Gypsies camped near Monmouth who ‘practised their cheating tricks of reading fortunes, and increasing riches, &c.’ 1826 Seren Gomer (August) reports that a farmer’s wife in Carmarthenshire was persuaded by a Gypsy woman to part with over sixty pounds in the hope of gaining five thousand. The sixty pounds disappeared along with the Gypsy. 1832 A poem by Absalom Roberts, Ar Ffolineb Swyn-Gyfaredd, a phob Ofergoelion Eraill (On the Folly of Sorcery, and all other Superstitions) describes a visit to a Gypsy by two ladies to have their fortunes told. 1923 The Life and Opinions of Robert Roberts, a Wandering Scholar, as told by himself is the autobiography of a clergyman which includes reminiscences of his great-grandmother from Tynyfownog (Llangernyw in west Clwyd). These describe how the family of Abram Wood first came into the country, a ‘wild lot’ who built themselves a tŷ tywyrch (turf house) on the common and made baskets or brooms and fished and hunted hares. Robert Roberts’ grandfather relates that he and a cousin decided to inspect the turf cottage where the Gypsies still lived and found them ‘making merry, feasting and entertaining other company with their fiddles’. 1957 The relationship between Welsh and Romany cultures seems always to have been a close one. A showman’s wagon (labelled a Gypsy caravan) was one of the very few artefacts to appear at the Welsh Folk Museum in Iorwerth Peate's time (founder of the Welsh Folk Museum) and with his blessing which was not 100 per cent Welsh. 1968 Iorwerth Peate wrote in the Handbook of the Welsh Folk Museum of the 'colourful' contribution that the Gypsies had made to Welsh life. All of Abram’s four children took spouses from other families (some Gypsy, some Welsh) and of Abram’s twenty grandchildren, nine married Welsh spouses, while eight married their cousins. These opposing tendencies continued into the twentieth century, by which time marriage within the family among Abram’s descendants had virtually ceased. This was the process whereby the Woods were very gradually integrated into the community among which they lived. The Romani language began to be neglected in favour of Welsh. As the language died, so the characteristic Romany features began to fade and change. 40 The history of the Welsh Gypsies during the twentieth century has been that of their gradual absorption into society in general, their ever-widening dispersal, and consequently a weakening of their sense of separateness and identity as a community. From dwelling in tents and inhabiting barns, the families moved to renting cottages for the winter months and travelling in the spring-autumn months. Some of those who moved into houses sought to satisfy their wanderlust by moving at intervals from house to house, following a circuit of the north Wales towns of Caernarfon, Machynlleth, Bala and Newtown. Such migrants from domicile to domicile were regarded with disfavour by the true itinerants of the road, who labelled them ‘house-Gypsies’. But the process of integration was well underway by the 1880s, by which time the Woods and Ingrams were all settled in houses. Religion also took hold, in particular of John Roberts of Newtown. It had played little part in his early life, but he later became a devout and staunch member of the Church in Newtown … two of his sons became lay preachers. _____________________________________________________________________ Sources: Ingram[G], 2012; Jarman[G], 1991; Roberts[G], 1981 8.0 LANGUAGE AND MUSIC In England the Romani language lived on until the nineteenth century, but was dying out and rare to find by 1875. In its place a form of speech emerged called pogadi chib (‘broken language’). This used Romani words but English grammar and word order. This was used as a contact language between Romanies and other travellers, and amongst themselves as a spoken-only language separate from English. This Anglo-Romani is still used today by many families and has been adopted to some extent by Irish Travellers. In Wales the Kalé dialect, having lost contact with its cousin in England, continued to be used as a spoken-only pure dialect with its own grammar. This wasn’t really discovered until 1894 and it was believed that pure Romani had died out in Britain. Meanwhile in Europe, Romanés was being used as a spoken and written language. However, H. Francis Jones, in the North Wales Weekly News in 1932, wrote: But what gained for Teulu Abram Wood the deepest respect and affection of the Welsh people was their interest in our national music. The principal source of knowledge of Abram Wood and his family is Dr. John Sampson, a Romani scholar from Liverpool University. He spoke Romani fluently (gained from European Roma) and had studied the customs and remnants of the language of the English Gypsies. In his preface to the Dialect of the Gypsies of Wales (1926) he writes: ‘… in the summer of 1894, when on a caravan tour through north Wales, I chanced on a Welsh Gypsy harper at Bala, and made the discovery that the ancient Romani tongue, so long extinct in England and Scotland, had been miraculously preserved by the Gypsies of the Principality … and the dialect so religiously kept intact in the fastnesses of Cambria is thus a survival of the oldest and purest form of British Romani.’ Edward Wood, the Gypsy harper discovered by Sampson, ‘was trilingual, and spoke Romani, English, and Welsh with equal facility – indeed it was on his own knowledge of the latter tongue 41 that he especially prided himself, speaking it (as has been recorded) like one of the old-fashioned Welsh gentlefolk’. Edward was known as ‘Telynor Meirion’ and played before King Edward VII (when Prince of Wales) at Ruthin Castle, and before Queen Victoria at Palé Hall in 1889. In 1929 Professor J. Glyn Davies writes that the Woods ‘must have been able to speak Welsh of the “puritan” class, with its strict taboos on slovenly expressions, clipped words, redundancies and noisy voice. Both Edward Wood and Matthew Wood prided themselves on such Welsh. They spoke it beautifully like old fashioned gentle folk.’ He queries whether this was originally the Welsh of substantial and well-bred folk in the late eighteenth century. He also writes in 1952 of Edward’s ‘extensive knowledge of harp melodies and folk-tunes’. By 1896 Sampson had discovered several other members of the Wood family who were all able to speak Welsh and English, but who used Romani as their mother tongue. Sampson took a cottage at Bettws Gwerfil Goch and began collecting the samples of Romani language and folk-tales that were to make up the bulk of his studies. At a local inn his ‘evenings are enlivened with harp playing and singing. Matthew [Wood], for my delectation, has produced an old fiddle and, with true Gypsy ingenuity, has improvised a bow from an ash plant and hairs plucked from the tail of a cart horse.’ A colleague of Sampson at Liverpool University, Professor Kuno Meyer, wrote in the Liverpool Mercury in 1896: Some time ago, in a paper read before a literary society at Caernarvon, I spoke of the existence in Wales of a trilingual race – the Welsh Gypsies … who constantly employ three languages so widely differing in structure and vocabulary as Romanés, Welsh, and English, speak a better English than the average Welshman, and a much purer and correcter Romanés than their English relations. […] In Wales, just as in Hungary and Russia, this gifted race have become the best interpreters of the national music of their adopted country. Both on the old triple harp and its modern rival, the pedal harp, they seem to me to excel by infusing into Celtic music something of the spirit of magic which is commonly attributed to their race. Valentine Wood (son of Abram) was the first of the Woods to take up harp-playing, during the 1770s. William, another son, was a ‘sweet violin player’. Solomon, another son, held evenings of mirth and festivity at his cottage – the Woods began to take houses to live in during the winter months, resuming their wanderings in the summer months. Jeremiah, another son, was known as ‘Jerry Bach Gogerddan’ a famous performer on the triple harp, harpist to the Price family of Gogerddan for over fifty years. Descendants of these four sons mostly all went on to become well-known harpers, fiddlers, singers and dancers. Ernest Roberts[G] (1981) describes the Gypsy style of harp playing as ‘essentially emotional, rhythmical and melodious and to achieve it they frequently resorted to improvisation … bringing to it a personal involvement and panache’. An ‘inventive and spontaneous style’ characterised their violin playing. When speaking of his great-grandfather John Roberts he writes: Like the Gypsies of other European countries, notably Hungary and Spain, who took over the national musical instruments of the countries in which they had made their homes, he, his sons and grandson had taken over the national instrument of Wales, bringing to it a unique style of playing. 42 John Roberts himself wrote in 1889: A pure Welsh harper (one who has love for his country) ought to be well averst with the history of his country – and to be acquainted with the mountains, valleys, Rocks, Rivers, Dingles and Dales – so as to be able to give a true sound to his national music – he ought to have a smile on his Face, or a Tear in his Eye … to express those ideas. Timeline of Welsh Gypsy music 1735 Welsh traditional music declined with the rise of Nonconformist religion which began at Talgarth in 1735, which emphasised choral singing over instruments, and religious over secular uses of music; traditional musical styles became associated with drunkenness and immorality. The development of hymn singing in Wales is closely tied with the Welsh Methodist revival of the late eighteenth century. The hymns were popularised by writers such as William Williams, while others were set to popular secular tunes or adopted Welsh ballad tunes. 1780s The appointment of Henry Mills as a musical overseer to the Welsh Methodist congregations saw a drive to improve singing throughout Wales. This saw the formation of local musical societies and in the first half of the nineteenth century collections of tunes were printed and distributed. 1797 The oil painting ‘Fair Day, Aberystwyth, 1797’ by Samuel Ireland shows the harp and fiddle as dominating popular music-making, despite the antagonism of religious revivalists. The original is at the Museum of Welsh Life, St Fagans. 1815 William Wood (son of Abram) had four daughters and the youngest of these, Sarah, married a Welshman, John Robert Lewis of Pentrefoelas. They were the parents of John Roberts of Newtown. The father of John Robert Lewis (Robert Lewis) was known throughout the locality as Yr Hen Baledwr Penffair (the old fairground ballad singer), so John Roberts of Newtown inherited music from both sides of his family. 1816 John Roberts, Telynor Cymru (Harpist of Wales), born at Llanrhaeadr-yng-Nghinmeirch. Travelled with the family as a child, living in tents and barns. 1826 John Wood Jones (taught by his father Valentine and Richard Roberts of Caernarfon) gained the silver harp at the Brecon Eisteddfod. Richard Roberts benefited from the tutoring of a long line of harpers who derived their art from the ancient harpers of Wales. John Wood Jones therefore took his place among the ‘ancient harpers’ and was the first Wood to perform before the royal family. 1823 Benjamin Wood Jones (John’s brother) competed on the harp at the Carmarthen Eisteddfod playing Nos Calan. The earliest reference to a Wood family member in an eisteddfod. 1830 John Roberts enlisted as a drummer in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. After enlisting he learned to read music and to play various instruments in the military band, 43 concentrating on the harp. He became skilled at arranging old Welsh airs for different instruments. 1834 John Roberts performed before Princess Royal Victoria at Portsmouth. 1835 John Roberts performed before Princess Royal Victoria twice at Winchester. 1839 John Roberts left the army and returned home to marry. The people of the neighbourhood soon came to know that I came home, and a great many visited our camp, some of the highest; and I had to play my harp for them to dance upon the green, and they made me a very great welcome. John and his wife had thirteen children, including nine sons who were all musicians, playing harp, flagelot, piccolo, viol and violin. 1842 Unable to afford a harp, John Roberts set out to win one. He won the Tredegar prize harp at Abergavenny Eisteddfod. 1843 John Wood Jones accompanied Carnhuanawc and Thomas Gruffydd on a visit to Buckingham Palace to present a triple harp to the Prince of Wales. The two harpists played before the royal family and Queen Victoria. He became domestic harper to Sir Benjamin Hall of Llanover. 1844 For the next six years John Roberts and his wife Eleanor entertained with harp, fiddle, tambourine and singing and dancing at village halls, inns and gentry houses. Eleanor also told fortunes. 1847 A group of Gypsy violin players from the Lee family played at a fair in Llanfyllin. 1847 John Roberts performed before the Grand Duke Constantine of Russia at Aberyswyth. 1848 John Roberts performed before the King of the Belgians at Swansea. 1848 John Roberts won first prize for harp-playing at Abergavenny Eisteddfod. 1850 John Roberts won first prize for triple harp-playing at Cardiff Eisteddfod. 1850 Mary Ann Roberts (John Roberts’ daughter, aged ten) won a prize at Rhuddlan Royal Eisteddfod for harp-playing. 1854 Congregational singing was given further impetus with the arrival of the temperance movement, which saw the Temperance Choral Union organising annual singing festivals; these included hymn singing by combined choirs. 1855 John Roberts issued a challenge in Bell’s Life in London: John Roberts, Welsh harpist & violinist, Newtown, will play any man upon the above two instruments for £5 or £50. Any party accepting the above challenge must be 44 thoroughly acquainted with the ancient music for the Welsh harp and operatic music for the violin. There is no record of the challenge being taken up. 1858 Mary Ann Roberts won a gold medal at Llangollen Eisteddfod for singing and harpplaying. Also a prize for a solo performance on the triple harp. 1859 The publication of Llyfr Tonau Cynulleidfaol by Ieuan Gwyllt provided congregations with a body of standard tunes that were less complex with unadorned harmonies. This collection began the practice of combining together to sing tunes from the book, and laid the foundation for hymn singing festivals (Cymanfa Ganu). 1859 John and Mary Ann Roberts performed before the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, the Earl and Countess Vane and ‘other distinguished persons’. 1860s A revival of traditional Welsh music began, with the formation of the National Eisteddfod Society, followed by the foundation of Welsh Societies in London. 1861 A visiting musician to a performance by John and Mary Ann Roberts at Aberystwyth commented that their manner of playing and singing was ‘the only legitimate performance we have now of the style in which the ancient bards must have played – free from all the meretricious aids of the modern school’. 1865 Lloyd Wynn (son) won chief prize for harp-playing at Aberystwyth National Eisteddfod. 1868 John Roberts secured a testimonial from Ceiriog, the most popular Welsh lyric poet of the time. By request, John Roberts played the harp for Ceiriog when he lay on his deathbed in 1887. 1877 Charles Leland (American folklorist) met Matthew Wood in Aberystwyth and joined him at a wayside inn where ‘A quart of ale, and the fiddle was set going ... Then the girl danced solo … to her brother’s fiddling … he proceeded to pour forth the balance of his thoughts, if he had any, into the music of his violin.’ 1877 John Roberts formed his family of musicians into the Original Cambrian Minstrels, playing English pedal harps, Welsh triple harps, flageolet, double bass, violincello and violin. Tours were undertaken with the instruments loaded onto a horse-drawn fourwheeled dray. 1878 Albert Roberts (son) ‘Telynor Hafren’ won the competition harp at Llanrwst Eisteddfod. He also gained the bardic title Pencerdd y Delyn Deir-rhes (Chief harpist on the triplestring harp) – date unsure. Famous for his variations on Welsh airs. 1879 Summer tour of the Roberts Family, with one son stopping off en route to play harp to the Officers’ Mess in Welshpool. 1879 Mr & Mrs Proctor of Aberhafesp Hall engaged the family to play as a band twice a week during the summer. Other gentry clients included the Kinmell Family (St Asaph); 45 Lord Sudley (Gregynog); the Earl of Powys (Powys Castle); the Earl of Denbigh (‘Downing’); Lady Llanover (Llanover Court, Abergavenny); Sir John Bailey (Glanwsk). 1879 A folk-tale written in Romani by John Roberts appeared in full in the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1880 In Gipsy Tents published by Francis Hindes Groome, husband of John Roberts’ niece, including tales and reminiscences from John Roberts. 1881 John Roberts and son Albert played, and Charles Wood sang, before the Empress of Austria at Combermere Abbey, Whitchurch. 1882 John Roberts and seven sons gave a performance in a cavern near Builth. When the River Severn froze in Newtown the Robertses would play for the skaters whilst chestnuts were roasted on braziers on the river bank. 1884 John Roberts was invested with the bardic title ‘Telynor Cymru’ (Harpist of Wales) at Glan Geirionydd. Before this he was known as ‘Alaw Elwy’ (bardic name). 1889 John Roberts and nine sons, plus Edward Wood (Telynor Meirion), all played on harps before Queen Victoria at Palé Hall, Llandderfel. John Roberts also performed penillion singing, and a quintet of five brothers played two harps simultaneously. 1894 John Roberts died aged seventy-eight at Newtown. His sons continued to function as a band of harpists for several years after his death, but gradually the customs of hiring harpists by the gentry came to an end. His sons continued to earn a living as solo performers. 1896 Publication of Nicholas Bennett's Alawon fy Ngwlad (Tunes of my Land), a compilation of traditional tunes and Welsh airs which included a biography of John Roberts. 1899 Francis Hindes Groome in Gypsy Folk-Tales writes of John Roberts: I know of no other instance where the teller of folk-tales has also been able himself to transcribe them. This is referring to John’s ability to read and write in English, Welsh and Romani and his enormous ability as a storyteller. 1904 John Robert’s sons came together as a band once more to play before the King and Queen at Elan Valley. 1913 Cornelius and Adolphus Wood made a living as wandering musicians playing homemade box fiddles. 1931 Three generations of the Romani-descended Roberts clan temporarily revived the old musical inter-relationship of harp and fiddle in Wales to play at the funeral of gypsiologist Dr. John Sampson on the slopes of Y Foel Goch mountain. 46 1932 William Roberts (son of John Roberts) played the harp with the Eugene Magyar Band at a Royal Command concert at the London Palladium, and gave nightly performances as harpist and violinist at the Phoenix Theatre. 1949 Howel Wood clog-danced on a table in the film The Last Days of Dolwyn. His obituary in 1967 described him as A Fiddler, Dancer and Fisherman. His contribution on the fiddle was his own music, the clog dance was his own special creation, or that of his family … John Roberts was not the first of the descendants of Abram Wood to adopt the harp as a mode of livelihood, but he was the first to organize the exercise f his craft on a firm and business-like family basis. For many years, under the title of ‘The Roberts Family’ or ‘The Cambrian Minstrels’, he and his sons were widely known and acclaimed throughout the whole of north Wales, and much of south Wales. Their livelihood was not dependent solely on popular support, with the landed gentry encouraging music, and visits to gentlemen’s houses as musical entertainers were frequent. However, following his death the decline in Welsh Gypsy music began. It is known that his son Reuben taught the harp to his son, Ernest France, who served in the South African War as Regimental Harpist with the South Wales Borderers. Ernest in turn taught the harp to his daughter, Eldra Jarman. Neither of Eldra’s daughters took up harp playing, although Eldra did teach her grandson to play. He does not play professionally or in public, however, and there seems to be no other descendant of the Wood or Roberts family who continues the Welsh Gypsy harp-playing tradition. The leading exponent today of the Welsh triple harp is Robin Huw Bowen[NG]. After meeting Eldra on a television chat show in 1991, he asked if she would teach him her style of harp playing. Unknown to him, Eldra had been searching for someone suitable to pass on her music to, and finally agreed to teach Robin. She taught him by ear, harp-to-harp, and Robin remembers after he had mastered one particularly difficult piece, Eldra said: ‘Very good. You’ve learnt the notes. Now you just need to learn the music.’ By this she meant the spirit that needed to be invested in the music, the soul and verve brought to Welsh music by the Gypsy style of playing. Robin confirms that, to his knowledge, there are no remaining Welsh Gypsy musicians as John Roberts’ descendants gradually dissipated throughout Wales, England and overseas. Robin (and his pupils) remain the only exponents of the Gypsy style of playing and he is called upon to provide music and perform at Gypsy-related events, television programmes and in memory of Eldra. Meredydd Evans[NG], a respected Welsh folk music expert, has spent a great deal of time with Gypsies in Wales and confirms that he only ever knew them to play Welsh songs with their own variations. They played harp and fiddle, didn’t sing or compose, and played Welsh songs in their own style. There were other Gypsy musicians in Wales from time to time, but apart from the Wood/Roberts family ‘nothing really serious’. Meredydd believes that the main contribution to Wales of the Gypsies was to keep alive Welsh folk music, as they continued to play and dance in remote barns throughout the Welsh Methodist prohibition of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. He does not believe there are any Gypsy musicians in Wales today. 47 Sam Lee[G] is a musician from an English Gypsy background who is researching and documenting the music and stories of the Romany Gypsy and Irish Traveller communities. In Wales he has found Irish Travellers who are ‘exceptionally musical and sing without instruments slow, long, ornamental, beautiful songs’. But these are personal and family songs, of academic interest only, and they would not be performed outside the family setting. He has not found any Romany Gypsy musicians in Wales and believes that any descendants of the Wood/Roberts family (of which there must be many) have either been absorbed into mainstream society and are not self-identifying as Gypsy, are not musicians, or have moved away from Wales. He remains ever-hopeful of finding a genuine Gypsy musician in a pub one day. Andrée Morgan Andrews[G] knows of musicians with a Gypsy background (such as Albert Lee in Eric Clapton’s backing band) but confirms that any music or singing within her community is a private and family affair, and not for public consumption. The story of Abram Wood and his clan of Welsh Gypsies is now a richly coloured thread running through the tapestry of the social and cultural history of eighteenth and nineteenth century Wales (Roberts, 1981), but the thread seems to have reached its natural end. European Roma who work in a nationally-defined musical genre are not recognised as Roma/Gypsy at all, and similarly Gypsies in Wales have dispersed and/or melted into the Welsh host background. The musical heritage of the English Romanichals has become almost wholly absorbed as ‘folk music’. By contrast, Edinburgh University’s Centre for Scottish Studies has an unrivalled archive of recordings from Scottish Gypsy-Traveller singers. Aside from Robin Huw Bowen there are a number of non-Gypsy musicians in Wales who play ‘Gypsy style’ music, such as: Billy Thompson, Los Amigos, Clerorfa, Carwyn Fowler (Towyn), Heulwen Thomas, and Five Go Swing. The Devil’s Violin performs a mix of traditional music and storytelling, ‘inspired by the passion and energy of the Gypsy tradition, including longforgotten Gypsy tales from Wales’. All of the interviewees (on the list below) were asked, but not one could identify a professional musician in Wales today with Gypsy ancestry. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Sources: Ingram[G], 2012; Jarman[G], 1991; Roberts[G], 1981; Sampson, 1926; various interviewees, 2012 9.0 PROGRESS AND THE CURRENT POSITION 9.1 Wales leading the way Wales is currently at the forefront of progressive thinking and action on Gypsy, Roma and Traveller issues in the UK. This has come about due to a convergence of academic interests, practical activism, individual determination, legal initiatives and political will – particularly in Cardiff – that has spread across the country in recent decades. In the 1970s a voluntary school for Gypsy children was set up by the late Grace Edwards (mother of Julie Morgan, AM) at East Moors, and St David’s Gypsy School became the basis for Gypsy and Traveller education in Cardiff. The school was free to attend and followed a progressive system (i.e. it was not formally structured) with teachers from a voluntary Gypsy 48 Support Group offering their services free of charge. Children were taken on trips, on visits to the park, etc. and were collected from Rover Way site. A bus was provided by Save the Children, and petrol was paid for by the local authority, but other than this, mainstream resources were not available to St David’s and there was little formal integration with the mainstream education system. The aims of the school were: (i) To advance the education of the children of Travellers (Gypsies) for whom attendance at a permanent school is not possible for whatever cause by the provision of a school and teaching in basic literacy and numeracy. (ii) To provide safe and satisfying play facilities for those Gypsy children under school age. Parents were concerned as the children were not necessarily being taught to read and write, but a local primary school provided separate classes for Gypsies and Travellers at the same time as St David’s School was operating and treated the children in a very patronising manner. For example, the children’s clothes would be taken from them and washed. This simply resulted in the clothes being destroyed by the family as they were then considered mochadi, and this was not the way forward. St David’s School was therefore preferred by parents, despite its lack of formal education, to the option of the mochadi primary school. This resulted in the local authority appointing a Home School Liaison Officer, whose job was to mainstream Gypsy and Traveller education, based on an integrated approach. The plan was that the Traveller Education Service would provide in-class support, based on a Gypsy or Traveller teacher and assistant working alongside teachers in the classroom. This supported the mainstream education approach and worked reasonably well whilst children were in primary education. It became more difficult to persuade parents to allow children to continue into secondary education, and this remains the case. Parents distrust the potential exposure to sex, drugs, cultural and mochadi issues in secondary education, and school also conflicts with the Romani tradition of taking on adult roles early in life. Children are considered adult at the age of ten, when their training for an economic adult life begins within the family, and they tend to marry around the age of sixteen. As a result, 90 per cent of Gypsies and Travellers over the age of twenty-five have limited reading and writing skills. Women over the age of eighteen who do work outside the home (around 20-30 per cent in Cardiff) are in low-paid, unskilled jobs. Girls who do not work outside the home are expected to learn the skills of family care and home-making from the age of ten, ready for their marriage at an early age. From the impetus of St David’s Gypsy School and the Gypsy support group that it engendered, a variety of interests began to converge and Cardiff became the focal point for a number of initiatives and reports (including a number of ‘firsts’) that advanced GRT causes in Wales. These included: 1977 Welsh Office Circular 51/77 - Caravan Sites Act 1968 - Part II: Gypsy Caravan Sites, Welsh Office (March 1977) 1978 Welsh Office Circular 97/78 - Accommodation for Gypsies: Report by Sir John Cripps, Welsh Office (August 1978) 1981 Cardiff City Council appointed its first Gypsy Liaison Officer, Tim Wilson, and the Cardiff Gypsy and Traveller Project was founded. The duty conferred on local authorities by the 1968 Caravan Sites Act meant that the county council had to 49 provide the sites, and the city council was obliged to manage them. The longstanding use of Rover Way as an unregulated Gypsy site had reduced it to a pitiful state, and it was realised that liaison was needed in order to build a local authority site that could be regulated and maintained. Representatives from third sector organisations, Cardiff University and interested academics, councillors, local residents and Gypsy and Traveller groups came together with the newly-appointed liaison officer to discuss development of Rover Way site. Tim Wilson had a great deal of previous experience from Gypsy site management in Hertfordshire and managed the development of the site at Rover Way in the 1980s, and the development of the site at Shirenewton in the 1990s. The extent and quality of consultation between the local authority and Gypsy and Traveller families led to Shirenewton becoming the largest local authority site in Europe, and Cardiff City Council being seen as a pioneer of good practice in site development. 1985 The expectation that children should move out of formal education as they reach secondary school age and learn about their role as a Gypsy/Traveller was referred to in the Swann report 1985 Education for All: The report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Education of Children from Ethnic Minority Groups. 1988 In January 1988 a group of Travellers, civil liberty campaigners and solicitors came together and formally set up The Travellers Aid Trust as a registered charity. The two main objectives of the charity are:  The relief of poverty, hardship, sickness and distress among such persons as adopt, whether temporarily or permanently and regardless of race, culture, nationality or ethnic origins, a nomadic style or habit of life (herein after referred to as ‘Travellers’).  The advancement of education among the children of Travellers by attendance at school or otherwise. Following a dormant period in the 1990s the charity was revived in 2000 and is the only independent grant-maker dedicated specifically to supporting Gypsies and Travellers in the UK, based in Carmarthen. The objectives of the Trust are: (i) Developing and delivering a range of small or targeted grants programmes aimed at benefiting individual Travellers and the Traveller community. These grants programmes are either funded by the Trust’s own asset or through grants from other grant makers. (ii) Working with other grant makers to improve grant making practices to Travellers. (iii) In exceptional circumstances, securing funding and administering projects that are seen to be of benefit to the Traveller community as a whole. 1990 Welsh Office Circular 52/90 - Meeting the educational needs of Travellers and displaced persons, Welsh Office (1990) 50 1994 Welsh Office Circular 02/94 - Gypsy sites and planning, Welsh Office, (January 1994) 1994 The Criminal Justice Act brought an end to the duty on local authorities to provide sites, and also brought an end to the funding provided for the purpose. Whilst awareness of GRT issues at a national level was needed for guidance and direction, it became clear that action at a local level was needed irrespective of the UK position. As Wales was smaller it was easier to put forward political and legal arguments, which began to happen on a regular basis. Julie Morgan AM has long been at the forefront of campaigning for such causes, taking after her late mother Grace Edwards. ‘Mum was a great pioneer on that front and it’s been a subject very close to my heart for many years,’ she says. 1995 The Traveller Law Research Unit (TLRU) was set up at Cardiff University by Luke Clements, a Professor at Cardiff Law School. He is also a consultant solicitor specialising in public and human rights proceedings on behalf of socially excluded groups, primarily disabled people and Roma. As part of the Research Unit, the Telephone Legal Advice Service for Travellers (TLAST) operated between 1995 and 1998. The service provided legal advice and information to Gypsies and Travellers on any subject, and retained information on a network of `Traveller-friendly' solicitors throughout the UK. Many of these solicitors offer a 24-hour service and will attend roadside evictions, travel to sites, and prepare cases for the British and European courts. Accessing legal advice by mobile telephone proved more useful for Travellers in isolated locations, and around fifty per cent of calls received were from Gypsies and Travellers (the other fifty per cent being from Travellerrelated service providers, government officers, academics, police, media, etc.) TLAST was a unique service within Europe, funded by the Nuffield Foundation and the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, with Cardiff Law School covering infrastructure costs. The closure of the service in 1998 realised the following legacy:  The collation of a broad network of Travellers and Traveller-related service providers – in particular ‘Traveller-friendly’ lawyers – across the country.  The production of a newsletter, Travellers’ Times, a useful networking and information-sharing tool.  The publication of a number of articles and directories, including the County/Unitary Authority-based Directory of Traveller-related Contacts in England & Wales, which further provided the means of increasing contact with useful people and information regarding the law and services relating to Gypsies and Travellers.  Professor Luke Clements conducted and advised on many cases before the Commission and Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, including the first Roma case to reach that court (Buckley v. UK 1996). 51  A conference on Traveller law reform in March 1997, at which nearly 100 Travellers and service providers took the first step towards discussion and agreement of necessary reforms for Gypsies and Travellers in Britain.  From May 1998 for one year the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust funded TLRU to undertake research into the outcome for Travellers of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, and to develop the process of law reform started at the conference; Cardiff Law School continued to pay the infrastructure costs.  Joseph Rowntree and Cardiff Law School granted TLRU further support to continue research and facilitation of a process of law reform until October 2000. 1996 Several local authorities in Wales established Traveller Education Services (TES), largely funded through the Education of Travellers and Displaced Persons Grant which is paid under section 488 of the Education Act 1996. The role is to facilitate access into the education system for Gypsy and Traveller pupils and to support them in the system. 1996 Written theory driving test introduced in the UK. 1997 A Welsh Office survey of Gypsy-Travellers, in January 1997, estimated that there were 846 Gypsy-Traveller children in Wales: 268 between the age of 0-4, 369 between 5-10, and 209 between 11-16. 1998 Cardiff University and the Save the Children published a report called ‘Traveller Children and Educational Need in Wales’. The Report suggested that there were at least 1,809 Traveller children in Wales, a much higher number than the Welsh Office survey. 1999 The Community Law Partnership was established in Birmingham with a Travellers Advice Team (TAT) of solicitors providing legal advice to Gypsies and Travellers. Following the lead set by TLAST, the Team set up a dedicated Telephone Advice Line for Travellers where callers can speak directly to experienced advisers on questions of evictions, planning matters, issues involving official caravan sites and other matters. The Travellers Advice Team provides emergency 24-hour national advice and representation and works closely with other non-government agencies working with Travellers. Without the assistance of TAT, many Travellers would be denied access to the legal system and to their rights. 1999 Injury Rates in Gypsy-Traveller Children, Hilary Beach, University of Wales College of Medicine (April 1999) 2000 Driving theory test updated to a computer-based test in place of a written examination. Cardiff Gypsy and Traveller Project introduced Driving Theory classes on a twice-weekly basis. These include essential learning skills, 52 sessions on reading, writing, computers and driving theory, with DVDs to take home and study. The classes are for all ages and have managed to attract boys and men to take part. These classes were unique in Wales at the time of their introduction. 2000 The Invisibility of Gypsies and Other Travellers: The Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, Rachel Morris and Luke Clements (Jan 2000) 2001 Disability, Social Care, Health and Travelling People, Rachel Morris and Luke Clements, Cardiff Traveller Law Research Unit (2001) 2002 Traveller Law Reform Bill published, leading to the founding of the Gypsy and Traveller Law Reform Coalition. The pressure put on local politicians from a range of interested parties, such as TLAST, Cardiff University (Professors Luke Clements and Phil Thomas), Tim Wilson and a core group of academics and practitioners worked – making Gypsies and Travellers the first major issue to be looked at by the new National Assembly of Wales’ Equality of Opportunity Committee. At the Committee Seminar on Service Provision for Gypsies and Travellers (11 October 2002) the Chair stated: This is the first policy review of the Equality of Opportunity Committee and we have started with a complicated and difficult subject. There can be no doubt that in many respects Gypsies and Travellers are one of the most discriminated against groups in Wales. The stark realities laid before the Committee by a group of young people from the Gypsy-Traveller community brought home the challenges we face in making a real difference to their lives. http://www.assemblywales.org/N0000000000000000000000000009105.pdf The Committee undertook an extremely thorough review of service provision and, beside the seminar, undertook site visits around Wales, received written submissions, circulated a postal survey and held evidence sessions. Site visits allowed Gypsies and Travellers to give their views, and the evidence sessions gathered information on education, health, and legal issues as well as accommodation. A group of young Gypsies and Travellers also provided evidence. Save the Children undertook a separate survey of young Gypsy and Traveller children to provide extra information to the Committee. Meetings were held in Ireland with the Equality Authority and representatives of the Irish Traveller Movement and a range of government departments. Consideration was also given to existing literature, previous studies and reports into the issues that affect Gypsies and Travellers. Two advisers were appointed to assist the Committee with the review: Dr. Elizabeth Jordan, Director, Scottish Traveller Education Programme and Tim Wilson, Cardiff Gypsy Sites Group. 2003 The outcome of this exhaustive review was publication of The Equality of Opportunity Committee Report, A review of service provision for Gypsy Travellers, National Assembly of Wales (2003). The report produced fifty-two recommendations, of which the following are examples:  Recommendation 7: … that the Welsh Assembly Government’s Housing Department clarify the position on paying housing grants for site provision and advise local authorities accordingly. We further 53 recommend that changes to primary legislation should be made to put Gypsy and Traveller caravan sites on the same footing as other housing stock, in terms of for example, availability of grants, pitch allocation policy and management issues.  A toilet, washroom and utility area for each pitch – with physical separation between the toilet, washroom and clothes washing areas.  Recommendation 20: … that there should be no expectation or pressure for Gypsies and Travellers to move into settled housing. Where Gypsies and Travellers do wish to move into this type of accommodation they should receive help and support with the application process and with managing the transition from previous accommodation.  Recommendation 27: … that the Assembly considers forming an All Wales steering group [to draw up best practice guidelines on health needs, health workers, multi-agency forums, anti-discriminatory policy reviews, providing a strategic reference point for All-Wales coordination between professionals in other fields of service provision to Gypsies and Travellers, such as education and accommodation].  Recommendation 50: … that the Assembly Government appoints an All Wales Co-ordinator to champion the views and needs of Gypsies and Travellers and drive forward service provision, working with Traveller Education Service staff, Gypsy Liaison Officers and other service providers and advocates for Gypsies and Travellers.  Barriers to attending school were acknowledged, including: _ Prejudice, discrimination and bullying _ Accommodation issues _ Parental concerns about the school environment _ Traditional Gypsy-Traveller model of education within the family _ Mobility and broken patterns of education _ Unfamiliarity of the school environment _ Relevance of the curriculum ‘Gypsy-Travellers have a distinctive tradition of education, a tradition which is quite alien to many of the assumptions that underlie mainstream state education. In particular Gypsy-Travellers place a great deal of emphasis on education within the family. Often boys will learn a trade from their father and girl will learn to run a home and raise a family from their mother. Basic literacy and numeracy is likely to be valued, but many other aspects of school and the curriculum may seem less relevant.’ The general opinion following this review was that the National Assembly for Wales had undertaken a serious process and that most recommendations either had been carried out, or were in the process of being carried out. Prior to the establishment of the National Assembly it was agreed by all parties that Gypsies/Roma/Travellers were not to be used as a ‘political football’ in the election process, and these promises were upheld. In this way, some of the more melodramatic headlines seen in England have been avoided. The quality of politicians in 54 Wales, and the fact that they are willing to listen to GRT issues, has been positively commented upon. 2004 Children and Young People: Rights into Action, Welsh Assembly Government (2004) 2005 Aspinall, P. J., A review of the literature on the health beliefs, health status, and use of services in the gypsy traveller population, and of appropriate health care interventions, Health ASERT Programme Wales, Report 2, Project report, Welsh Assembly Government (2005) 2005 Guidance on Managing Unauthorised Camping, Welsh Assembly Government (2005) http://wales.gov.uk/dsjlg/publications/localgov/guidecamping/guidee.pdf?lang=en 2006 Pat Niner, Accommodation Needs of Gypsy-Travellers in Wales, University of Birmingham, Report to Welsh Assembly Government (2006) http://wales.gov.uk/dsjlg/research/accomneedsgypsy/researche.pdf?lang=en 2006 National Assembly for Wales Circular No: 47/2006, Inclusion and Pupil Support for Wales 2006 The Education of Gypsy Traveller Learners: A survey of provision made by schools and local authorities to meet the needs of Gypsy Traveller learners, ESTYN report (2006) 2006 Jones, G. Powell, R. Reakes, S., Research into the Education of Gypsy Traveller Children in Wales, National Foundation for Educational Research 2007 Lishman, R., Impact of Circular 01/2006, Supply of New Gypsy Traveller Sites, De Monfort University (2007) 2007 The Welsh Assembly Government introduced Gypsy and Traveller Refurbishment Grants and Gypsy and Traveller New Sites Grants, providing local authorities with 75% of the costs of building new sites or refurbishing existing sites. 2008 The Welsh Assembly Government funded Save the Children to produce a DVD called Travelling Ahead about Gypsy and Traveller children and young people in Wales. Save the Children also set up a website for Gypsy and Traveller children at www.travellingahead.org.uk 2008 Powys County Council was the first local authority in Wales to employ a member of the Gypsy community as its Gypsy Liaison Officer. 2009 Getting Involved: A report into engaging with young Gypsy Travellers in Wales, Save the Children (2009) 55 2009 Good Practice Guide in Designing Gypsy Traveller Sites in Wales, Welsh Assembly Government (2009) http://wales.gov.uk/docs/dsjlg/publications/comm/091112gpgdesigningen.pdf 2009 Good Practice Guide in Managing Gypsy Traveller Sites in Wales, Welsh Assembly Government (2009) http://wales.gov.uk/docs/dsjlg/publications/comm/091112gpgmanagingen.pdf The Shirenewton site in South Glamorgan is a Europe-wide example of good design and the largest site in the European Union. It currently has 58 pitches with three more planned and an active waiting list, which is adhered to. The site is exemplary because there was crossdepartmental involvement at Cardiff City Council, with Environmental Health, the Planning Department and engineers all involved in consultation with Gypsies and Travellers, ‘and they listened’ [GW]. This allowed residents to decide aspects of the design of the site and the consultation resulted, for example, in washing blocks being moved from the front of pitches to the back. Also there are pitch groupings within the site – i.e. many sites within a site – as the Welsh Gypsies and Irish Travellers don’t get on with each other in general. Shirenewton site is made up of 25% Irish Travellers, 5% Scottish Travellers and 70% Welsh Gypsies. Rover Way has one Irish Traveller pitch and nineteen Welsh Gypsy pitches (mainly all the Price family).[GW] As well as a waiting list for pitches, there is a separate Transfer List, where families wait for the chance to move next to other members of their own family. Many families are obliged to move into housing, whilst they remain on the waiting list for a pitch on a site. From the travelling families’ point of view, travelling is more or less finished as a way of life and they now seek a secure base. Without this, nothing else follows easily, such as access to services, education, health facilities, work, etc. However, travelling to horse fairs remains important to retain the status of ‘Gypsy’ under planning law, even without a horse and wagon. Those families who retain a wooden vardo carry it most of the distance to places such as Appleby Horse Fair on the back of a trailer, then use it on the road drawn by a horse for the last twenty miles. These wooden vardos are now kept as symbols of Romani culture, rather than being burnt according to tradition. Modern caravans are still burnt under a special arrangement with the local authority.[GW] ‘At the end of the day, they’re council tenants too, just like a lot of other people – except those other people have never had to worry about being evicted with just a week’s notice … Living with the fear of losing one’s home, with the risk of children being taken into care, is a constant stress … And even those in proper housing still need our help because that’s not the way of life they wanted and some have been known to suffer from terrible depression.’ Julie Morgan, AM The case is slightly different regarding the European Roma who have arrived in Cardiff in recent years, as they come from a relatively settled background and all live in houses, mainly private rented housing. This generates a different set of issues, such as overcrowding, having to move on a regular basis, and dealing with bad landlords. The Roma are culturally distinct from the established Gypsy and Traveller communities in other ways, such as language, which makes service provision for this group even more difficult. Interpreters and translators are needed for the mainly Czech, Slovak and Romanian Roma who have arrived in Cardiff in large numbers, particularly in 2004, 2007 and 2010. Cardiff was appointed by central government as a designated area for refugees and asylum seekers; in 2004 the Czech Republic and Slovakia 56 were admitted to the EU, and in 2007 Romania and Bulgaria were admitted, allowing greater freedom of movement for residents of those countries. Some Roma arrived with education and skills, and it has been observed that Roma children do better in school compared with Welsh Gypsies and Travellers, as they are used to a settled environment, have more commitment to school attendance and are good at languages. The Welsh Government has established the Migrants Forum, a national strategic group chaired by the Minister for Social Justice, and has stated that Local Government will address any emerging issues on European Roma. However, at local government level no specific policy, action plan or strategy yet exists to address the needs of EU Roma migrants. Cardiff ESOL Service offered English sessions for Roma, which have been discontinued. Cardiff Communities First ran activities for Roma children and young people, but these have ended. Race Equality First ran a European Migrants Outreach Project in 2007, but this project ended in 2008 as the organisation was swamped by the number of enquiries from Roma trying to access the service. The ethnic Minority Communities Programme has produced a report to identify the specific challenges of dealing with EU Roma in Cardiff: EU Roma Communities in Cardiff: Community Needs Analysis Report (April 2011) and this can be accessed in full at http://www.cardiff.gov.uk/content.asp?nav=2%2C2867%2C3591%2C2907%2C4979%2C4980 2009 The Romani Cultural and Arts Company was established as a registered charity by Isaac Blake[G]. Working through the arts the Company raises funds to take community development and educational projects onto Gypsy, Roma and Traveller sites and into non-Gypsy and ‘country-folk’ communities across Wales. The Company exists to promote a better understanding of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller culture within and beyond these communities and to work to combat racism in all forms. This is a unique Gypsy-led organisation in the UK that has gained a great deal of respect in a very short time from a wide and appreciative group – including academics, politicians, third sector organisations, educationalists, Gypsies and Travellers. Generally, Gypsy and Traveller organisations have been effective when they have forged alliances with non-Gypsies, particularly lawyers and activist academics. The Traveller Law Reform Project (see 2002 above) focuses on working towards positive changes in the law for Gypsy and Traveller communities, including campaigning for social policy reform. Evidence provided to parliamentary select committees and investigations led to the establishment of the All Party Gypsy and Traveller Law Reform Group with the assistance of Lord Avebury. 2010 In July 2010 the inaugural meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group, serviced by the Traveller Law Reform Project, was held in the Palace of Westminster. 2012 Working with Gypsy and Traveller Children and Young People, Save the Children (2012). A guide to increasing participation of children and young people in decision-making and policy-making. 2012 Travelling to a Better Future: Gypsy and Traveller Framework for Action and Delivery Plan, Welsh Government (2012) http://wales.gov.uk/docs/dsjlg/publications/equality/110928gypsytravelleren.pdf 57 This is the first document of its kind to be produced in the UK. It sets out policy direction for the Welsh Government and its partners in respect of Gypsy and Traveller issues. This Framework for Action focuses on several key policy areas which affect the way Gypsies and Travellers access services including accommodation, health, education, participation and planning and other barriers facing the Gypsy and Traveller community. The Framework is supported by a delivery plan which outlines in more detail how the Welsh Government will deliver on the commitments in this Framework and outlines timescales for implementation. The Framework for Action has been developed specifically for the indigenous Gypsy and Traveller population in Wales and does not address emerging issues as a result of migrant Roma from Bulgaria and Romania settled in Wales. 2012 The Welsh Government’s Housing White Paper of 21 May 2012 (in consultation) restores the duty on local authorities in Wales to provide sites, by ‘Ensuring that Gypsy and Traveller communities are provided with new housing sites by local authorities where there is clear evidence of need’. This is a direct result of the lack of take-up by local authorities of the grants for building and refurbishment of sites introduced by the Welsh Government in 2007. 2012 The Romani Cultural and Arts Company organized the first GRT National Symposium, held at Cardiff City Hall (for Wales’ fourth Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month). The speakers included an impressive line-up of academics, politicians, representatives from education, health, children’s organisations and the arts from the UK, US and Europe. Ian Hancock[G], Professor of Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin says, The 2012 Gypsy Roma and Traveller National Symposium has established the place of Wales even more firmly as a leader in recognizing these far-flung populations, their contributions and their distinctiveness. This event … promises to become an annual landmark. 2012 At the GRT National Symposium held in Cardiff on 22 June 2012, Jane Hutt (Minister for Finance and Leader of the House) announced the Welsh Government’s intention to increase grants for building and refurbishment of sites to 100% of the cost to a local authority. This will be in conjunction with the Housing Bill to be introduced in the autumn of 2013, and will hopefully side-step the cost arguments put forward by local authorities to avoid building sites. As full planning consent is needed before a grant can be awarded, only Powys County Council at present has plans to build a new site in Brecon (on 3.8 acres of farmland acquired by Compulsory Purchase Order). 2012 Julie Morgan AM (previously MP) for Cardiff North chaired the inaugural Cross-Party Group meeting on Gypsies and Travellers in the Welsh Government (17 July 2012). The Group considers issues of importance to Gypsies and Travellers in Wales and provides a forum for representatives from relevant organisations to meet with AMs to discuss areas of concern. 58 9.2 ‘Issues’ remaining Wales has been the focus of music and the Romani language historically, and is the focus of progress on GRT issues today – but this is coincidental. As the Welsh Kalé of north Wales effectively no longer exist, their romantic image ‘doesn’t help – Augustus John and all that, it’s not how it is today’ [GW]. As the Gypsy families living in Wales today, whether on sites or housed, tended to originate as Romanichals from England, there are few links with the Kalé of north Wales and the problems encountered have little connection with Welsh Gypsy history as described at 7.0 and 8.0 above. Issues remaining for Gypsies and Travellers today range from the minute to the mountainous, but include as examples:  Romany Gypsies in the UK have lost many of their traditions, and retain others without exactly knowing why, or where they came from. Rediscovery of their own roots is important, and without this it is difficult to explain their rationale on issues to nonGypsies.[G]  As the Romany tradition has been an oral one, the culture of storytelling is important. In practice, this means that it is considered rude to interrupt, as each person must be allowed to tell their story. When an older person speaks, younger Gypsies stop talking due to respect for elders. This can make it difficult for Gypsies to participate in an open exchange of views, particularly with older persons.[GW]  There is no single organisation in Wales dedicated to working for Gypsies and Travellers, as is the case in England. A multiplicity of agencies, however well-meaning, leads to lack of cohesion.[G]  In recent years many non-Gypsies have been forced out of their homes due to financial problems and have taken to living in caravans. This has increased pressure on traditional Gypsies and Travellers who are often blamed for the appearance of yet more caravans in an area, but which have nothing to do with them.[G]  The expectation from young people, as well as their parents, that they need to start earning money far earlier than is typical in the settled community discourages them from continuing into secondary education.[GW]  Balancing the right to continue in this tradition with the rights of children, as enshrined in EU and UK law on child employment, is a challenge acknowledged by the Welsh Government.  Cultural fears of secondary education are not addressed in any education service provision – for example, there is no male/female segregation, school uniforms require short skirts to be worn with legs in view, whereas Gypsy girls wear a long skirt or trousers at home.[G]  A perceived lack of morality regarding sex and drugs in the settled population makes some parents unhappy with mixed activities.  A gender divide remains where girls are more likely to stay at home looking after the trailer and young children.  School attendance at primary level has improved, as has behaviour and concentration. However, high levels of illiteracy remains an issue generally.[G]  Gypsy and Traveller successes are not reported as widely as Gypsy/Traveller ‘problems’ in the press.[G] The following article is an unusual exception: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2189845/Gypsy-schoolgirl-works-seafront-amusement-arcadewins-place-study-English-Literature-Oxford-University.html  Transport to and from remote sites to any kind of education remains a problem.[G] 59  Provision of health services remains difficult, as many agencies do not consider the cultural issues surrounding Gypsies and Travellers before making recommendations for service provision. Gypsies retain their antipathy towards doctors, female patients will not visit male doctors, and mochadi values are not taken into account.[GW]  Gypsies and Travellers see their main ‘right’ now as being the right to their way of life, and do not accept that inclusion need equate with assimilation. They have learnt that it is possible to have one without the other. So they will not necessarily agree with social inclusion policies or efforts to ‘integrate’ them with mainstream services or strategies.[G]  Similarly, the demand that Roma worldwide speak with one voice is illegitimate as it has been shown that Roma never were one people. The different Roma groups may have shared values, but they are enforced differently, and efforts for Roma to behave in a predetermined way to suit a non-Gypsy agenda is now seen as structural racism.[G]  Most Gypsies and Travellers are unaware of the grant-making system, and do not know that grant funding might be available to them.  There has been more prejudice in evidence in the UK in the past few years than has been apparent for a long time. This is almost entirely related to media depiction by My Big Fat Gypsy Weddings and the evictions at Dale Farm.[G]  Big Fat Gypsy Weddings This programme has caused more grief and created more problems within the Gypsy community than anything else since its broadcast. The programme was seen to perpetuate stereotypes and to trivialise the image of ‘Gypsies’ – even though the majority of participants were Irish Travellers and the programme should more correctly have been called ‘Big Fat Irish Traveller Weddings’. The failure to draw a distinction between Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers was one of the main criticisms of the programme. The recurring spouse abuse which featured on there would be deplored within Romani culture, not to mention be subject to punishment agreed upon by the Kris (Gypsy tribunal) … The tide of anti-Gypsyism is on the increase in Britain too – some of the online blogs I’ve seen are utterly reprehensible. Ian Hancock[G] It’s important to make them see that programmes like ‘My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding’ aren’t how it really is for us … That show disgusted me, had nothing to do with Romany Gypsies at all … My family certainly never behaved like that. Teleri Gray[G] Gypsy culture is much more than dresses and make-up http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/23/gypsy-culture-is-much-more-than-dresses-and-make-up/  Thelma’s Gypsy Girls Bridget Deadman, 17, is an English Traveller based in Liverpool who left the televised course after Week 10, and has been quick to correct the show on a lot of things in a magazine interview. Interviewer: Would you say that BFGW offered an unfair interpretation of your culture and community? Bridget: I think the portrayal of life for the Travellers and Gypsy community on ‘Big Fat Gypsy Weddings’ was an untrue and misleading portrayal, but ‘Thelma’s Gypsy Girls’ was 60 a lot worse. ‘Thelma’s Gypsy Girls’ concentrated a lot on the drama, violence, and dress sense of the community even though majority of the time on the course everyone was getting along fine and most girls were working well. They failed to show the different beliefs and variations within the community and instead chose to show how one portion of the community are and use this to further a stereotype of travellers and gypsies that is very far from the truth. http://oxfordstudent.com/2012/07/31/big-fat-gypsy-lies/  In an attempt to offset the damage caused by Big Fat Gypsy Weddings, Jake Bowers[G] of the Travellers’ Times set up Travellers Got Talent, a televised talent competition for Gypsies and Travellers during Gypsy History Month. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3597046/Gypsies-flock-to-TV-talent-show-TravellersGot-TalentBari-Radt.html  Dale Farm Dale Farm is a six-acre plot of land on Oak Lane in Crays Hill, Essex. It is located within the Green Belt and has been owned by Travellers since the early 1960s. In the 1980s it began being used as a site for Travellers when a planning appeal was won by two families against Basildon District Council for pitches on one end of the site. This grew into an unauthorised and illegal encampment established without planning permission of over 1,000 Travellers, the largest Traveller site in the UK. Next to the Dale Farm site there is an authorised Travellers' site known as Oak Lane. This has Council planning permission, and provides 34 legal pitches. In October 2011 the site gained international press coverage when residents and activists were forcibly removed to allow bailiffs to execute a clearance order. What chance have we got when people are more interested in evictions from Big Brother than from Gypsy sites?[G] There is extensive press coverage of the Dale Farm case, but some related links are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Farm Dale Farm Travellers hope UN official’s visit will end their plight http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/feb/23/dale-farm-travellers-un-visit?intcmp=239 Gypsies and Travellers look for more political clout http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2012/jul/25/discrimination-at-work-roma-gypsies-andtravellers-caravans-voting-franchise?newsfeed=true Political suicide: housing Gypsy and Traveller communities http://www.guardian.co.uk/housing-network/2012/jul/16/local-politics-housing-gypsies-and-travellers  As a direct result of increased hostility from this media coverage there has been a false tip-off about guns on a Welshpool Gypsy site. This led to a raid on the site by police, who went into the site with guns, wearing balaclavas, and handcuffing people without warning. No guns were found on the site.[G]  There have been threats on Facebook about planned refurbishment of the Welshpool site. [G]  In rural areas of Wales farmers remember quite fondly the Gypsies arriving to help with farm work and fruit picking, but people retiring to rural Wales from around the UK have a problem with Gypsy sites in their vicinity.[G]  Some Gypsies and Travellers have negative attitudes towards non-Gypsies due to alienation and discrimination of themselves of their family.  Problems have arisen within sites at Bangor, Pyle and Port Talbot – all sites where the local authority has handed management of them over to the Gypsy Council. These sites 61 are run on a very authoritarian basis and it is extremely difficult for new families to get a pitch on-site.[G]  Arbitrary decisions by central government affect Gypsies and Travellers in Wales. On the one hand, Traveller pitch funding of £47m is announced by government: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jan/07/traveller-pitch-funding-announcedgovernment?intcmp=239 And is then followed by headlines such as ‘The gypsies who lost their homes to make way for the Olympics’ http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/lifestyle/2012/07/gypsies-who-losttheir-homes-make-way-olympics In Marlborough Travellers take matters into their own hands through sheer frustration: ‘Travellers invade playing fields’ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article- 2189796/Travellers-invade-playing-fields-30-000-year-Marlborough-College-Kate-Middleton-playedhockey.html Whilst in Pontypool the solution appears to be to build extra pitches on an area of subsidence: ‘Pontypool Race Gypsy site extension proposed by Torfaen’ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-19018379  Progress is being overlooked where it does exist. Time goes on and society changes – at the same time Romany society also changes, but this is not taken into account. It is very difficult to conduct business by mobile phone while being treated as a quaint violinplaying curiosity.[G]  In line with a greater take-up of computing amongst Gypsies and Travellers, On Road Media set up the social networking site www.savvychavvy.com in 2008 and taught young Travellers how to podcast and produce video blogs. The site has over 4,000 young people on it, allowing young Gypsies and Travellers to communicate freely in a safe place away from the discrimination and prejudice that many of them face daily. They can also keep in touch with other Travellers who have largely stopped travelling. Safe space online for real ‘chavs’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jul/30/communities.socialnetworking  Stereotyping Stereotyping is still a major issue within Gypsy and Traveller communities. In the 2011 report conducted by the Travellers Aid Trust a written submission by the Association of Chief Police Officers noted: The perception of Gypsies and Travellers and their behaviour by the settled community is often based on stereotypical assumptions – not helped by either national or local media – and is often negative in tone. The examples of stereotypical representation are legion, but many are included in this Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictional_representations_of_Romani_people One example that many people will remember is the Cadbury’s Flake TV advert in 1982: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciIQgunHHiY This sexualises the Gypsy woman in a way that is unacceptable in the Romany community and uses a white English girl with 1980s hairstyle and dress. It epitomises freedom in a horse-drawn wagon, whilst using the ‘sexy Gypsy’ stereotype to sell its product. Professor Ian Hancock[G], who is working to disperse misconceptions about his culture, also confirms There are 12 million Romanies throughout the world, and those with horse-drawn wagons number fewer than 2%. Most of us live in houses and always have. 62 Gypsy Wedding ‘stereotype’ challenged http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-18524178 The influence of the media on negative stereotyping was pointed out many times as the main contributor to a bad overall image of Gypsies. __________________________________________________________________________________ Sources: Tim Wilson[GW], Cardiff Gypsy and Traveller Project Andrée Morgan Andrews[G], Gypsy Liaison Officer, Powys County Council Traveller Law Research Unit http://digitaljournalist.eu/OnTheRoad/traveller-law-research-unit/ Equality of Opportunity Committee report on Service provision for Gypsies and Travellers http://www.assemblywales.org/N0000000000000000000000000009105.pdf A Big or Divided Society? Final Recommendations and Report of the Panel Review into the Coalition Government Policy on Gypsies and Travellers http://www.travellersaidtrust.org/big_or_divided_society.pdf 10.0 THE DEVELOPMENT OF ROMANI ARTS Romani arts have been the traditional way of survival for Roma over the centuries, with music, dance and artisan craftsmanship being the main source of income for most Roma groups. However, the practising of their arts and artisanship is divided into three main areas: (i) Domestic – produced at home for the family or community; (ii) Professional – presented for a paying audience; and (iii) Religious – performed for God or for an ideal. As a people on the move literacy was unimportant, and the opportunities to learn to read and write were few. Instead the Gypsies/Roma maintained an oral tradition of poetry, song and storytelling which contained the core ideas of their culture. Storytelling was improvised, or utilised folk tales from the countries travelled through, with Gypsy-related embellishments and humour added to personalise the stories. In some groups long ballads were composed that were partly sung and partly recited, telling the tale of the Roma exodus and the routes travelled. Many tales reflect the boundary between Roma and Gadjé. Gypsy music and dance are the best known and most widely accepted of the Romani arts, having a long-established reputation throughout Europe. In a newly-published book, Romani Routes: Cultural Politics and Balkan Music in Diaspora (2012), the development of Romani music is explored. Romani music encompassed three geographical regions/traditions: (i) Middle Eastern and Balkan; (ii) Northern (Hungarian, Russian, Polish, Manouche jazz, Django Reinhardt); and (iii) Flamenco (classical and ‘pop’). All styles are practised in the three forms of domestic, professional and religious. A particular musical style known as the ‘Gypsy Romance’ was formalised by urban Gypsy choral groups in Russia in the nineteenth century. Russian folk and urban love songs were performed with a vibrato and a semitone decoration that draws from Romani singing, and some songs in Romani were also performed. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries choruses of Russian Roma existed in Moscow and St Petersburg and in 1886 the first-ever Romani theatre troupe was created, performing the operetta Gypsy Songs in Faces in St Petersburg. In 1887 Strauss’s operetta The Gypsy Baron was performed with Roma playing the roles of Roma. This start led to the opening of the Romani studio Indo-Romen Theatre in Moscow in 1931 which concentrated on Gypsy music and dance. The theatre was originally 63 designed by Gypsies for Gypsies (with performances in Romani), but after a few years the theatre focused on non-Gypsy audiences. The theatre company is entirely composed of Gypsy/Roma members in all roles, from writing and directing, to performing. Its repertoire includes plays written by its members, such as We Are Gypsies, I was Born in a Gypsy Camp and A Girl Who Brought Happiness, as well as Russian and European works such as Pushkin's Gypsies and Federico García Lorca's Blood Wedding. The company has travelled widely and produced films, making its work well known throughout Russia. The International Romani Writers Association (IRWA) was founded in Finland in 2002. The main aims of the association are to promote the multilingual Romani literature, to obtain its recognition as part of world literature and to strengthen the language and culture of Romani people. Some Romani authors have become well known, such as Matéo Maximoff, Paris-based with Russian Roma ancestry. The School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures, part of Manchester University runs the Manchester Romani Project. This consists of a cluster of academic research activities that provide information on the Romani language and on linguistic research on Romani. It also produces teaching aids, such as its DVD ‘The Romani Languages - An Interactive Journey’. In the UK the only Romany-based theatre company, the Romany Theatre Company, was established in Cambridge in 2002. The company presents drama productions aimed at improving the wider community’s understanding of what it means to be Gypsy, Romany, or Traveller and provides education opportunities for GRT and settled communities. The Romany Theatre Company (RTC) was commissioned by BBC East to produce 36 x fifteen-minute episodes of the radio drama series Atching Tan, to run from 2008 to 2010. The series explores the relationships between members of the Gypsy, Romany and Traveller and settled communities and was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Atching Tan: A Gypsy Wife is another radio drama, this time set on a Romany Gypsy site and featuring actors from the Romany Gypsy community. The play explores the Gypsy community from the inside. The most visible Gypsy art is that found on the Gypsy vardo, an art form uniquely associated with Romanies, with its most ornate examples in Europe being found in the UK. The main motifs forming the basis of the decorative schemes are derived from art forms within the host society, but their combined use on the highly carved and decorated wooden wagons have made them immediately identifiable as Gypsy-style artwork. Wagon decoration was chiefly carved, with painting and gilding in gold leaf used to highlight the carved forms. Specialist wagon building firms would be commissioned by Gypsy families to produce wagons to their specification, and therefore no two wagons are the same even if some motifs are repeated. This meant that the cost of custom carved work and painting was high, and vardos were used as a display of wealth and status by the richest Gypsy families (mainly the horse dealers). Gypsy families who could not afford such a display of carved work commissioned the cheaper painted decoration on plain-built wagons. The decline in the use of horse-drawn vehicles began in the inter-war period 1920-1938, with many wagon builders and wheelwrights switching their business to coachbuilding. This led to an increasing number of Gypsy families meeting their own wagon and decoration needs, at varying levels of competence. The Gypsy home-made ‘peg-knife’ wagons provided the base for the unique art form of the painted wagon, with some converting an existing 4-wheel dray 64 cart bed by adding a top. Vardo expert Peter Ingram[G] points out that whatever was to hand was used for building and decorating. Peg knives weren’t just for carving laundry pegs; they were also used for carving wagon details. Wagon colours were based on what was readily available. With the Gypsy vans you only had green or maroon or yellow, because they were easy colours to mix up in the paint mill. Yellow was used for the underworks, green or maroon for the body. It was also common practice to buy (or build), and decorate, a wagon in stages. Many wagons would come out painted plain and the family would take it back the following year. That’s when it would be flashed out. After WWII separate decorative motifs began to be synthesised into a single wagon or cart backboard with entire surface areas being covered with decoration. These included carving, central motifs, ribbonwork, coachlining, running scrolls and gilded features. Artistic training was often through the process of observation and experimentation and self-taught painters rarely worked beyond the needs of their immediate families. Necessity, and circumstances, were often the mother of invention when it came to Gypsy vardos. Ingram[G] remembers, It was a matter of living on your wits. Gypsy people did craftwork, carved clothes pegs for selling, and did farm work. All the fruit and hop picking was done by Gypsy people and local villagers, before it all got mechanized. It’s important to realise that Gypsies never styled themselves on cottagers, they styled themselves on the gentry. The best families considered themselves the gentry of the road, dealing with gentry of the houses. So they had fine bone china, silver knives and forks, beautiful white lace tablecloths. The interior of a wagon was gentrified with velvet drapes, white lace-edged cloths, etc. They never had patchwork quilts as it is portrayed – they used sheets with lace edges, best quality Welsh blankets, and a silk eiderdown on the bed. They didn’t have space on wagon walls for art pieces, so the practical items they used in their daily lives became miniature works of art. By the end of the 1950s most Gypsy families had changed their accommodation from horses and wagons to motor vans and trailers. Through the 1960s a short-lived folk art was the application of painted motifs to the door panels and bodywork of the J-type Bedford lorries (and other motor vehicles) used to tow the trailer caravans. The lorries were given spindlesided rails on the sides and across the back of the cab, were very flashy, all chamfered out, painted and lined, boarded backs were panel-lined out, and loads of extra chrome, big chrome wheel discs and a big fancy step bar was added at the back for towing a modern caravan. By the 1970s this style of artistic expression had died out as the vehicle were highly conspicuous and not good for business – people twigged you were a Gypsy and you didn’t get the work[G]. The motorised trailer caravan was not considered a suitable base for decoration, and enforced sedentarisation on sites after the 1968 Caravan Act led to a revival of interest in expressing Gypsy identity through horse-drawn carts and wagons. Ownership of such vehicles was seen by Gypsy families as an important symbol of their identity, with wagons transported to fairs on low-loaders as showpieces. A new generation of wagon painters, builders and restorers emerged (a number from Gypsy families) to make new carts and wagons that replicated earlier designs, as the surviving vehicles were a finite resource. They have ensured high standards of craftsmanship even where the wagon is a symbolic artefact for display purposes. There has 65 also been an upsurge of interest by young Gypsies in learning the skills needed to restore and paint wagons and carts. The past decade has seen a sudden emergence of contemporary Roma visual art. For centuries, visual art about the lives of Gypsies/Roma/Travellers has existed in which they have been the passive subjects. Much writing, painting and music relating to Roma in Europe had been produced by 1900 by non-Gypsy artists. These tended to represent Roma art as folk art. By the twentieth century individual Roma writers and artists began to emerge but it is in the last decade that Roma visual art has really made a public appearance. In 2006 the London International Gypsy Film Festival was an international celebration of Romany culture, community and identity, as represented within the moving image. Dozens of features, documentaries and short films presented an argument against all the stereotypes, prejudice and often overt hostility displayed towards the Roma people over centuries. The film festival uncovered a number of artists with Gypsy backgrounds, and it was decided that an exhibition of work should be organised. This was held in 2006 at Greenwich University by four artists from GRT backgrounds. The Second Site exhibition included work by Daniel Baker[G], Ferdinand Koci[G], Damian Le Bas[G] and Delaine Le Bas[G]. All four are professionally trained and have created careers without trading on ‘being a Gypsy’ – the exhibition was about whatever in the world concerned four artists who happened to be Gypsies. However, the commonality of their experience meant that even though their styles were different, their common history did intervene. The exhibition led to engagement with schools, an Arts Council of England grant to tour England, a precedent for the first GRT History Month, and three of the four artists taking part in the first Roma Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2007. The ‘new Romani arts movement’ is about deconstructing the stereotypes that have built up over centuries. At the same time as Romani ‘revisionist’ history is putting the Roma back into European history, Roma artists ‘are striving not to be typical, to be challenging stereotypes and presenting new typifications of their experience’ (Acton, 2011). Gypsy visual artists borrow themes, motifs and tropes across boundaries to make sense of their own situations and Roma art has two broad cultural matrices which provide the basis for contemporary GRT artists engaging with the international art market: (i) Renaissance neo-classicism transmitted via ‘Socialist Realism’ and married up with folklorism in Eastern Europe; (ii) New Romani Art draws on contemporary west European modern art of the twentieth century. Daniel Baker[G] in his 2011 thesis on Gypsy Visuality formulates a theory based on the identification of key elements within Gypsy visual arts, crafts and décor. The research highlights the social significance of Gypsy visual culture and argues its potential impact upon Romany/non-Romany social relations. Daniel has established some significant recurrent elements that constitute Gypsy visuality for the first time. These elements are: flashiness, allure, enchantment, entrapment, ornament, diversion, discordance, contingency, functionality, performance, community, family, home, traditional skills, wildlife, countryside and gender. He proposes that the constituent elements of Gypsy visuality both reflect and inform Gypsy culture. His 2011 PhD thesis from the Royal College of Art – Gypsy Visuality: Gell’s ‘Art Nexus’ and its potential for artists – is available on his website: www.danielbaker.net 66 In April 2011 the first permanent gallery of Roma art was established in Berlin. Galerie Kai Dikhas (the ‘place of seeing’ in Romani) is a gallery for contemporary art of the Roma and Sinti that shows constantly changing exhibitions or Roma artists from all over the world. A Berlinbased independent music label, Asphalt Tango, specialises in music of Roma from the Balkans, as well as rock, psychedelic folk and electronic from Eastern Europe and the music of Roma and Sinti worldwide is also promoted at the gallery. The international exhibition of Roma contemporary art continued in the second Roma Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale 2011. This included a special event, Call the Witness, which presented live ‘testimonies’, works of art, performances, talks, and conversations by and with artists, thinkers, and politicians to consider the situation of the Roma and Roma art. The event included an extensive line-up of eminent speakers and full information can be found at www.callthewitness.org. Back in Wales, the first GRT National Symposium 2012 included the workshop ‘How can we engage the GRT community through the Arts?’ led by Isaac Blake[G] and Dr. Thomas Acton[GW]. In an interview given during the Symposium, Isaac Blake[G] said, Having grown up on a site I know exactly what artistically barren places they can be, so what I really wanted to do was to take my passion for theatre and dance and give the kids there the opportunity to try things they normally wouldn’t … And it’s fantastic to see youngsters coming alive creatively and also identifying themselves as being Gypsies and Travellers. The conclusions of the workshop were:  Younger GRT community members are willing to take part in art, dance, music and drama workshops. Shirenewton site has hosted dance, drama, animation, circus, visual art, multimedia, singing, songwriting and music sessions.  Facilities at Rover Way site are more limited, so members have to travel to Shirenewton to take part.  Older GRT members want a trade, and are not so willing to participate in activities that don’t lead to employment skills.  There are specific cultural barriers to engagement for GRT communities (outlined elsewhere in this document).  European Roma are unwilling to self-identify as such, making it difficult to involve them in arts activities.  The emergence of Gypsy artists in different art forms is producing role models for young GRT members.*  The Arts are more inclusive than sport – there is a more diverse range of options and they can relate to culture and heritage.  Arts activities that are well received include music (traditional to the GRT community), literature (in the form of storytelling), visual arts.  When producing artwork, GRT members are encouraged because it is the finished artwork being judged, not themselves, which helps with issues of self-esteem.  The process of learning in an art workshop is underpinned by physical and numerical theory (whether realised or subliminally), so knowledge is expanded generally. 67 *Role models are an important impetus for GRT children. Some of the most well known include: Yul Brynner, Sir Charles Chaplin, Sir Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, Elvis Presley, David Essex, Mother Teresa, John Bunyan (preacher), Django Reinhardt, Gipsy Kings, Ronnie Wood (Rolling Stones), Albert Lee (Eric Clapton’s band), Adam Ant, Denny Laine (Moody Blues, Wings), Pablo Picasso, Bill Clinton (Scottish Travellers), Johnny Cash. Comments on the efficacy of arts projects in GRT communities Some of these comments are general, some refer to England, and some refer to projects in Wales. In some cases the comments from different people contradict each other.  When Gypsies and Travellers have been herded together by a local authority onto a site, it means that when an educational or arts project takes place, children of both groups are in the class. This means that Travellers are obliged to learn about Romany Gypsy history (which is not their heritage), or Gypsies have to learn about Traveller history (which is not their culture). As it’s difficult to separate the groups due to the nature of local authority provision, each group has to tolerate learning about the other. This can lead to frustration and friction. [G]  The two groups identify with one another, even if it’s not their own heritage they’re learning about. [GW]  Communities are very suspicious of arts projects being parachuted in to a site, without pre-planning or knowledge of GRT identities. We had a theatre company turn up on a site once with non-Gypsy actors and no idea of how to engage with the community.[G]  Arts organisations are dependent on public funding, which is not a concept that GRT communities understand. Gypsies and Travellers are untrained artists and crafts people with no idea of how to access funding. When a project comes on site the community just gets the crumbs from the loaf, it benefits the artists, not the community.[G]  GRT communities are used again and again by researchers and artists to further their own careers and nothing positive happens for the GRT – just another do-gooder doing their thing on the back of Travellers. [GW]  I like working with the GRT kids because they’re alive and interesting. The historical aspect that we cover is unique to Wales. They can see these people in the nineteenth century had higher status because of their music.[GW]  The kids like Teleri – she’s flamboyant and identifies with them.[GW]  I’ve been to Shirenewton and Pontypool – it’s difficult until they trust you – but the teachers who work with the kids are marvellous. [Teleri Gray[G]]  Isaac Blake works hard, he’s genuine, he fits in with the GRT community and the multicultural groups. He works well with everyone and I would endorse anything he says.[G]  Eldra’s book on the Welsh Gypsies is great, but very academic. We need a Mickey Mouse version of the book to use with the children.[G]  The animations made with Cinetig are great but non-Gypsy children need to be educated a bit more. We need funding to do another animation, but it should be done with non-GRT children – raising awareness that G’s have a history and it’s interesting.[G]  Cinetig [now Gritty Realism Productions] – Our main aim with The Travelling Harpists was to introduce it to young people not familiar with the story. The Gypsy Ways film focused on the Irish experience in Rover Way.[GW]  Kids definitely learnt about animation through the projects. One kid missing from Monkton school for weeks reappeared when the animation classes on the 68 Pembrokeshire National Park started. He disappeared afterwards then turned up again when the animation classes on the Auschwitz project began.[GW]  We’ve worked a few times with the same group so we were able to take the work further with each session. We also arranged the possibility of OCN accreditation – this didn’t work out on this occasion, but the kids focused when they heard of the possibility of a certificate.[GW]  Arts projects need to be from the grassroots up and defined by the community. Isaac Blake made the leap to gain education outside the community, but he’s brought it back in.[GW]  It’s not the same as telling your own story – there are lots of talented GRT people. [G]  Many parents see arts projects as having no practical outcomes. If they can see a practical or economic outcome the children are more likely to take up the sessions, as family pressure is to earn a living.[GW]  Preserving Gypsy heritage is a private undertaking, and even most Romany museums are owned and run by Gypsies themselves. And their oral and family history is beginning to be recorded. There are great Gypsy artists at the grassroots level, including some now using the written word very effectively.[G]  We are starting to see a digital divide between generations. GRT youth are now very IT literate, very good on smartphones, but they’re used for social networking and entertainment rather than learning. Most have good online access.[G]  Since cold calling has been banned it would be great for Gypsies and Travellers to be involved in traditional crafts again. There is some woodcraft going on, but metalworking has almost disappeared completely. We need to re-boot traditional methods of income generation.[G]  Scrap collecting has led to some sculpture working in metal, which got the men involved. That worked quite well.[GW]  One Gypsy has started retraining as an artist blacksmith in order to revive the traditional crafts of his community.[G]  Teaching of traditional crafts by elder Gypsies to the younger ones works well.[GW]  We got the girls involved in a fashion show which led to sessions in college. That worked until they were needed back at the trailer.[GW]  Boys tend to spend their time hunting, with lurchers, fighting cocks, riding horses from the age of three, boxing, martial arts. Projects will need to appeal to these.[GW]  There needs to be some research with Gypsies and Travellers, aimed at older and young people, into how much of the traditional arts and crafts survive, and what needs to be done to develop them as an economic option again.GW]  The Arson Rap Project organised by the South Wales Fire & Rescue Service was very successful as the kids were able to participate in an activity they may not normally be able to do. Over eight weeks they took part in graffiti, ceramics, T-shirt design and writing rap songs, as well as experiencing fire kit, using a hose and seeing how firefighters use the equipment from the fire engine. Given the potential for fire breakouts on sites, this was seen as a useful activity.[GW]  There should be a Gypsy encampment set up in the Welsh Folk Museum, with a vardo, rod tents and fire pots. And an interactive tourist booklet, with Welsh Gypsy music by Robin Huw Bowen.[G]  The Travelling Ahead project run by Save the Children has a GRT youth forum across Wales. This forum has asked for a film to be made to counteract the stereotyping in Big 69 Fat Gypsy Weddings. Gritty Realism Productions has started work on this, with a working title of Big Fat Gypsy Stereotypes. [G]  Research is needed at ground level into what is really going on in the GRT community, and what can really be done through the Arts. There needs to be a balance between interfering and redirecting.[GW]  The profile of the Arts Council needs to be raised within the community and it should be open to applications without trying to direct what is wanted. There is a lack of Gypsies and Travellers coming forward, but this has to be balanced against their choosing to be separate.[GW] __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Sources: Ingram[G](2012); Smith[NG](1997); Acton (2006); various interviewees (2012) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romen_Theatre Romen Theatre, Moscow http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Gypsies.aspx http://www.romanytheatrecompany.com/ Romany Theatre Company, Cambridge http://www.atchingtan.com/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/posts/Atching-Tan-A-Gypsy-Wife http;//www.callthewitness.org Call the Witness, Roma Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2011 http://www.danielbaker.net/ Daniel Baker, artist http://www.southwales-fire.gov.uk/English/safety/sci/Pages/CSI_ArsonRap.aspx 11.0 ARTS COUNCIL of WALES-FUNDED PROJECTS This is an overview of projects funded by the Arts Council of Wales in the past ten years that either involve GRT groups, are run by a GRT community member, or involve GRT communities as the subject of the project. YEAR ORGANISATION PROJECT GRANT REF. 2002-03 Bridgend County Council A six-month project involving drama, music and dance aimed at addressing the needs and aspirations of three communities in the county borough of Bridgend; the Romany Community of Pyle, the Catholic Community of Maesteg and the Asian Communities of Pencoed and Bridgend. £5,020.00 20021392 2002-03 Cinetig Cinetig proposes to make five short animation films (3-5 minutes in length) with different groups across Wales. One film is the Shipwrecks Project, Monkton, Pembrokeshire – working with 11-16-year-old Traveller children at Priory Comp School. A key aim of Cinetig is to create films that reflect the diversity and complexity of modern Wales through the eyes of different groups. £48,000.00 20021605 2003-04 CADMAD A thirty-week photography project working with the three main Romany groups in Cardiff. Run by Andrée Morgan Andrews[G]. £4,684.00 20030277 70 2004-05 Cinetig The Travelling Harpist is a project about the history of Gypsy culture and traditions in Wales. It was carried out with young Travellers and pupils from Bynea County primary School and Monkton Priory Community Primary School. The project resulted in an animated film telling the story of the Wood Gypsy family who, in the past, brought their music and way of life to Wales, and a documentary about the making of the film. The aim of the project was for young Travellers to celebrate Romany culture in Wales through working with professional film-makers. £30,000.00 20040336 2004-05 Bridgend County Council A Romany Story short film project engaging a group of Romany Gypsies as participants working alongside a professional director. £5,000.00 20040828 2005-06 Access All Areas The Jaipur Kawa Brass Band, an authentic 10- piece Gypsy brass band from Rajasthan in northern India, will be touring in Europe from June to October 2005 with appearances at festivals, melas, carnivals, clubs, arts centres, theatres, schools and street events. The tour will visit a number of locations in Wales. £4,853.00 20050501 2005-06 Edward Jay The Devil's Violin is a unique storytelling show based predominantly on Welsh Gypsy tales with live Gypsy music. The show, which targets older children and adults, is to tour Welsh venues in Autumn 2006. Arts Council England is also being asked to fund rehearsals and a tour to secondary schools in Summer 2006. £4,995.00 20051429 2006-07 Access All Areas The Jaipur Kawa Brass Band, an authentic 10- piece Gypsy brass band from Rajasthan, northern India, will visit Wales during their 2006 European tour, with appearances at festivals, carnivals, arts centres, theatres, schools and street events. £4,475.00 20060410 2007-08 Tina Carr This project is a collaboration between two artists: Tina Carr and Anne Marie Schöne, to create a new body of work – The River is My Looking Glass – using large format photography and a video installation documentary practice. Both artists will be documenting the lives of Romany communities in Hungary, Romania and Slovakia to promote the effective exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms of the Roma communities and to advance a greater understanding of the issues of racism and social exclusion by the Roma people. £15,000.00 20070135 71 2007-08 Women’s Arts Association Postcards from Home is a 12-month community arts project based in Cardiff which will give four female community groups the opportunity to work with professional artists to create multi-media postcards in response to their local environment. Participants will include groups drawn from the Yemeni Centre in Butetown; an elderly group from the Salvation Army Centre in Ely; Cardiff's Traveller Education Service and Disability Arts Cymru. £26,376.00 20070436 2008-09 Isaac Blake[G] Isaac Blake seeks funding to attend a 2-week intensive training course in Graham technique at the Martha Graham School in New York. £1,770.00 20080606 2008-09 Tina Carr Roma Europe – support to undertake a research project into the Roma Collection in Hungary, to establish contacts and meet with minority groups for future collaboration. £1,000.00 IOF 20080752 2009 Trac Y Fedle Fawr is a year-long project of six distinct elements aimed at opening doors to the traditional musics of Wales – encouraging more people of all ages to take part in traditional music and learn about its place in the cultural life of the nation. It includes a project working with a Romany community on the Pembrokeshire Varda Project in partnership with the local authority, which focused on the contribution of the Gypsies to the safeguarding of traditional Welsh music, particularly the harp. Working with the Monkton School Gypsy Unit, Welsh musicians and Czech Roma activist/singer Ida Kelarova reunited young Gypsies with aspects of their heritage unfamiliar to them. £26,815.00 20080370 2009 Community Music Wales Community Music Wales worked with Gypsy and Traveller communities to produce a piece of music based on Gypsy culture. Workshops explored Gypsy and Traveller customs and traditions in order to facilitate the creation of lyrics that represent the Gypsy way of life. Young workshop participants had a chance to explore a range of musical styles and develop their interests, as well as gain OCN accreditation. Using the music produced, two videos were created; one by participants from the Rover Way site and the other by Shire Newton site residents, to represent their respective communities. The videos were shown at a presentation and awards evening and again as part of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month 2009. The project was commissioned by the Cardiff Gypsy and Traveller Project. Annual revenue 20090166 72 2009-10 Isaac Blake[G] To put together a new piece of work called Lavior (Words) using dancer Michael Williams, singer Phillippa Reeves and musician Stacey Blythe. The project will use movement, dance, music and the Romani language to explore Romani culture. Isaac will direct the piece, which will present two performances at The Riverfront, Newport. £4,867.00 20090860 2009-10 Ethnic Minorities Communities Team The project aims to celebrate and promote Gypsy/Roma/Traveller traditions and culture and to challenge ignorance and prejudice, thereby enhancing community cohesion. The programme includes a series of workshops led by NoFit State, Cinetig and the GRT community, leading up to GRT History Month. A poster competition in primary schools will also help raise the profile of the event. The programme will culminate in a one-day event of showcases and performances at the Pierhead Building. £4,093.00 20090939 2010 Head 4 Arts As part of Reach the Heights, six sessions on Romani arts and songwriting were held with Nantyglo Travellers’ Group, followed by a performance. Four sessions on songwriting, Romani culture and artwork were held with Torfaen Travellers’ Group, and a further four sessions were held with the same group on songwriting, digital stories, and painting, with self-employment in view as an outcome. Reach the Heights 20090361 2010 Chapter Gallery exhibition by Romany artist Delaine Le Bas[G]. Witch Hunt explores many of the experiences of intolerance, misrepresentation, transitional displacement and homelessness that the community continues to face. Witch Hunt is a multimedia project comprising installation, performance and new music, exploring the role of language in identifying the ‘other’. Annual revenue 20090951 2010 Tina Carr Tina Carr and Anne Marie Schöne worked with the Roma Parliament & Open Society Institute, Budapest for six weeks on their Once We Were Birds Project: Defending and Advocating the Dignity, Culture and Human Rights of the Roma People in Hungary. Including an exhibition at the János Balázs Gallery, Budapest and continuation of their work with Roma community groups in Budapest and north-east Hungary. £3,000.00 IOF 20100058 73 2010-11 NoFit State Circus A double-pronged, 12-month project to coincide with NoFit State's move to the new John Street studio comprising: Weekly participatory workshops with the Traveller community in Tremorfa and young people from Butetown; Development of the Cardiff Youth Circus with more targeted age groups and more specialised skills provision. £30,000.00 20100239 2010-11 Tina Carr An application to produce a new body of photographic and audio-visual work centred on the Roma, Gypsy and Traveller communities in Wales during the period May 2011 to May 2012. Ffotogallery is a project partner. £20,000.00 20100457 2011-12 Romani Cultural Arts Company A visual arts installation piece by Romani artist Delaine Le Bas[G], commissioned by the Romani Cultural Arts Company in collaboration with Chapter. Pots ‘n’ Pans: a Cardiff Gypsy and Traveller Way of Life. £5,000.00 20110374 2012 Head for Arts Facilitating workshops for Brynmawr Travellers’ Group to produce artwork for a Travellers’ festival in 2012. The project was paid for by the Travellers, with facilitation by Head for Arts within their annual revenue funding. Annual revenue 20120139 From this analysis of grants made, it seems that no application for funding of a GRT-related project has been turned down by the Arts Council of Wales in the past ten years. The projects funded can be divided into three types: (i) Those where Gypsies/Roma/Travellers have requested grant aid or other assistance. (ii) Those where GRT communities have participated in the project and have gained some direct benefit – experience, knowledge or accreditation. (iii) Those where Gypsies/Roma/Travellers are the subject of the project but derive no direct benefit. The following projects have not been funded directly by the Arts Council of Wales, but are included because of their taking place in Wales and/or with GRT communities. 2006-11 South Wales Fire & Rescue Service Young people aged between 11 and 18 in counties across south Wales took part in the ‘Arson Rap Project’, a South Wales Fire and Rescue initiative, with the aim of reducing instances of arson, hoax calls, anti-social behaviour and car crime in south Wales. The project also developed key skills with the young people, including confidence building, communication skills, improving team building skills, reading and writing skills and motivation. The young people also wrote and recorded a rap track to discourage others from committing crime in their area. The project was not aimed specifically at GRT communities, but young GRT members took part. Not ACWfunded 74 2009 WNO MAX Equal Voices Working with young Travellers and Gypsies from the Equal Project based at West Monmouth School in Pontypool, Torfaen, exploring their perceptions and experiences of life in the valleys today and helping them capture their thoughts and words and turn them into songs. From April to June 2009 WNO MAX will work with two separate groups of girls and boys, bringing in writer Karen Hayes (Songs For Our Age; Merman King) and composer Stacey Blythe (Valley of Hope; Bay Women Singing) to introduce the young people to song writing and music. Once the songs have been developed they will be brought to life by Soprano Sian Cameron (Singing Club) and Baritone Mark Evans (Songbus). To provide them with an additional creative platform to celebrate their voices and experiences, artist Louise Carey will help them take their words and turn them into a range of public art sculptures, using a variety of materials. The sculptures will form part of a permanent art trail at Pontypool's local community farm where one of the performances of the Equal Voices songs will take place. The songs will also be performed at the school, as well as on one of the Travelling sites to allow fellow pupils, parents and family to experience the work that the young people have created. A live recording of one of the performances will be produced as a CD for those involved to keep. Annual revenue and Paul Hamlyn Foundation 20090216 2011 Small World Theatre Khančeske – You are Welcome – Mai Croeso i chi A two-day celebration of Romani and Traveller people and their culture taking place in west Wales. Day 1 – Politics and Culture – including presentations and discussions with members of the local communities, artists, academics and politicians. A rare performance by Teleri Gray and Robin Hugh Bowen of storytelling accompanied by the triple harp. Day 2 – Exhibitions, Workshops, Romany Food and Hungarian Ceilidh – including the opening of a new photographic exhibition by Romani photographer Andrea Annamária Duka and the UK launch of the Roma Media Archive Not ACWfunded 75 www.romamediaarchive.net. Painting and dance workshops. Traditional Romany food, cooked by 'Hungry Dragon' over a stick fire, followed by a wildly energetic Hungarian Ceilidh with the Jani Lang Band. 2011 Tina Carr & AnneMarie Schöne The Once We Were Birds project was selected for Call the Witness, Media Archive at the 2nd Roma Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2011. The selection was made from an open, international submission in Macedonia during 2010. The curators stated: 'We are interested in your participation particularly because of the great artistic and research merits of your work and its relevance for the Roma communities as a kind of transnational and transversal index and resource of references, communication and knowledge production.' It is the purpose of the Once We Were Birds project to highlight the significance of Roma culture all over the world and to continue working with Roma communities both at home in Wales and the UK as well as internationally. The 2nd Roma Pavilion is sponsored by the Open Society Institute, New York as the Roma, although international, are stateless. ACW production grant and IOF grant (see above) 20070135 20100058 12.0 CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS Clearly, until basic issues relating to accommodation and health are resolved, arts activity for GRT communities could be seen as an optional luxury. However, as Wales is relatively advanced in its dealing with these issues, and many different agencies are involved, there is an opportunity for the Arts to capitalise on the lead provided by the Welsh Government, Isaac Blake, the Travellers Aid Trust, Tim Wilson and the local authority Gypsy Liaison Officers. Without basic civil and human rights guaranteed, it is impossible for GRT communities to maintain a balanced economic position and there is a clear interest and demand from GRT communities for gaining education and skills that relate to generating income. This chimes with the need for non-Gypsy artists generally to improve their income-generating activities in the face of reduced public funding. However, GRT communities want (and need) any intervention to relate to their own situation and to fit their own culture – not simply to replicate the host culture’s ideas of how things should be done. There is a great opportunity for the Arts Council of Wales, because of the advances already made in the country, to demonstrate that it is looking beyond the stereotypes – through its understanding of how the different Traveller groups are composed 76 and the issues that affect them – to those issues that can best be addressed by considered provision of grant funding for arts and crafts activities. It is possible to tease apart those elements of GRT culture and heritage that relate to arts and crafts activity and which could be grant-aided accordingly. Through an understanding of the various issues that affect GRT communities it should be possible to capitalise on the explosion of interest in Roma art in the past decade and to focus on those arts or crafts activities that could become incomegenerating and which would directly benefit GRT communities. Just through this review the following have been highlighted as areas of interest to GRT communities, and with focused research others could emerge: Music; Dance; Storytelling; production of audiobooks; Woodcraft; Carpentry; Woodcarving; Wagon and cart restoration; Painting & Decorating; Wheelwright work; Blacksmithing – including art smithing; Tinsmithing; Other metal crafts – gold/silver/jewellery-making; Basket-making; Roofing – thatching as well as slate; Sewing; General handicrafts; Lace-making; separating scrap into metals useful for arts, crafts and sculpture; Romani language books for children. Such an informed and proactive approach would also provide an opportunity to move beyond the stereotype of arts funding: Is this a BME box-ticking exercise, or a project that will genuinely aid the GRT community in some way?[G] With cold calling prohibited and many site licences not allowing Gypsies and Travellers to carry on a business on site, alternatives must be found. ‘Rebooting’ traditional arts and crafts (and encouraging contemporary Roma art developments) through Arts Council funding would (a) meet the aims and objectives of the Arts Council; (b) assist in meeting the needs of GRT communities; (c) provide an opportunity for future measurement of analysis of the economic impact of Gypsy and Traveller services in the local economy. The Travellers Aid Trust in Carmarthen is the only independent UK-wide grant making organisation that specialises in providing grants to Gypsies and Travellers. Its expertise would be invaluable to the Arts Council and their Administrator has made the following observations with regard to grant making to GRT communities:  GRT communities are generally ignorant about how funding works.  Capacity development within the community is needed.  Gypsies and Travellers willingly give up their time for someone else’s benefit [referring to researchers and unrequested projects], and they hope something will change. They are then disappointed when nothing comes of it.  Gypsies and Travellers are not applying for grants – why not? Grants seem inaccessible.  An organisation needs to think out of the box for its funding to have a real impact.  There are diff parameters with GRT funding – monitoring needs to be slightly different, for example.  In England there are 30-40 community-led GRT groups which act as a channel for GRT groups to access things – these don’t exist in Wales.  The Travellers Aid Trust can accept a grant on behalf of a group and facilitate it for them.  Another factor is that Travellers can often tell you what you want to hear rather than what they want or need. This is not meant as a deception but is a mechanism for self preservation that has emerged out of years of persecution. Breaking through this can be 77 very difficult and requires a relationship of trust to build up between grant makers and the Gypsies and Travellers concerned. It is therefore not a case of simply imparting skills, but finding a way to engage Travellers into the grant making process without it compromising those elements of their culture that make them who they are. The Appendix (p.93) provides more information on the Travellers Aid Trust, its information for grant makers, information on improving take-up of grants programmes, information on difficulties for grant makers supporting Travellers, and improving support for Traveller beneficiaries. Recommendation 1: Forge a proactive relationship with the Travellers Aid Trust (TAT) and correlate Arts Council grant-making procedures with the guidelines provided by TAT for funding Gypsies and Travellers. This is a Welshbased organisation that operates cross the UK and specialises in GRT funding. It has extensive accumulated expertise. Recommendation 2: Team up with the Romani Cultural & Arts Company in addition to providing project funding. This review has uncovered nothing but praise for Isaac Blake – his work is universally acknowledged by academics, Gypsies, Travellers, politicians, public bodies and international organisations. This is a unique Welsh-based company that should be supported in every possible way. Recommendation 3: Liaise regularly with the Cardiff Gypsy & Traveller Project and with other Gypsy Liaison officers in Wales, particularly for access to GRT communities without inadvertently giving offence. Recommendation 4: Improve knowledge across all Arts Council of Wales staff. This is a list of suggestions made by interviewees during this review:  Officers need to know why differences between Gypsies, Roma and Travellers exist, and what those differences are.[GW]  Officers need to be able to distinguish between different travelling groups.[G]  A general awareness of Gypsy and Travellers’ culture and history is needed.[GW]  A thorough understanding of the concept of mochadi is needed.[G]  Capitals ‘G’, ‘R’ and ’T’ should always be used for Gypsies, Roma and Travellers.[GW]  Avoid using ‘Gypsy-Traveller’ as shorthand for the two separate racial groups of Gypsies and Travellers. Use Gypsies and Roma and Travellers.[GW]  There should be a separate GRT tickbox on grant application forms.[G]  Step Up Cymru is a policies training initiative of the Welsh Government. Is shadowing or mentoring within the Arts Council of Wales possible for members of the GRT community?[G] 78  Check that projects funded by the Arts Council are not perpetuating or reinforcing stereotypes.[GW]  Work with those already working with Gypsies and Travellers in Wales, Welsh media and representatives of the Gypsy and Traveller communities, to identify ways to improve the quality of media reporting of Gypsies and Travellers in Wales, to reduce the level of prejudice and discrimination.[GW]  True equality is treating everyone the same, with no divisions. BME policies create a ‘them and us’ situation whereas it needs to be an ‘all different, all equal’ situation.[G]  Check that funding decisions are made on an informed basis, not a ‘box-ticking’ basis.[G]  Before setting up a project, the project organisers need to know the Gypsies or Travellers they will be working with.[G]  Draw on the expertise of people who already act as advocates, who can help identify the best mechanisms to consult with Gypsies and Travellers to avoid misunderstandings or raised expectations.[GW] Whilst some Gypsies and Travellers undoubtedly want the benefit of education, including arts education, that the majority society can offer, most want it without the obligation to `integrate'. The migrations and perpetual travelling have stopped, and the threads crisscrossing Europe are now political, social and academic. At a time when the growing trend in Western economies is towards downsizing, flexitime, small business units, `hot-desking' and self-employment the GRT style of work is closer than ever to matching the trends in the host society. In a period of general economic crisis and mass unemployment small trades are making a comeback. New working structures, greater mobility, and advances in technology should all contribute to a greater tolerance of such traditionally flexible workers and the Arts Council of Wales has a better than ever opportunity to contribute to these flexible methods modes of working through aligning them, in the GRT community, with the Arts. 79 LIST OF INTERVIEWEES SUPERSCRIPT[G] = GYPSY/TRAVELLER, [NG] = NON-GYPSY, [GW]= GRT WORKER Dr. Thomas Acton, OBE [GW] Emeritus Professor of Romani Studies, University of Greenwich. Ph.D. in Sociology of Gypsies. Involved in setting up the World Romany Congress, Gypsy Council, Encyclopaedia Commission, Romanestan Publications. Author of many books and articles on Roma. Patron of the Roma Support Group, Secretary of the Gypsy Lore Society. Susan Alexander[GW] Trust Administrator for the Travellers Aid Trust, the only independent grant-maker dedicated specifically to supporting Gypsies and Travellers in the UK, based in Carmarthen. Andrée Morgan Andrews[G] Gypsy Liaison Officer at Powys County Council. From a Romany Gypsy background, she is actively involved in liaison between Gypsies, Roma and Travellers and the wider community within the county of Powys. Isaac Blake[G] Director of the Romani Cultural & Arts Company, based in Cardiff. Working through the arts the Company raises funds to take community development and educational projects onto Gypsy, Roma and Traveller sites and into non-GRT and ‘countryfolk’ communities across Wales. A trained contemporary dancer, he also teaches dance and movement at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Robin Huw Bowen[NG] The leading exponent today of the Welsh triple harp. He learnt to play the simple Celtic harp at school, and was taught the Welsh triple harp in Gypsy style by Eldra Jarman (greatgranddaughter of John Roberts, Telynor Cymru. He performs as a soloist and with a number of Welsh folk groups. In 2004 he and four other triple harpists formed a Welsh triple harp ‘choir’. He researches and publishes Welsh tunes and arrangements for the harp. Jake Bowers[G] A self-made journalist born to a Romanichal family with 17 siblings. He works to highlight and celebrate the massive contribution made by the long-established Romani minority. In 2003 he set up the Gypsy Media Company, with the aim of raising the profile of a much maligned community, and the company produces the Travellers’ Times magazine. He has worked for BBC television and radio, for the Guardian, the Independent and many other publications. He launched the very first Romani radio programme Rokker Radio on the BBC. 80 Gerald Conn[GW] Managing director of Gritty Realism Productions, an awardwinning animator and filmmaker with over twenty years of experience whose films have been broadcast on Channel 4 and BBC and shown at numerous international festivals. Has taught animation and produced films with a number of Gypsy and Traveller schools in Wales (also with his previous company Cinetig). Claire Dickson[GW] Officer at Cardiff Gypsy and Traveller Project. Meredydd Evans[NG] A leading expert and musicologist specialising in the folk music of Wales. A collector, editor, historian and performer of folk music in the Welsh language who has helped to preserve Wales’ musical legacy. Head of Light Entertainment at the BBC 1963-73. A senior figure in the Welsh Language Society. Teleri Jarman Gray[G] Descendant of Abram Wood's family in Wales. Daughter of Eldra[G] and Professor A. O. H. Jarman (joint authors of many books and articles on Gypsies in Wales, including The Welsh Gypsies, 1991). Works with schools and young people as a storyteller of Romani and Welsh Gypsy history. Peter Ingram[G] Owner of the Romany Folklore Museum in Selborne and renowned specialist builder, restorer and painter of Gypsy caravans and artefacts with over fifty years of experience. Maker of craft products such as pegs, flowers, baskets, etc. Expert in Romani history and storytelling; gives talks and craft demonstrations on Romani culture and heritage in schools. TV and radio programme consultant. Hannah Jenkins[NG] Director of Community Music Wales. Delaine Le Bas[G] A British artist of Romany background. Her art has been shown extensively in the UK and internationally. Sam Lee[G] Sam Lee is folk singer, promoter and animateur on a journey into the old songs of The British Isles. His band Sam Lee and Friends uses unconventional and contemporary arrangements that challenge preconceptions of what ʻtraditional folkʼ should sound like. He plays many innovative concerts across London, festival stages around the UK and radio and television appearances. His musical training came via the legendary, late Scottish Traveller Stanley Robertson – last of the great ballad singers. Sam has also spent time researching and documenting the music and stories of the Romany Gypsy and Irish Traveller communities. 81 Katie Morgan[GW] Katie is a painter and restorer, based in the Cotswolds. She paints Gypsy wagons, fairground showfronts and narrowboats in the traditional ways using techniques such as woodgraining, marbling, lining and murals. She teaches traditional painting to Gypsies and Travellers in educational workshops and classes. Blanche Rowen[NG] Administrator of trac, the folk development organisation for Wales. Kate Strudwick[NG] Creative Project Manager, Head for Arts. 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'Early British Gypsies', Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, New Series, Vo1.7, No.1 (1913-1914) WEBSITES & LINKS World artists’ initiative against Romaphobia http://artists-for-roma-net.ning.com/ Asphalt Tango – Gypsy and Eastern music label http://www.asphalt-tango.de/ ‘Atching Tan’ BBC radio drama series http://www.atchingtan.com/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/posts/Atching-Tan-A-Gypsy-Wife BBC article ‘Pontypool Race Gypsy site extension proposed by Torfaen’ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-19018379 BBC article ‘Gypsy Wedding ‘stereotype’ challenged’ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-18524178 Gypsy culture is much more than dresses and make-up http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/23/gypsy-culture-is-much-more-than-dresses-and-make-up/ 88 National Assembly Committee Seminar on Service Provision for Gypsies and Travellers http://www.assemblywales.org/N0000000000000000000000000009105.pdf Gypsy Travellers: A Policing Strategy, Inspector Ian Taggart LLB, Grampian Police http://www.bemis.org.uk/resources/gt/scotland/home%20office%20-%20gypsy%20travellers%20- %20a%20policing%20strategy-UK.pdf Call the Witness, Roma Pavilion, 54th Venice Biennale www.callthewitness.org Cardiff Traveller Education Service http://www.cardiff.gov.uk/content.asp?nav=2869,3047,3049,3073,3932&parent_directory_id=2865&id=7 741&d1p1=1 EU Roma Communities in Cardiff http://www.cardiff.gov.uk/content.asp?nav=2%2C2867%2C3591%2C2907%2C4979%2C4980 Cardiff Housing – Gypsy and Traveller accommodation http://www.cardiffhousing.co.uk/index.php?section=accommodation&option=gypsy_traveller Article on Romani Culture and Traditions http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/american-gypsies/romani-culture-and-traditions/ Communities and Local Government Essential Guide to the Decentralisation and Localism Bill http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/localgovernment/decentralisationguide Cardiff Romany Gypsy facing jail for homophobic abuse http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2186095/Jayne-Collins-Woman-claiming-Romany-gypsyprincess-facing-jail-homophobic-abuse-Cardiff.html Gypsy wins right to live in a caravan http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2187354/Gypsy-wins-right-live-caravan-saying-good-nightssleep-home.html Gypsy schoolgirl wins Oxford place http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2189845/Gypsy-schoolgirl-works-seafront-amusement-arcadewins-place-study-English-Literature-Oxford-University.html ‘Travellers invade playing fields’ article http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2189796/Travellers-invade-playing-fields-30-000-yearMarlborough-College-Kate-Middleton-played-hockey.html Website of Daniel Baker[G], Gypsy artist http://www.danielbaker.net/ Article on the Traveller Law Research Unit at Cardiff University http://digitaljournalist.eu/OnTheRoad/traveller-law-research-unit/ Wikipedia entry on Dale Farm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Farm 89 Wikipedia entry on Gypsy artist Damien le Bas[G] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damian_Le_Bas Wikipedia entry on Gypsy artist Delaine le Bas[G] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaine_Le_Bas Fictional representations of Romanies in literature and film http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictional_representations_of_Romani_people Equality and Human Rights Commission http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/ Gritty Realism Productions http://grittyrealism.co.uk GRT History Month http://grthm.natt.org.uk/timeline.php Information on Gypsy artist Ferdinand Koci[G] http://www.grtleeds.co.uk/Culture/ferdinand.html Guardian article ‘The truth about Gypsies’ (24 March 2000) http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2000/mar/24/immigration.immigrationandpublicservices Guardian article ‘End of the road for Gypsy stereotypes’ (02 April 2008) http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/apr/02/4 Guardian article ‘Dale Farm Travellers hope UN official’s visit will end their plight’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/feb/23/dale-farm-travellers-un-visit?intcmp=239 Guardian article ‘Gypsies and Travellers look for more political clout’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2012/jul/25/discrimination-at-work-roma-gypsies-andtravellers-caravans-voting-franchise?newsfeed=true Guardian article ‘Political suicide: housing Gypsy and Traveller communities’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/housing-network/2012/jul/16/local-politics-housing-gypsies-and-travellers Guardian article ‘Traveller pitch funding of £47m is announced by government’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jan/07/traveller-pitch-funding-announcedgovernment?intcmp=239 Guardian article ‘Safe space online for real ‘chavs’’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jul/30/communities.socialnetworking Friends Families and Travellers – protects the rights of Gypsies and Travellers to pursue a nomadic way of life http://www.gypsy-traveller.org/ Sándor[G],‘Comparison of Romany Law with Israelite Law and Indo-Aryan Traditions’ http://www.imninalu.net/Roma.htm; 90 Galerie Kai Dikhas – contemporary Roma art gallery in Berlin http://www.kaidikhas.de/en/gallery Website of Katie B. Morgan, Fairground and Gypsy-style artist http://www.kbmorgan.co.uk/index.html Traveller Law Research Unit – The Traveller Law Reform Bill http://www.law.cf.ac.uk/tlru/bill.html The National Federation of Gypsy Liaison Groups http://www.nationalgypsytravellerfederation.org/index.html National Association of Teachers of Travellers http://www.natt.org.uk/ New Statesman article ‘The gypsies who lost their homes to make way for the Olympics’ http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/lifestyle/2012/07/gypsies-who-lost-their-homes-make-wayolympics Bridget Deadman[G] article http://oxfordstudent.com/2012/07/31/big-fat-gypsy-lies/ Communities and Local Government Select Committee inquiry into the abolition of regional strategies http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/communities-andlocal-government-committee/inquiries/spatial-strategies/ Select Committee on Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions, Thirteenth Report http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmodpm/633/63306.htm Royal College of Nursing, Gypsy & Traveller Communities http://www.rcn.org.uk/development/practice/social_inclusion/gypsy_and_traveller_communities Roma Routes – EU project celebrating Roma culture and history www.romaroutes.eu Romani Cultural and Arts Company[G] http://romaniarts.co.uk/ Romani Language Project Manchester University http://www.romani.humanities.manchester.ac.uk International Romani Writers’ Association http://www.romaniwriters.com/ Romany Theatre Company[G] http://www.romanytheatrecompany.com/ Social network for young Gypsies and Travellers online http://www.savvychavvy.com/ 91 Arson Rap project run by South Wales Fire Service http://www.southwales-fire.gov.uk/English/safety/sci/Pages/CSI_ArsonRap.aspx Website of Robin Huw Bowen http://www.teires.com/ The Devil’s Violin storytelling and music group www.thedevilsviolin.co.uk Site listing common Gypsy stereotypes http://thegypsychronicles.net/gypsystereotypes-aspx/ Travellers Got Talent article http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3597046/Gypsies-flock-to-TV-talent-show-TravellersGot-TalentBari-Radt.html Travellers Aid Trust - Grants for Gypsies & Travellers experiencing exceptional hardship http://www.travellersaidtrust.org/ A Big or Divided Society? Final Recommendations and Report of the Panel Review into the Coalition Government Policy on Gypsies and Travellers http://www.travellersaidtrust.org/big_or_divided_society.pdf Save the Children’s Travelling Ahead project www.travellingahead.org.uk Traveller Law Reform Project http://www.travellerslaw.org.uk/index.htm Travellers’ Times magazine[G] http://www.travellerstimes.org.uk Gypsies and Travellers: Their lifestyle, history and culture http://www.travellerstimes.org.uk/downloads/lifestyle_history_and_culture_24052010111520.pdf Romany Wales Project http://www.valleystream.co.uk/romhome.htm Guidance on Managing Unauthorised Camping, WAG (2005) http://wales.gov.uk/dsjlg/publications/localgov/guidecamping/guidee.pdf?lang=en Accommodation Needs of Gypsy-Travellers in Wales, Report to WAG, Pat Niner, University of Birmingham (2006) http://wales.gov.uk/dsjlg/research/accomneedsgypsy/researche.pdf?lang=en Good Practice Guide in Designing Gypsy Traveller Sites in Wales, WAG (2009) http://wales.gov.uk/docs/dsjlg/publications/comm/091112gpgdesigningen.pdf Good Practice Guide in Managing Gypsy Traveller Sites in Wales, WAG (2009) http://wales.gov.uk/docs/dsjlg/publications/comm/091112gpgmanagingen.pdf 92 ‘Travelling to a Better Future’: Gypsy and Traveller Framework for Action and Delivery Plan Welsh Government (2012) http://wales.gov.uk/docs/dsjlg/publications/equality/110928gypsytravelleren.pdf Article on Gypsy History Month in Wales http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/showbiz/2012/06/16/history-month-challengesthe-stereotype-of-gypsies-in-wales-91466-31186099/ Welsh Folk Museum Handbook 1968 http://welshjournals.llgc.org.uk/browse/viewpage/llgc-id:1073091/llgc-id:1081601/llgcid:1081875/getText Decade of Roman Inclusion 2005-2015 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decade_of_Roma_Inclusion Wales Migration Partnership http://www.wmp.org.uk Cadbury’s Flake TV advert (1982) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciIQgunHHiY Cardiff Gypsy & Traveller Project 114 Clifton Street, Roath, Cardiff, CF24 1LW Tel: 029 2021 4411, Email admincgtp@btconnect.com Gypsy-Traveller Team Welsh Assembly Government, Merthyr Tydfil Office, Rhydycar, CF48 1UZ Tel: 01685 729210 Gypsy-Traveller Site Liaison Officers Powys: Andrée Morgan Andrews Andree.morganandrews@powys.gov.uk Gwynedd: Bethan Wyn Jones bethanwynjones@gwynedd.gov.uk Torfaen: Nolan Nicklin Tel: 01495 742303, Nolan.Nicklin@torfaen.gov.uk Site Manager for Shirenewton and Rover Way sites, Cardiff: Tony Melhuish Tel: 0292 0791694, a.melhuish@cardiff.gov.uk 93 APPENDIX Travellers Aid Trust – Information for Grant Makers The Travellers Aid Trust has a section of its website designed for use by grant makers which can be found at http://travellersaidtrust.org/grant-makers/ This section of the website and much of the information on it came about as a result of the work the Trust has been doing with other grant makers to try to identify and address some of the difficulties that can be encountered by both grant maker and applicant when supporting and working with the Gypsy and Traveller community. The site includes links to the following useful documents:  Grant Makers’ Guide to supporting Gypsies and Travellers  Grant Makers’ Fact Sheet  Conference Report on exploring ways to achieve more informed and effective grant making  Gypsies and Travellers Grant Makers’ Resource Sheet Below is a short overview of some of the guidelines contained in the above documents. Improving take-up of grants programmes Due to the long history of discrimination experienced by this community, Travellers are very wary about openly asking for help from anyone. This is compounded by low literacy levels and a sense of pride at not being seen as ignorant, uneducated or needing charity. There are four factors that will make all the difference for Travellers wishing to apply for funding from grant makers. These are: 1. An acknowledgement within grant guidelines that Travellers fall within the beneficiary group. Only a very small number of grant makers actually state that they will consider applications from Travellers. Although Travellers may well fall into the general beneficiary group of a grant maker, unless this is explicitly stated, Travellers will assume their applications will not be welcomed. 2. A contact within a grant making organisation whom they can talk directly to. Only a limited number of Travellers are fully literate or have access to the internet so dealing with complex guidelines and on line forms can be very intimidating. Having someone who will take the time to speak to them helps to break down the mistrust and apprehensions Travellers naturally feel when approaching someone or something that is unfamiliar. 3. The option to submit an application through a DVD, audio CD or over the phone. Travellers can find it very difficult to effectively express what they want and need on a piece of paper. Coming from a strong oral tradition, they need to be able to tell their story and a 5-minute conversation or film can often put across a far stronger and clearer message than 5 pages of written information. 4. A visit by grant makers to projects or community groups to see first hand the work that is being done. This is particularly relevant for grant makers who feel that there is 94 potential merit in an initial application but insufficient or unclear information to back it up. Traveller applicants can often fail to provide the kind of statistical and organisational information that many grant makers require simply because they do not understand its relevance and have failed to collect it. A visit to a project or community group will often provide grant makers with a wealth of information that the applicants failed to provide or were unable to articulate on paper. Common difficulties for Grant Makers supporting Travellers There are a number of issues that can arise when assessing application forms or monitoring grants to Travellers. These come about primarily as a result of a failure to supply sufficient supporting documentation when applying or reporting back to grant makers. We believe that this is due to a general lack of capacity within groups. However, there is another factor which has more to do with Traveller culture as opposed to organisational competence. Grant makers expect Travellers to be accountable to them, whereas Travellers see themselves as primarily accountable to their communities. 1. Monitoring and evaluation – very few Gypsy and Traveller community-led groups, like much of the community sector, carry out proper monitoring and evaluation. This is due in large part to a failure to understand the relevance and importance of this exercise along with a lack of experience in how to carry it out effectively. For Travellers, the indicator of their success is how their work affects their community and this is their primary concern. Many groups find the various requirements entailed in reporting back to grant makers as a distraction from the hard and important work they are doing. They will often say that if you want to know how your money has been spent, come and see for yourself! There is also the issue of privacy. Travellers can often confuse a request for data on the work they are doing with a request for detailed personal information about the community they are helping. Due to a history of ethnic cleansing, Travellers are inherently wary of any data collected on them and are reluctant to gather it from their own community for the benefit of an ‘outsider’. 2. Accounts and annual reports – as with monitoring and evaluation, many Traveller groups do not see the relevance of keeping detailed accounts or producing glossy reports. What matters is the work they do on the ground. Travellers can be fiercely proud and can mistakenly take offence when accounts are requested or questioned. This is not because of any attempt to misappropriate funds, but due to a lack of familiarity with the requirements of servicing a grant. Rather than risk any question of their integrity, some groups will send every single original receipt and invoice in to account for their expenditure. 3. Internal politics – as with many minority communities, factions and rivalries also affect the Traveller community. This can be very damaging for the community as grant makers become unsure of who they are supporting and whether the work they have funded or are considering supporting has the support of the community it is intended to benefit. 95 Improving support for Traveller beneficiaries It is not always possible to overcome all of the difficulties that have been identified in this guide, but there are a number of approaches that grant makers can take which can help. These are: 1. Monitoring and Evaluation – during our research, Travellers stated that grant makers needed to be much clearer from the beginning what exactly was expected back from groups at the end of the grant period and why. Many community groups struggle to understand ’funding jargon’ and Travellers are not exception. This may mean a conversation via the phone or at a meeting with the beneficiary group clarifying and agreeing with them what kind of information is expected back and how they might go about collecting this. Requesting a basic interim report or carrying out a phone interview half way through the grant period can also help to make sure the beneficiary is still clear about what is expected and to help identify any problems they may be experiencing early on. 2. Annual reports and accounts – again, Travellers requested greater clarity at the beginning of the grant period about what was expected at the end of the grant period and in what format. If grant makers require annual reports and independently examined accounts along with a end of grant report, they need to be sure that the group actually has the capacity to deliver this and if not (which is often the case), consider helping the group by providing training or by identify other agencies that can help them meet these requirements. Travellers will often say that they can meet a requirement but do not in fact have any experience or additional resources to achieve it. If they are a new group or have no record of providing these documents, the assumption should be that they will need support in delivering this. 3. Internal politics – There is a well established network of Gypsy and Traveller community groups and national voluntary organisations working with and for Travellers. Although many of the groups within this network have differing views on certain issues, most of them manage to work in a co-operative manner with one another. As many grant makers will know from experience of working with other minority ethnic communities, one of the easiest ways in which to gauge a group’s capacity to work through the political factions that can exist is to request examples of its working relationship with other groups and agencies.

2015. október 5., hétfő

A MAGYAR NYELV CIGÁNY EREDET JÖVEVÉNYSZAVAI∗ SCHIRM ANITA

http://schirmanita.hu/Schirm_Anita/Publikaciok_files/A%20magyar%20nyelv%20ciga%CC%81ny%20eredetu%CC%8B%20jo%CC%88veve%CC%81nyszavai.pdf


A MAGYAR NYELV CIGÁNY EREDET JÖVEVÉNYSZAVAI∗ SCHIRM ANITA 

1. Bevezetés A magyar nyelvben viszonylag kevés cigány eredet jövevényszó van, szemben más jövevényszórétegekkel. Ezek a jövevényszavak azonban annál több problémát vetnek fel. A többi jövevényszórétegtl eltérően ugyanis lentről felfelé terjednek a cigány átvételek, s minden nyelvi kontaktus a szóbeliségben történt, illetve történik, az átvétel pontos idejét és az átadó nyelvváltozatot ezért nem lehet pontosan meghatá- rozni. A legnagyobb vita azonban a cigány jövevényszavak számát illetően van. A TESz. 16 szót tart vitathatatlanul cigány eredetűnek, míg Kakuk Mátyás Cigány közvetítésű jövevényszavak a magyar nyelvben (1997) című könyvében több mint 300 szóról állítja a cigány eredetet. Dolgozatomban a nyelvészeti szakirodalom egésze által cigánynak tartott jövevényszavak használati körét, gyakoriságát és stílusértékét mutatom be, valamint Kakuk szószármaztatásaira szeretnék reagálni, megmutatva, hogy sok általa felállított etimológia hangtani és szemantikai alapon sem állja meg a helyét. 2. A cigány–magyar nyelvi kontaktus Az Indiából kivándorolt cigányok Iránban, Örményországban és Kisázsiában, illetve a Balkánon telepedtek le. Magyarországra a XIV. század második felében értek el, a csoportos betelepülésük pedig a XV. századra tehető. Cigány megkülönböztető személynevek már az 1400-as évekből adatolhatók hazánkból, a „Benedictus dictus Chygan” személynév például 1402-ből való (Pais 1936: 236; Fehértói 1987: 6). Mivel a cigányok nem rendelkeztek írásbeliséggel, így saját írott forrásaik sincsenek, törté- netükre csak a környezetük feljegyzéseiből lehet következtetni. A rájuk vonatkozó forrásadatok Magyarországon az 1400-as évektől főként királyi menlevelek formájában rögzültek. Zsigmond király 1423-ban kelt menlevelében „Ladislaus Vajvode Ciganorum” nevet használ, míg II. Ulászló 1496-ban a „Vajvoda Farahonnum” nevet rögzíti (Karsai 1994: 10). Ezek a források a cigányok vándorló életmódját bizonyítják, illetve azt, hogy a cigány vezérek neve hazánkban a vajda volt. A középkori feudális rendi társadalomba a cigányság nem tudott teljes mértékben betagozódni, a cigányok külön tömböt alkottak. Az európai kultúrához képest ugyanis a cigányok más gazdasági–társadalmi állapotot képviseltek. Jellegzetes tevé- kenységeik közé a kovácsmesterség, a fémművesség, a lókereskedés, a marhahajcsárság, a medvetáncoltatás, a posztóverés, a favontatás, a téglaégetés és a kereskedelem tartozott. Az általuküzött foglalkozások elnevezéséből létrejött tulajdonnevek vezetéknévként gyakoriak voltak a cigányok körében. Például: Kanalas, Orsós, Kolompár, Rosta Csinalo, Lakatos. A cigányok Magyarországra való betelepülése a török hódítások miatt a XVI. szá- zadtól vált tömeges méretűvé. A társadalomba még ekkor sem tudtak beilleszkedni, ezt mutatják a XVII–XVIII. századból való, az életmódjuk gyökeres megváltoztatására irá- nyuló rendeletek, melyek – többnyire sikertelenül – a vándorló cigányok letelepítését tűzték ki célul. Újabb nagyobb betelepülési hullám a XIX. század második felében és a XX. század elején következett be, ekkor jöttek ugyanis hazánkba Moldvából a romani cigányok. Magyarországon a cigányok 1984 óta etnikai csoport státusszal rendelkeznek. 3. Cigány eredetű jövevényszavak a magyarban A cigány eredetű jövevényszavak a magyar nyelv jövevényszórétegei között különleges helyet foglalnak el. A többi réteggel ellentétben itt ugyanis más a szavak társadalmi terjedési iránya, mint amit megszokhattunk; alulról fölfelé terjednek a cigány jövevényszavak, s a felsőbb regiszterekbe nem nagyon jutnak el. Nem műveltségszavak ezek, hanem luxusjövevényszavak. A cigány jövevényszavak esetében minden nyelvkontaktus a szóbeliségben (a mindennapi életben, az íratlan nyelvben és kultúrá- ban) történt s történik, s nehéz meghatározni az átadó nyelvváltozatot és az átvétel pontos idejét. Az 1940 után átvett jövevényszavak főként a lovári cigányból származnak, míg az ennél korábbiak a romungróktól valók (vö. Kakuk 1993: 196; Vekerdi 2000). A cigány jövevényszavak nagy része a tolvajnyelvben található meg, és ott él tovább, míg kisebb részük a köznyelvbe is átkerült. A többi jövevényszórétegtől eltérően a cigány jövevényszavak esetében nem tudunk hangtani és művelődéstörténeti kritériumokra hivatkozni a bekerülés pontos idejére vonatkozóan, így csak a magyar nyelvű nyelvemlékekben való első előfordulásra hagyatkozhatunk a szó átvételének a meghatározásánál. Annak ellenére, hogy a cigá- nyok és a magyarok már a XV. századtól folyamatosan egymás mellett éltek, az átvett jövevényszavak nagy része mégis sokkal későbbi átvétel, és többségük az argón keresztül terjedt el, zömében a XIX. és XX. században. Az átvett szavak száma körül nagy a vita: húsz alatti számtól egészen több szá- zig terjed a cigány eredetű szavak mennyisége a különböző szakirodalmi munkákban. A TESz. 16 szót tart vitathatatlanul cigány eredetűnek, s további néhány szóról tartja lehetségesnek a cigány eredetet. A TESz. által cigány eredetűnek tartott szavak a következők:1 ácsi (1777) ’ állj, hagyd abba’; bibasz (1784) ’gyámoltalan’; csaj (1900) ’leány’; csór (1890) ’lop, szerez’; csóré (1778) ’meztelen’, (1842) ’cigány’; dádé (1768) ’cigány’; devla (1812) ’Isten’; dilinós (1894) ’féleszű, bolondos’; duma (1897) ’zálogcédulával való csalás’, (1913) ’beszéd’; góré (1920) ’üzletvezető, főnök’; kajál (1862) ’eszik’; lóvé (1900) ’pénz’; manusz (1900) 1. ’valamely bűncselekmény áldozata’, 2. ’illető, ipse, pali’; more (1647) ’román fiú’, (1787) ’cigány férfi’; nyikhaj (1908/1947) ’felelőtlen, megbízhatatlan férfi’; piál (1862) ’ ...........LÁSD LINK...... (http://schirmanita.hu/Schirm_Anita/Publikaciok_files/A%20magyar%20nyelv%20ciga%CC%81ny%20eredetu%CC%8B%20jo%CC%88veve%CC%81nyszavai.pdf) 

Kardos Katalin: Roma/cigány származású hallgatók és a felsőoktatási tehetséggondozó intézmények kapcsolata


Kardos Katalin: Roma/cigány származású hallgatók és a felsőoktatási tehetséggondozó intézmények kapcsolata

A tanulmány az Európai Unió és Magyarország támogatásával a TÁMOP 4.2.4.A/2- 11-12012-0001 azonosító számú ,,Nemzeti Kiválóság Program – Hazai kutatói személyi támogatást biztosító rendszer kidolgozása és működtetése konvergencia program” kiemelt projekt, valamint az OTKA (K-101867) által támogatott Tanuló régiók Magyarországon: Az elmélettől a valósá- gig című kutatás keretei között valósult meg. 

Bevezető gondolatok Napjainkban Magyarország egyik fontos problé- ma- és kérdésköre a halmozottan hátrányos helyzetű cigányság helyzete. A cigány lakosság segítése, társadalmi integrációja, a kialakult helyzet komplex kezelése fontos feladat, amelyben kiemelt szerepet kell kapnia az oktatásnak. Tényként kezelendő, hogy a cigányság társadalmi kirekesztődésének enyhítése, életkörülményeinek javítása és gazdasá- gi pozíciójának tartós megerősítése csak a romák iskolázottsági szintjének jelentős emelkedésével valósulhat meg (Torkos 2005). A hazánkban tapasztalható régiók közötti különbségek ellenére a roma lakosság országszerte hasonló gondokkal küzd. A cigányság megoszlása az ország területein belül nem egyenletes, aminek okai adódhatnak a sajátos természetföldrajzi körülmé- nyekből, a társadalmi-gazdasági környezet különböző hatásaiból (helyi gazdaság fejlettsége/szerkezete, a környék lakosságának befogadókészsége), illetve történelmi folyamatok állhatnak még a hátterében. A cigány népesség napjainkban is jellemző elhelyezkedéséről megállapítható, hogy mintegy 20%-a a Dél-Dunántúl megyéiben (Zala, Somogy, Baranya, kevésbé Tolna megye területén), 51%-a az északkeleti országrészben (Nógrád, Heves, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg, illetve Hajdú-Bihar megyék), közel 10%-a pedig a fővárosban koncentrálódik. Ezzel ellentétben jól körvonalazódik, hogy az északnyugati országrész megyéiben kis számban vannak képviselve (Cserti-Csapó 2006). Oktatáspolitikai aspektusból tekintve központi kérdés a cigány népesség sorsának alakulása, mivel a cigányság foglalkoztatási helyzete és szoci- ális felemelkedése szempontjából alapvető jelentő- ségű feladat az oktatásban való részvételük növelése (Hablicsek 2007, Polónyi 2004). Hablicsek László (2007) előrejelzései azt mutatják, hogy a cigány népesség aránya várhatóan jelentősen növekszik az iskoláskorú népességen belül. Hasonló tendenciák tapasztalhatóak a felsőoktatás szempontjából releváns korosztályok esetében is. Az adatokból megállapítható, hogy a 18 évesek között a cigány népesség aránya 2005-ben megközelítőleg 10% körüli, 2020-ban 14% fölé kerül, 2050-ben pedig meghaladja a 20%-ot. A 18-21 éves korcsoportban hasonló arányokkal találkozhatunk, azonban az ennél idősebb korosztályban az arányok alacsonyabbak. (Hablicsek 2007; Polónyi 2004). A cigány tanulók felsőoktatási továbbtanulása alapvetően a középfokú továbbtanulási és iskolaválasztási esélyeikkel függ össze (Polónyi 2004). Egy cigány tanulónak a 90-es évek elején ötvenszer kisebb volt az esélye arra, hogy diplomát szerezzen, mint nem cigány társainak. A továbbiakban, ahogyan az a tanulmány címében is megjelenik, a roma/cigány származású hallgatókra kívánunk összpontosítani. Ugyancsak lényeges a tehetséggondozás, tehetséggondozó intézmény fogalma is. Eddigi kutatásaink során felsőoktatási tehetséggondozó intézményekkel, szakkollégiumokkal foglalkoztunk, aminek következtében meghatároztuk ezen intézmények fogalmát, kitekintettünk funkcióikra, feladatkörükre, hallgatóságuk vizsgálatára, különbséget tettünk felekezeti és nem felekezeti szakkollégiumok között. 
Az újonnan megalakuló felekezeti fenntartású roma szakkollégiumok hívták fel a figyelmünket arra, hogy vizsgálódásunk homlokterébe a cigányság kerüljön, különleges tekintettel azokra a fiatalokra, akik hátrányaik ellenére bekapcsolódtak a felsőoktatás szerves rendszerébe. Annak érdekében, hogy közelebb kerüljünk érdeklődésünk ,,tárgyá- hoz”, nem kerülhetjük meg tanulmányunkban a cigánysággal kapcsolatos definíciós problémákat. Elsősorban szakirodalom-feltáró munkát végeztünk, majd tapasztalataink körét szélesítve a terepen folytattuk vizsgálódásunk. A tanulmány második felében a korábbiakban már említett Szakkollégiumi Kutatások 2011 eredményeire hivatkozva teszünk említést a szakkollégiumokról, majd egy életút-interjú tapasztalatain keresztül jutunk el a roma szakkollé- giumokig, amelyekre napjainkban jelentős szerep hárul a magyarországi cigányság felsőoktatásban való sikerességének megvalósításában.
A cigánysággal kapcsolatos definíciós problémák Tanulmányunk megírásakor fontos lépésnek tekintettük annak meghatározását, hogy kit is tekintünk cigánynak.1 A témát tekintve egyes társadalomkutatók közt heves viták alakultak ki az elmúlt évtizedben (Lukács-Németh 2013), amelyek közül munkánkban a teljesség igénye nélkül mutatunk be néhány irányadó megközelítést. Szakolczai Árpádot (1982) idézi Kemény István (2000), miszerint a cigányság helyzetével kapcsolatos nézetek egyik állandóan visszatérő problémája, hogy a cigánykérdés elsősorban etnikai-nemzetiségi faji vagy társadalmi rétegződési problémának tekinthető-e. Bár Kemény István szerint a megfogalmazás általánosabb érvényű, egyúttal jelzi a cigányokra vonatkozó szociológiai kutatások alapproblémáját is. Véleménye szerint minden ilyen kutatásnak már a kezdeti szakaszában fel kell tennie azt a kérdést, hogy kiket és milyen alapon tekint cigánynak. A kérdésre persze adható elméletileg megalapozott, vagy annak tűnő és kizárólag a kutatás praktikus szempontjait figyelembe vevő, bevallottan gyakorlatias válasz, de megkerülni nem lehet. Egyrészt tehát minden, cigányokkal kapcsolatos szociológiai vizsgálódás kiindulópontja a definíciós probléma, másrészt – a kutatás közelebbi témájától és a megközelítés módjától függetlenül – a kutatási eredmények újabb, olykor a kiinduló hipotézisnek ellentmondó adalékokat szolgáltatnak a definíciós probléma megoldásához is. ,,A cigányproblematika szociológiai szempontú megközelítésének magyarországi története azt bizonyítja, hogy a kérdésre nem könnyű megnyugtató választ találni, és hogy az eddigi válaszadási kísérletek nem tudták a problémában rejlő valamennyi ellentmondást feloldani” (Kemény 2000).2 Kemény István gondolatait követve gyűjtöttünk össze néhány megközelítést és fogalmat, amelyek a cigányság definíciójával foglalkoznak, ezzel kísérletet téve arra, hogy közelebb kerüljünk későbbi kutatásaink egyik fő fogalmi keretének megalkotásához. Jelen munkánkban nem teszünk ígéretet arra, hogy bármely fogalom mellett voksolunk, sokkal inkább szeretnénk felsorakoztatni a lehetséges megközelítési módok közül azokat, amelyek különböző irányból járják körbe ezt a számunkra fontos területet. A Mészáros–Fóti szerzőpáros szerint hazai cigányságról kétféle értelmezésben beszélhetünk: ,,A szűkebb értelmezés szerint azokból tevődik össze, akik vállalják a cigány etnikumhoz tartozást (az ún. népszámlálási cigány népesség). A tágabb értelmezés szerinti, nagyobb létszámú réteg jelentős része cigányságát nem vállalja, de az életmód elemei alapján a környezet cigánynak tekinti őket (az ún. minősített cigány népesség). E szélesebben értelmezett csoport összességében az integrálódás magasabb fokán áll, azonban jellemzőit tekintve még mindig alapvetően különbözik a nem cigány népességtől” (Mészáros– Fóti 2000: 285–313.). A többségi társadalom minősítését definí- ciós kulcsnak tekintő megközelítés a cigányságot lényegében olyan társadalmi kisebbségnek ismeri el, amely ugyan etnikailag meghatározott törté- nelmi képződmény, de fennmaradásában nagyobb szerepet játszik a többség elkülönítő, megkülönböztető magatartása, mint a kisebbség immanens sajátosságai. Azok a definíciós kísérletek, amelyek figyelmen kívül hagyják a többségi társadalommal kialakult viszonyrendszert, és a cigánytársadalom belső sajátosságaiban vélik megtalálni a minden tagjára érvényes kritériumot, többnyire vagy erő- sen leszűkítik a fogalom érvényességi körét, vagy általános érvényűnek tüntetnek fel olyan vonásokat, amelyek csak a cigányság egyes csoportjaira érvényesek (Kemény 2000). 

Kiemelendő, hogy a cigányként való besorolás egyik legfontosabb, burkolt formában jelen lévő dimenziója a társadalmi-gazdasági státusz, másképpen a marginalizálódott helyzet (Fiáth 2002). Forray R. Katalin megállapítása szerint a cigányok életstílus-csoportként való értelmezése vezet legközelebb ahhoz az oktatáspolitikához, amely ki tudja kerülni mind a szociokulturális felfogásból következő asszimilatorikus, mind pedig az etnicitás és a kulturális különbségek túlhangsúlyozásából eredő oktatáspolitika veszélyét (Forray 1998). A kisebbségekről szóló törvények, a kü- lönböző kormányzati dokumentumok, kisebbségi önkormányzatok a „cigány” megnevezést használják, ahogyan a hivatkozott magyar szakirodalom jelentős része is. Mindezek mellett a politikai nyelvhasználat nemzetközileg a roma („rom”) népnevet helyezi előtérbe. A magyarországi cigányság jelentős része (pl. a magyar cigányok és a beások) nem nevezi magát „romának”, viszont a politikai szóhasználatban itthon is egyre elfogadottabbá válik ez az elnevezés. A társadalomtudományi kutatások szintén „cigá- nyokról” szólnak, illetve váltakozva, mintegy szinonimaként használják a két fogalmat (Forray 1999). A cigányságot 1990 óta a szakirodalomban és a mindennapos életben egyaránt egyre gyakrabban „roma kisebbség”, „roma népesség” megnevezéssel illetik. Ugyanakkor a magyarországi roma kisebbségről rendelkezésre álló felmérések, statisztikai adatok szinte kivétel nélkül a „cigány” megjelölést használják (Hablicsek 2007). Ennek alapján döntöttünk úgy, Hablicsek László (2000) elgondolásának mintájára, hogy ebben a tanulmányban felváltva, egymás szinonimájaként használjuk a különböző megnevezéseket, mint ahogyan azt a tanulmány címében is tettük. 
Roma fiatalok az oktatásban 
A kisebbségek között sajátos helyet foglal el a roma népesség, amely Európa minden államában jelen van, legnagyobb számban azonban a kelet- és a közép-európai régiókban. Sorsuk összefonódott a szegénységgel, a társadalmi kirekesztéssel, elő- ítéletekkel, az iskoláztatás és munkavállalás terén megmutatkozó gondokkal. Európa keleti régióinak ennek a halmozottan hátrányos helyzetben lévő etnikai csoportnak a gyermekeivel szemben megmutatkozó idegenkedés, előítélet, sztereotípiák leküzdésében, tanulási esélyeik növelésében komoly feladata van (Torgyik 2009). A cigány népességet sújtó társadalmi hátrányok leküzdése érdekében az oktatás nagy jelentőséggel bír, mivel az iskolázottság egyrészt a munkaerőpiacra való kilépés egyik feltétele, másfelől előre jelzi a munka világában várható sikereket (Torkos 2002). Az oktatási intézményrendszerekben zajló képzések fejlesztése hosszú távon a romákat érintő hátrányok és nehézségek tartós megoldásához vezethetnek (Forray–Hegedűs 1991). A roma tanulók esetében sokkalta valószínűbb a középiskolai tanulmányok alatti lemorzsolódás, mint a nem roma fiatalok esetében. Ugyanakkor elmondható, hogy az érettségivel rendelkező cigány diákok nagy eséllyel indulnak tovább a felsőoktatásba. Itt minden esetben mutatkozik egy kitörési lehetőség, ahol különböző programokkal sikeresebbé lehetne tenni a tanulók tanulmányi előrehaladását már az általános iskolában, csökkentve ezáltal a lemorzsolódást, ösztönözve a középiskolába, majd a felsőoktatásba jutást (Cserti–Csapó 2006). Egy tagolt társadalomban a társadalmigazdasági verseny egyik fő csatornája és legitimáci- ós eszköze az oktatási rendszer. Ennek eredményeképpen ma mind a szülők, mind az iskolák között versengés zajlik, ami határozottan befolyással van a cigánygyerekek tanulmányi marginalizációjának kialakulására és fenntartására (Alcalde 2008). Kállai véleménye szerint nagyobb reményre adnak okot azok a kísérletek, amelyek a cigányok kulturális felzárkóztatása érdekében új kezdeményezésekre teremtenek lehetőségeket az oktatás területén. Ezek között megtalálhatók különböző felzárkóztató és szakképző programok, de ugyanígy a ma már európai hírnévre szert tett pécsi Gandhi Gimnázium, vagy az átlagnál magasabb tudású szakemberek képzésére szolgáló Romaversitas Láthatatlan Kollégium is. Lassan, de formálódik egy szakmailag jól felkészült, fiatal cigány értelmiségi réteg is, akiket egyre nehezebb lesz a cigányságra vonatkozó döntésekből kihagyni (Kállai 2009). A hátrányos helyzetű – köztük roma – általános és középiskolai tanulók és a felsőoktatásban részt vevő hallgatók iskolai sikerességének elősegítését több állami és magánösztöndíj-program is célként tűzte ki.  
A legtöbb roma származású tanulót segítő tanulmányi ösztöndíjprogram a Magyar Cigányokért Közalapítvány, majd a Magyarországi Nemzeti és Etnikai Kisebbségekért Közalapítvány által kezelt program volt, amely 2000-ben indult, majd ezt követően évente átlagosan mintegy tízezer felső tagozatos, középiskolás tanuló és felsőoktatási hallgató részesülhetett ebben a támogatásban. Az Útravaló Ösztöndíjprogram 2005-ben kezdte el működését, átfogó célja a hátrányos helyzetű tanulók esélyegyenlőségének elősegítése, a fiatalok továbbtanulásának, szakma-, érettségi- és diplomaszerzési esélyeinek javítása, illetve a természettudományos érdeklődésű tanulók tehetséggondozása. Az Útravaló anyagi és mentori rendszerén keresztül támogatást nyújt 7. és 8. osztályos általános iskolai, valamint középiskolai tanulók számára. Keretein belül három esélyegyenlőségi és egy tehetséggondozó alprogram működik (Út a középiskolába, Út az érettségihez, Út a szakmához ösztöndíjak, Út a tudományhoz alprogram), melyekben folyamatosan mintegy 20 000 tanuló és közel 11 000 mentor-pedagógus vesz részt. A program erőssége, hogy a tanulók nemcsak anyagi juttatásban részesülnek, hanem mentor tanár is segíti őket tanulmányaik során. Fontos megjegyezni, hogy az ösztöndíjprogramhoz nem kötő- dött magasabb szintű teljesítményelvárás, így csak töredékesen érhette el céljait, mert nem ösztönözte megfelelően az iskolai teljesítmény javítására az ösztöndíjban részesülő tanulókat. A Hátrányos Helyzetű Tanulók Arany János Tehetséggondozó Programjának célja, hogy nagyobb arányban tanulhassanak eredmé- nyesen nappali tagozatos, érettségit adó középiskolában a legszegényebb, legképzetlenebb szülők gyermekei. A kiválasztott tanulók egy előkészítő év keretében pótolják hiányosságaikat, hogy így megfelelő alapokkal folytathassák középiskolai tanulmányaikat. A program 2000-ben indult, a bevontak száma a 2011/2012-es tanévre 3000 tanulóra, 23 intézménypárra (középiskola és kollégium) nőtt. Az Állami Szemvevőszék 2008-as jelentése szerint a részt vevő (14–19 éves) diákok 82%-a bekerült a felsőoktatásba, 95%-a jogosítványt, 89%-a ECDL-bizonyítványt, 93%-a nyelvvizsgát szerzett. 2004-ben alprogramként jelent meg a Hátrányos Helyzetű Tanulók Arany János Kollégiumi Programja (AJKP). Jelenleg 11 kollégiumban és az azokkal szorosan együttműködő (a 9. évfolyamhoz kapcsolódó előkészítő évet vállaló), érettségit adó középiskolákban működik. A tanulók az előkészítő év után csak a kollégiumi csoportban maradnak együtt, a különböző középiskolákban integráltan folytatják tanulmányaikat. 2012 szeptemberében majdnem 900 tanuló kezdte meg az évet 5 évfolyamon az AJKP keretein belül. 2007-ben indult a Halmozottan Hátrá- nyos Helyzetű Tanulók Arany János Kollégiumi-Szakiskolai Programja (AJKSZP), amelyben 2012-ben 605 fő vett részt. A bevont intézmények (7 kollégium és 13 szakiskola) vállalják, hogy a belé- pő évfolyamok esetében a tanulók legalább 85%-át versenyképes szakmához juttatják. Mindhárom Arany János program jogszabályokban rögzített kö- vetelmények szerint, pedagógiai többlettámogatással és szociális jellegű támogatással is segíti a tanulókat. A Felsőoktatási Mentorprogram 2005 óta működik a hátrányos helyzetű fiatalok felsőfokú tanulmányait elősegítő esélyegyenlőségi programként. A program célja az érintett fiatalok felsőfokú tanintézménybe való bekerülési esélyeinek növelése, a követelmények sikeres teljesítése, és a későbbiekben a munkaerőpiacon való elhelyezkedés lehetőségének bővítése. Fontos megemlíteni a nem állami és uniós forrásokból (köztük Roma Oktatási Alap) működő Romaversitas Alapítvány tevékenységét, amely 1998-ban kezdte meg működését, és 2001-ben lett önálló szervezet. Kezdetben a Magyar Soros Alapítvány volt a projekt fő támogatója, majd a Nyitott Társadalom Intézet (OSI) Higher Education Support (HESP) vette át. Az elképzelést kettős cél motiválta: egyrészt, hogy hozzásegítsék a roma fiatalokat magas színvonalú képzettség megszerzé- séhez, másrészt, hogy ezek a fiatalok a későbbiekben elkötelezetté váljanak a cigányság ügye mellett (Szász 2003). A felsőoktatásban tanuló romákat támogató első programot4 a Magyar Soros Alapítvány hozta létre, majd átvette a MACIKA (Magyarországi Cigányokért Alapítvány). A program hatásossága az utóbbi években kérdőjelessé vált, hiszen pályázatain nem roma származású hallgatók is indultak. Az OSI – HESP Roma Felsőoktatási Emlékösztöndíj Programra kizárólag nappali tagozatos diákok jelentkezhetnek, ahol számos kitételnek kell megfelelni. Figyelembe veszik a családi hátteret, a szociális helyzetet, valamint a felső- oktatási szakok közül a társadalomtudományokkal foglalkozókat részesítik előnyben.
2011-ben a Roma Oktatási Alap (Roma Education Fund) 167 fiatal roma értelmiségi szá- mára biztosított ösztöndíjat. Céljuk a romák és nem romák közötti oktatásbeli hátrányok csökkentése. Ugyancsak 2011-ben minden történelmi felekezet nyitott egy-egy roma egyetemi szakkollégiumot. Összesen 200 fő felvétele és tanulmányi ösztöndíjban részesítése a cél (Takács 2013). A 2011 őszén alakult egyházi roma szakkollégiumok különböző szakirányú egyetemre járó fiatalok szá- mára szállást, ösztöndíjat, különórákat, spirituális programokat biztosítanak, vagyis komoly esélyt jelentenek az értelmiségivé váláshoz (Lukács 2013). A jezsuita szakkollégium Budapesten, a görögkatolikus Miskolcon, az evangélikus Nyíregyházán, a református pedig Debrecenben működik. Értelemszerűen e négy egyház képviselői alkotják a cigány szakkollégiumok érdekegyeztető fórumát, amelyhez Szeged és Pécs is csatlakozott egy-egy szakkollégium megalapításával (Lukács 2013). A roma/cigány tehetséggondozás egyik megvalósulási formája – a szakkollégium Kutatásaink során több esetben szembesültünk azzal a ténnyel, hogy a felsőoktatásban részt vevő hallgatók nem ismerik a tehetséggondozás különbö- ző formáit, valamint számos esetben az oktatók sem tudják pontosan, hogy léteznek olyan lehetőségek, amelyek a kiemelkedő képességű diákok támogatását tűzik ki célul. Munkánk elkövetkező részében rövid áttekintést kívánunk nyújtani a tehetséggondozás különböző formáiról, a szakkollégiumok/felekezeti szakkollégiumok fogalmáról, céljairól.5 A jelenleg is hatályos felsőoktatási törvény a tehetséggondozásnak három elemét említi, ezek: a tudományos diákkörök, a szakkollégiumok és a doktori képzés. A felsőoktatási tehetséggondozás két legjellemzőbb intézménye a szakkollégium, illetve a tudományos diákkör, a TDK, illetve annak országos tehetséggondozó tudományos versenye, az Országos Tudományos Diákköri Konferencia, OTDK (Demeter et al. 2011). A szakkollégiumok a magyar felsőoktatási rendszer sajátos szervezetei, melyek alapja a hallgatói közösségek formálódása, elsődleges célja pedig a szakmai érdeklődés mentén kialakuló tudományos felkészítés. Az aktív Szakkollégiumi Mozgalom több mint két évtizedes története alapján megállapítható, hogy ezek a diákközösségek úgymond szellemi centrumokként működnek a felsőoktatáson belül, kereteik között lehetőség nyílik az egyetemi fiatalság igényes szellemi tevékenységek közbeni találkozásá- ra, ily módon hozzájárulva a független értelmiségi lét kialakításához (Fazekas–Sík 2008). A Szakkollégiumi Mozgalom folyamatában legelőször 1991-ben merült fel az igény arra vonatkozóan, hogy meghatározzák a szakkollégium fogalmát. A szakkollégiumok működési alapelveiket közös chartában fektetik le (Szakkollégiumi Charta). A rendszerváltás idején a chartát létrehozó húsz szakkollégium a következő definícióban állapodott meg, (melyet több ismérv és feltétel is követett): ,,A szakkollégium magas színvonalú szakmai képzést folytató, közösségformáló, autonóm intézmény, melynek célja a társadalmi problémákra érzékeny, szakmailag igényes értelmiség kinevelése.”6 A Szakkollégiumi Mozgalom vitafóruma és döntéshozó szerve jelenleg az Interkoll nevet viseli, működtetői főként egyesületi típusú7 szakkollégiumok. Célja a szakkollégiumok közötti kapcsolat fenntartása, fejlesztése, együttműködésük kereteinek megteremtése. Az Interkoll 2011 májusában létrehozott egy akkreditációs bizottságot, amely hét olyan szakértőből áll, akik jól ismerik a szakkollégiumokat, ugyanakkor jelenleg nem köthetőek egyértelmű- en egyetlen egyhez sem. Az Interkoll elsősorban a szakkollégiumi expanzió negatív hatásait szűrné ki (a források miatt létrejött, illetve szakkollégiumnak átnevezett egyéb tehetséggondozási formák vagy álszakkollégiumok jelenségét), és a márkanév védelmét jelentené. Az akkreditáció előrelépés lenne a közös érdekképviselet felé, és kommunikációra késztetné a különböző típusú szakkollégiumokat is. Ugyanakkor benne rejlik az a veszély, hogy az újonnan alakuló szakkollégiumok helyzete, elismerése nehezebbé válik (Demeter et al. 2011; Márkus 2012). A Szakkollégiumi Chartát először 2001-ben, majd 2011-ben fogalmazták át újra. A 2011-es dokumentum8 a feltételekre helyezi a hangsúlyt, mely feltételek hat nagyobb dimenziót alkotnak a következők szerint. A szakkollégiumok egyik fő feladata az egyetemi oktatáson túlmenő szakmai képzés biztosítása, ahol az alkotó tevékenység a mindenkori szakkollégisták által kialakított keretek között folyik. Az oktató-kutató munka összekapcsolása révén a kollégiumok egyfajta szakmai-tudományos műhelyként működnek. A szakkollégiumokat együttlakó diákok alkotják, akiknek tevékenységét az általuk kialakított, demokratikus elvek szerint működő szervezet fogja össze. A puszta szervezeti kereteken túl a szakkollégium intenzív közösségi létet is jelent. A szakkollégiumok nyitottsága kifejeződik a társadalmi problémák iránti érzékenységükben (Demeter et al. 2009; Kardos 2011). A törvényhozók a Felősoktatási Törvény 2005-ös módosításakor nevesítették először a szakkollégiumokat mint önálló tehetséggondozási programot működtető intézményeket. A Felsőoktatási Törvény meghatározását alapul véve összefoglalóan elmondhatjuk, hogy a szakkollégiumok olyan, hallgatókat tömörítő öntevékeny szervezetek, amelyek általános célja az egyetemi vagy főiskolai oktatás kiegészítése mellett egy összetartó közösség megteremtése. Ennek részeként lehetőséget biztosítanak a szakmai ismeretek elmélyítésére. A szellemi műhelyeket magas színvonalú szakmaiság igénye jellemzi, elméleti és gyakorlati képzést folytatnak, valamint arra törekszenek, hogy tagjai kifinomult társadalmi érzékenységet tanúsítsanak. Mindezt a tagok egymás jobb megismerésén keresztül, az intézményesített együttlakás nyújtotta lehetőségek által kívánják megvalósítani.9 Megállapítható, hogy a törvényi szabályozás alapvetően átveszi a Szakkollégiumi Chartákban megfogalmazottakat: a szakmai program meglétét, az önkormányzatiságot, a közéletre nevelést, illetve az önképzés-öntevékenység fontosságát. Emellett észrevehetőek jelentős hangsúlybeli eltérések is. A Szakkollégiumi Charta a törvényi szabályozástól eltérően kiemelten hangsúlyozza az autonómia és az önkormányzatiság egyes kritériumait. A chartában az autonómia kritériumaként jelenik meg a politikai pártoktól való függetlenség is. A bentlakás, együttlakás tekintetében a charta és a jogszabály eltérő tendenciát mutat. Míg a 1991-es és a 2001-es chartákban az együttlakás egyértelmű feltételként jelent meg, addig a 2003-as jogszabály alapján nem válik világossá, hogy a szakkollégiumiság feltétele lenne a közös kollégiumi lakóhely. Ugyanakkor míg a 2011-es charta így fogalmaz: ,,A szakkollégisták együttlakó bázissal rendelkeznek, illetve arra törekednek”, addig a jogszabály szakkollégiumként kizárólag kollégiumban, diákotthonban működő közösségeket említ (Demeter et al. 2009). A leírtak alapján összefoglalóan megállapíthatjuk, hogy a szakkollégiumok olyan, hallgatókat tömörítő öntevékeny szervezetek, amelyek általános célja az egyetemi vagy főiskolai oktatás kiegészítése mellett egy összetartó közösség megteremtése (Kardos 2011). Korábbi kutatásaink tapasztalatai alapján (Pusztai et al. 2012) elmondhatjuk, hogy a közösségi létre történő nevelés célként való kitűzése jellemzően a felekezeti szakkollégiumokra jellemző feladatvállalás. A felekezeti szakkollégiumok működését, értékrendjét, céljait alapvetően meghatározza a vallásos szellemiség, amelynek keretein belül teljesedik ki a tagok szakmai munkája és személyiségük fejlődése. 2007-ben a szakkollégisták 83,7%-a diplomás vagy felsőfokú technikumot végzett szülőtől származik (Erős 2010). Mivel a rendszerváltozás utáni szakkollégiumi mozgalom a Györffy és az Eötvös kollégiumi hagyományoktól eltérően az elitesedés irányába mozdult el, s a felekezeti oktatási intézmények központi funkciója a társadalmi hátrá- nyokkal küzdő fiatalok pályafutásának támogatása (Pusztai 2004, 2009), alapvető kutatási kérdés, hogy a felekezeti szakkollégiumok hogyan egyeztetik öszsze a két lényeges célt, vagyis hogyan válnak egyszerre az elitképzés elefántcsonttornyaivá és a hátrányos helyzetű hallgatók felemelőivé (Pusztai, 2009). 
A kérdés fontosságát azért is ki kell emelnünk, mert a felsőoktatási rendszer tömegesedése és diverzifikálódása miatt a különböző kampuszokhoz, intézmé- nyi egységekhez tartozó hallgatói közösségekben a felsőfokú tanulmányok céljának, értelmének, a tanulmá- nyi munka etikájának és tartalmának sajátos konstrukciói formálódnak meg, amelyek erősen meghatározzák a fiatalok, különösen az akadémiai hagyományokkal nem rendelkező családokból érkező, ún. nem tradicionális hallgatói szerepértelmezéseit. A szakkollégiumok e fiatalok számára döntő szerepet tölthetnek be mint „értelmező közösségek” (Pusztai 2011). Eddigi kutatásaink során megállapítottuk, hogy a felekezeti szakkollégiumokban folyó nevelés-oktatás célja a szociális érzékenységre, felelős közösségi létre történő felkészítés, ez utóbbiak mentén felvállalják az egész ember képzésének, a szakmai és lelki fejlődés egységének eszményét, amely a növendékekkel történő személyes törődés által bontakozhat ki (Pusztai 2011, Kardos 2011). A roma/cigány fiatalok pályafutását vizsgálva a nevelés e holisztikus és közösségbe ágyazott modelljé- nek hatékonyságára mutattunk rá (Pusztai 2004). A továbbiakban központi kérdés lesz szá- munkra, hogy kutatásainkból megtudjuk, milyen speciális társadalmi szükségletekre képesek választ adni ezek a tehetséggondozó intézmények, és hogyan kísérlik meg a felsőoktatás átstrukturálódása során bekövetkezett hiátusok betöltését. 
A szakkollégium mint társadalmi mobilitást elősegítő tényező Írásunk következő részében a felsőoktatási tehetséggondozó intézményekkel foglalkozunk, mint olyan tényezővel, amely jelentős hatással van a hátrányosabb társadalmi státusú hallgatók mobilitására. Tanulmányunk alábbi fejezetében, a 2011 őszén végzett Szakkollégiumi Kutatások adatbázisának egy, az eredetitől eltérő megközelítésű másodelemzésének részeredményeit mutatjuk be.10 A Szakkollégiumi kutatások 2011 vizsgálatá- ban a társadalmi háttértényezők közül főként a szülők iskolai végzettségére, foglalkozására és munkahelyi beosztására vonatkozóan találhatunk adatokat. A hallgatók társadalmi, anyagi helyzetét figyelembe véve az egyetemi, illetve önkormányzati szociális támogatásaik igénybevételéről szűrhetünk le részletesebb informá- ciókat. A továbbiakban érdekes lett volna vizsgálni, hogy a hallgatók milyen nagyságú családokból, és mely településről felvételiztek az adott intézménybe. Erre vonatkozóan azonban nem találhatóak adatok a 2011-es adatbázisban. A hiányzó adatok tükrében jelen tanulmányból nem derül ki, hogy a szakkollégiumok milyen mértékben járulhatnak hozzá a lakóhely településtípusából adódó társadalmi egyenlőtlenségek kiegyenlítéséhez (Kardos 2009).11 A tömegessé válás folyamata a társadalom széles rétegeinek részére nyújtott lehetőséget a felsőfokú képzésben való részvételre (Kozma 2010). Egyes kutatók szerint továbbra is igaz, hogy a kevésbé hátrányos helyzetű családok gyermekei nagyobb arányban kerülhettek be a felsőoktatási intézményekbe, mint a kevésbé jó anyagi körülmények között élő társaik (Róbert 2000). Gellért (1999) viszont felhívja a figyelmet arra a tendenciára, mely szerint nagyobb arányban kerültek be olyan hallgatók a felsőoktatásba, akik számára azelőtt egyáltalán nem, vagy csak minimális lehetőség adódott a továbbtanulásra. A családok társadalmi státusát meghatározó tényezők közül a szülők iskolai végzettségének nem egyedüli, de leginkább meghatározó szerepe van. Az ezredfordulón egyértelműen kimutatható volt, hogy mindenekelőtt az apa iskolázottsága gyakorolja a következő generáció iskolai előmenetelére a legerősebb felhajtó erőt (Pusztai, 2004). Az eredmények alapján nem találunk szá- mottevő különbséget a két szakkollégium-típus hallgatói között a szülők iskolai végzettségét figyelembe véve. Azonban mindkét intézménytípus hallgató- ságáról elmondható, hogy az édesanyák valamivel magasabb százalékban rendelkeznek főiskolai vagy egyetemi diplomával (megközelítőleg az édesanyák 60-70%-a, az édesapák 50-60%-a), így az előző állításunkkal ellentétben a vizsgált minta keretein belül valószínűsíthetően az édesanyák hatása volt jelentősebb hatással a továbbtanulási szándékra. Erős Péter (2010) egy kutatásában arra a megállapításra jut, hogy a családi háttér befolyással bír a szakkollégiumba való bekerülés valószínűségé- re, továbbá rámutatott, hogy a szakkollégisták jóval magasabb hányada rendelkezik felsőfokú végzettsé- gű szülőkkel, mint az országos átlag (Erős 2010). A szülők magas iskolai végzettsége jól kifejeződik a munka világában betöltött elhelyezkedésükben is. 
A felekezeti szakkollégiumokban az édesapák többségében alkalmazott felső- (10,2%) vagy középvezető (15,9%), önálló (6,8%) vagy alkalmazott diplomás értelmiségi (15,9%) vagy önálló vállalatvezető (6,8%) szerepet töltenek be. Az édesanyák esetében alkalmazott felső- (6,9%) vagy középvezető (11,5%), önálló (5,7%) vagy alkalmazott diplomás értelmiségi (31,9%) vagy irodai alkalmazott (16,1%). Az egyéb, nem felekezeti szakkollégiumokban hasonló eredmé- nyeket kaptunk a szülők foglalkoztatási viszonyait tekintve. Az imént elmondottak alapján Róbert (2000) megállapítása, miszerint a kevésbé hátrányos helyzetű szülők gyermekei nagyobb eséllyel jutnak be a felsőoktatásba, mint a nehezebb körülmények közül származó fiatalok, helytállónak bizonyul. A hallgatók társadalmi hátterére vonatkozóan a 2011-es kutatás alapján további jól felhasználható adatokkal rendelkezünk. 
Az egyetemi, illetve önkormányzati szociális támogatásaik igénybevételéről további következtetéseket vonhatunk le a szakkollégiumi hallgatók anyagi körülményeiről. A számításokat követően azt a megállapítást tehetjük, hogy a felekezeti intézményekben többen vannak azok a fiatalok, akik hátrányosabb helyzetű családi környezetben nőttek fel. A felekezeti szakkollégiumok diákjai közül 47,2% az egyetemen keresztül, 23,3% az önkormányzatokon keresztül részesül valamilyen szociális jellegű támogatásban, amíg a nem felekezeti intézményekben ez valamivel kevesebb: 38,9 és 17% (1. táblázat) Mint fentebb említettük, nincsenek adataink a hallgatók családjának demográfiai mutatóiról, így nem tudjuk, hogy a nagyobb gyermekszám vagy a családi jövedelmi helyzet magyarázza a szociális juttatásokban részesülők nagyobb hányadát a felekezeti szakkollégisták körében, csak a tényt állapíthatjuk meg, hogy a felekezeti intézményekben nagyobb a szociálisan rászorulók aránya. A felekezeti nevelésben a történelem folyamán olyan társadalmi változások következtek be, amelyek révén természetesen mó- dosultak céljai, alapelvei, pedagógiai funkciói. A folyamatosan alakuló világban ezek az intézmények mindig kielégítették a népesség legkülönbözőbb szükségleteit, azonban konstans vonásai között tarthatjuk számon a hátrányos társadalmi státusú tehetségek felkarolását és a széles értelemben vett nevelésfelfogást (Pusztai 2004). Mindezek alapján elmondhatjuk, hogy az általunk vizsgált adatok jól szemléltetik azon állításunkat, mely szerint a felekezeti szakkollégiumok feladatköre valóban kiegészült azzal a ponttal, hogy a hátrányos helyzetű tanulók felkarolásáért, tehetséggondozásáért is felelősséget vállaljanak. 

A szakkollégium hatása a roma/cigány hallgatók tanulmányi munkájára egy életút-interjú tükrében 

A felzárkóztató tehetséggondozó programok, köztük a roma szakkollégiumok és a cigány kisebbségi oktatási intézmények, valamint a különböző alapítványoktól származó ösztöndíjak és támogatások is hozzájárulnak a cigány tanulók továbbtanulási ará- nyainak javulásához (Bábosik 2009). Köztudott, hogy a felsőoktatásban még mindig elenyésző a roma származású hallgatók ará- nya, így őket a napjainkban megalakuló roma szakkollégiumokon keresztül értük el. Interjúalanyom kiválasztásakor olyan személyt kerestem, akinek eddigi életéről szóló története illeszkedik kutatási kérdéseinkhez, valamint hozzájárulhat további eredményeink kiszélesítéséhez, újabb kutatási kérdések feltevéséhez és megválaszolásához. Az elemzett interjú a Learn projekt (Learning Regions in Hungary: From Theories to Realites, OTKA K-101867) keretein belül valósult meg 2013 májusában. A projekt intézményi munkacsoportja a formális tanulás folyamatának, módszereinek, eredményességének hagyományos vizsgálatán túl olyan speci- ális csoportokkal foglalkozik, amelyek az intézményi tanulás vonatkozásában kevés figyelmet kapnak. Az „átlagos” tanulók mellett vizsgáljuk a roma, a migráns, a sérült tanulókat, illetve a tanulásba felnőttként bekapcsolódókat. Célunk, hogy a statisztikai átlagmutatók mellett a vizsgált régióban kimutassuk az említett csoportok tanulói életútját. Ehhez szolgáltak kiváló eszközül a felvett fókuszcsoportos és egyéni interjúink. Beszélgetésünk alanya 20 éves, roma származású nő, jelenleg főiskolás szakkollégiumi hallgató. Életének eddigi éveit tanulással töltötte, leküzdve az olykor elégördülő akadályokat. Családja számos esetben támogatta őt tanulási terveiben, így némileg kivételt képez a hagyományosnak mondható cigány családok nevelési elvei alól, ahol a nők feladata többnyire a gyermekek gondozása, a család egyben tartása és a házimunka végzése. Az interjú alapján megtudhatjuk, hogy a középiskola (osztálytársak, meghatározó tanáregyéniségek) és a vallás milyen módon befolyásolták és terelték alanyunk életét a számára legmegfelelőbb irányba. Az interjú helyszínéül egy történelmi egyház kelet-magyarországi roma szakkollégiumának egyik terme szolgált (a helyszínt maga az alany választotta), az intézmény vezetőjének a beleegyezésével. 
Több okból esett az alábbi helyszínre a választás. Egyfelől alanyunk kollégiumban éli mindennapjait, ahol nem tudott volna egy interjú elkészítéséhez megfelelő körülményeket biztosítani, ahol zavaró- ak lehettek volna a külső zajok, barátok látogatása vagy éppen a szobatárs jelenléte. Másfelől szerettük volna, ha alanyunk mégis egy számára jól megszokott térben adhat választ kérdéseinkre, így kérésére örömmel fogadtuk, hogy a szakkollégium egyik termében tehetjük ezt meg. Interjúalanyunk jelenleg szociális munkás szakon első éves hallgató. Mindennapjait egy egyházi romaszakkollégiumban tölti, mely nem alkot külön intézményt, hanem beolvad a helyi kampusz épületegyüttesébe. Ez utóbbit nagyon fontosnak tartjuk a hallgató felsőoktatási integrációja szempontjából (Pusztai 2011). Napirendje rendkívül szoros, egyrészt számos órája, gyakorlata van, másfelől a szakkollégiumi teendők is sűrűn körbevonják mindennapjait. A főiskolai órák általában reggel nyolc órától kezdődnek, majd fél kettő-fél háromig is eltartanak. Az előadásokat követően alanyunk megszokott teendőit végzi: ebédel, főz, kikapcsolódik, családjával és egykori barátaival beszélget online közösségi oldalakon, telefonon. Fontos számára kapcsolatainak ápolása azokkal a közeli és távolabbi ismerősökkel is, akikkel ritkán adódik alkalma személyes találkozásra. Ezen felül pedig ott vannak a szakkollégiumi programok, amelyekről így mesél: ,,Amikor tömbösítés van pénteken, akkor kezdünk egy média szemináriummal, egy újságíró jön, és akkor beszélgetünk.(…) Aztán van utána Népek és kultú- rák. Hát ott most Ausztriáról néztünk egy kisfilmet, és ezeket meg szoktuk beszélni, megkérdezi az oktató, hogy ki járt már ott, meg hogy kinek tetszik, ilyesmi. Szombaton reggel egy spirituális modullal kezdünk. Jön egy evangélikus lelkész, és akkor vele, hát egy ilyen hittanóra. De ott is kötetlen téma, vele is beszélgetünk bármiről.(…) Itt van Életmód és egészségfejlesztés, Szenvedélybetegségek… Az Életmód és egészségfejlesztés órán el szoktunk menni a sóbarlangba, az itteni sóbarlangba, és akkor ott végzünk ilyen légzőgyakorlatokat. Hmm, mi van még… A Kompetenciafejlesztés, ott beteg voltam (…) . Igen, ez a Gyülekezi Kerekasztal, ez az a beszélgetés, amit mondtam a dékán úrral meg a rektor úrral, a Kommunikáció is hamarabb meg volt tartva, azon se voltam, mert akkor is beteg voltam. Mit hagytam még ki… a Romológia, amit mondtam, meg a Kutatásmódszertan, hát ez az, hogy hogyan kell kutatást végezni, meg a szakdogához segítség… ennyi. Meg emellett vannak az önkéntes dolgok.” Ide kapcsolódik Erős Péter egy megállapítása, miszerint egy egyházi kollégium a szakmai felkészítés mellett teológiai és filozófiai ismereteket is nyújt a diákok számára. Ennek az a célja, hogy a fiatalok elsajátítsák a hit alapvető tanításait, amely erősíti bennük a közösségi szellem érzését, az értelmiségi szerepvállalás fontosságát (Erős, 2010). Láthatjuk, hogy a szakkollégium által kí- nált extrakurrikuláris programok valóban sűrűvé teszik alanyunk mindennapjait, akinek mindezek mellett van energiája hobbijára, ami az éneklés, valamint közösségi életre és a vallásos élet gyakorlására is, amiről majd kiderül, mennyire fontos szerepet játszik életében. Beszélgetőpartnerünkről a továbbiakban azt is megtudtuk, hogy főként ösztöndíjból és az árvasági ellátásból tartja el magát, de ennek kiegé- szítéseként szokott kisebb gyermekeket korrepetálni angol nyelvből, vagy diákmunkát végezni. Elmondása alapján a felsorolt jövedelmekből mindene megvan, sok esetben még édesanyját is segíti belőle. Tanulmányait a felsőoktatásban a Diákhitel felvételével tudta csak megkezdeni, ami sokat segített számára, hogy életét megkönnyítse. Az első összeget egyből az oktatásba forgatta, laptopot, könyveket, tanszereket vásárolt, azóta is ebből állja jegyzeteit, tankönyveit. Szeret utazni, több tanulmányi úton is részt vett már, ahol jó kapcsolatokra tett szert, a jövőbeni tervei között szerepel cserediákprogramban is részt venni, sőt a külföldön való munkavállalás is felmerült benne. 

Az interjúalany közösségi élete, baráti kapcsolatai

 Interjúalanyunk közösségi életére vonatkozóan az első jelentősebb emlékeket gimnáziumi éveiből említi. Pusztai Gabriella roma diplomásokkal készült interjúk elemzésekor figyelt fel a családi háttér ösztönző ereje mellett a baráti kapcsolatok és összeköttetések kitüntetett szerepére. Eredmé- nyei szerint az erős kötések, a barátság, a meghitt szülő-gyermek viszonyt idéző tanár-diák kapcsolatok rendkívül figyelemre méltó szerepet játszottak az interjúalanyok iskolai karrierjében. ,,Az elmélet szerint a szoros kapcsolati struktúra kétféle módon fejti ki hatását: egyrészt formai zártsága révén segít a mindennapi viselkedés szabályozásában, másrészt tartalmi alapjai olyan hatékony normák, amelyeknek elfogadása az erős kötések fennmaradásának feltétele” (Pusztai 2004: 69–83). ,,Nekem cigány barátom nem sok van. A Szent Imrében, az évfolyamomon én voltam, meg egy A-s lány. És akkor… De tényleg nagyon-nagyon sok barátom van. Az osztályból, hát hú…huszan…nem tudom, valamennyien voltunk, de minimum 10 közeli barátom van az osztályból. A másikból is minimum ennyi és a harmadikból pedig már csak kevesebb”. Alanyunk szavaiból ítélve baráti kapcsolatai főként a középiskolából származnak, ott szerzett közösségi élményei jótékony hatással voltak továbbtanulási szándékára, amely a következőkből látszik: ,,A középsuliban, meg még az általános iskolában a baráti köröm az volt, aki tovább szeretett volna tanulni és nem szakiskolába, hanem mindenféleképpen érettségit is. És velük sodródtam így, mert hogy ennek szerettem volna én is eleget tenni. Aztán a felsőoktatásnál is nagy részben ez volt. Meg az volt, hogy nekem tennem kell valamit, hogy a szegény embereknek segítsek”. Középiskolai barátaival mára már egyre nehezebben tartja a kapcsolatot alanyunk, de nincs miért elkeserednie, mert a szakkollégium sok esetben ad lehetőséget a közösségi élet megélésre. ,,Például két hét múlva Szegeden lesz egy közösségi hétvége, és oda meghívtak minket is, a mi szakkolinkat, bár nem tudom, hogy a többieket is meghívtáke, de gondolom igen, és akkor így páran mehetünk. (…) leginkább a szakkolis programok miatt vagyok ilyen nagyon elfoglalt hétvégente.” Megállapíthatjuk, hogy felekezeti szakkollégiumok tevékenységi rendszerében fontos szerepet töltenek be a közösségi alkalmak, aminek alapját feltételezhetően az egyházi szakkollégiumok szellemiségét gyökeresen meghatározó vallásos értékrend képezi (Erős 2010). Korábbi kutatásaink tapasztalatai alapján (Pusztai et al. 2012) elmondhatjuk, hogy a közösségi létre történő nevelés célként való kitűzése jellemzően a felekezeti szakkollégiumokra jellemző feladatvállalás. A felekezeti szakkollégiumok működését, értékrendjét, céljait alapvetően meghatározza a vallásos szellemiség, amelynek keretein belül teljesedik ki a tagok szakmai munkája és személyiségük fejlődése. Az elbeszélés alapján látható, hogy a középiskolai közösség jelentős hatással volt alanyunk életére, jelenében pedig a szakkollégiumban eltöltött időszak tölt be fontos szerepet. Az elkövetkezőkben iskolai életútjával fogunk foglalkozni, kiragadva a jelentősebb eseményeket, melyek meghatározóak voltak tanulmányi előmenetelére.

 Az interjúalany tanulmányi életútja 

Óvodai és általános iskolai éveit Mérken, szülőfalujában töltötte. Innen került később Nyíregyházára, a Szent Imre Katolikus Gimnáziumba, angol nyelvi előkészítő osztályba. Már az általános iskolai évei alatt megtapasztalta a szegénységet osztálytársai körében, akik többségében nem roma származású fiatalok voltak. Egyik osztálytársával való jó kapcsolatának kö- szönhetően látogatott el a nyíregyházi gimnáziumba nyílt napra. Erre így emlékszik vissza: ,,… az egyik osztálytársam, akivel nagyon jóban voltam, ő ment nyílt napra, és hogy szívesen elvisznek, ha akarok menni velük. 
És akkor eljöttem, és megtapasztaltam azt, hogy az emberek ilyen nagyon kedvesek, a tanárok, a diákok, ilyen nagyon közvetlenek, így teljesen elfogadtak. És aztán elmentem, megírtam a felvételit, sikerült és bekerültem. És aztán innentől kezdve éreztem azt, hogy az Isten gondviselő tenyerén hordoz engem.” Pusztai Gabriella (2004) kutatásaiban arról számol be, hogy az átlagos képességű és hátrányos helyzetű tanulók felvételi orientációit a különböző fenntartókhoz tartozó középiskolákat összehasonlítva, a felekezeti középiskolában érettségizettek bátrabban jelölnek meg olyan felsőoktatási intézményeket, melyeket máshol, hasonló kondíciókkal rendelkező kortársaik kevéssé mernek megcélozni. Ugyancsak Pusztai Gabriella (2004) eredménye, hogy igazolta a felekezeti középiskolákban folyó oktató-nevelő tevé- kenység sikerét a hátrányos helyzetű fiatalok felzárkóztatására, továbbtanulására vonatkozóan. A felekezeti oktatási intézményeknek van egy közös jellemvonásuk, mégpedig hogy a vallásosság kétféleképpen is hathat a továbbtanulási szándékra: egyrészt a diákokat nagyobb célirányultság jellemzi, másrészt olyan kapcsolatrendszert jelent, ami ösztönözheti az egyébként hátrányos helyzetű diákokat a továbbtanulásra (Pusztai 2004)
Az elkövetkezőkben vessünk még egy pillantást a gimnáziumi évekre, meghatározó tanárszemélyiségekre. 

Hogyan emlékszel vissza gimnáziumi tanáraidra? 

,,A töritanárom, ő nagyon-nagyon sokat segített nekem, leültünk külön tanulni. Az angoltanárom, aki első két évben tanított engem, ő nagyon sokat segítet. Vele nagyon-nagyon jó a kapcsolatom, ő elkísért nyelvvizsgázni is, bár nem sikerült, de tényleg elkí- sért, kijárt hozzám, mikor már nyugdíjas volt, akkor is, vissza, oda a Szent Imrébe, órákat tartott és teljesen ingyen, bármikor, amikor kértem, jött”. Fontos megemlítenünk, hogy hátrányos közegből érkező roma származású tanulók releváns továbbtanulási esélye az intézmény, a pedagógusok, valamint a környezet mint komplex rendszer eredménye. Az iskola által elért eredményesség igen erős, pozitív kapcsolatban áll azzal, ha van (esetleg több) olyan pedagógus az intézményben, aki részt vett romológiai képzésben, ráadásul a felsőoktatásban. A pedagógus ilyen irányú képzettsége ugyanis összefügg azzal, hogy milyen pozitív, elfogadó attitűddel bír a roma tanulók irányába, illetve mi jellmezi a pedagógiai stílusát (Babusik 2002). ,,Az attitűdök közül egyértelműen erős, pozitív hatást gyakorol az eredményességre, ha a pedagógus erősíteni igyekszik a roma-nem roma párbeszédet, a kölcsönös megértést és elfogadást. Az ilyen pedagógusok egyúttal (természetszerűen) jóval kevésbé előítéletesek, illetve pozitív viszonyt építenek ki a roma tanulókkal – mely utóbbi pedagógai hatása felbecsülhetetlen” (Babusik 2002: 237). 

És a kollégiumi nevelők? 

,,Jelen volt a szigor is és a szabályozottság. Hát ránk volt parancsolva. (…) De amúgy kedvesek voltak, persze. Édesapám két évvel ezelőtt meghalt, és akkor is nagyon toleránsak voltak. Akkor is az osztályom eljött haza a temetésre. A kollégiumi nevelőm, a csoportvezetőm is eljött, az osztályfőnököm eljött”. A pozitív tanár-diák kapcsolat értelmezhető olyan hídként, amelyen keresztül a nevelő hatások közvetítődnek. E nélkül a feltétel nélkül az adott gyerek nem fogadja el a pedagógus formáló befolyását, tehát a vele pozitív kapcsolatban nem álló nevelő számára pedagógiailag hozzáférhetetlenné, lényegében nevelhetetlenné válik. A pozitív tanár-diák kapcsolat kialakításának másik indoka abban áll, hogy az ilyen kapcsolat kedvezően hat a tanár-szülő, illetve az iskola-szülő kapcsolatra is. Ezek eredményeként a nevelő, illetve az iskola a szülő személyében jelentős támogató háttértényezőt nyer nevelési törekvésihez (Bábosik 2009). Az elkövetkezőkben azt láthatjuk, miként terelő- dött alanyunk érdeklődése a felsőoktatás irányába. ,,…már első évben a gimnáziumban…, és egyszer beszéltem az egyik segítő nővérrel (ő egy apáca, de segítő nővéreknek hívjuk őket), mondtam neki, hogy én szeretnék segíteni majd az embereknek, hogy milyen szakma van ilyen segítő szakma, mert én nem nagyon voltam tájékozott. És akkor mondta, hát a szociális munkás, ők ilyenek. És akkor megnéztem a felvin, hogy mik a követelmények, megnéztem, hogy töri, magyar, jó, letettem róla, mert egyiket se szerettem és nem is voltam nagyon jó. Aztán így, ahogy teltek az évek, úgy mégis, csak ennél tudtam maradni”. A felekezeti gimnáziumban a segítő nővér tanácsa és útbaigazítása jelentette a támogatást alanyunk számára. Iskolai karrier tekintetében fontos megemlítenünk a szülőket és a családot, akik mindig is kiálltak tanulmányi elő- menetele mellett. Pusztai Gabriella (2004) egy tanulmá- nyában olyan kutatásokra hívja fel a figyelmet, amelyek szerint a cigány családok esetében kimutatható némi értékrendbeli változás, amely abban ragadható meg leginkább, ahogyan az iskola hasznosságáról vélekednek (Kemény és mtársai 2000 idézi Pusztai 2004). A családon belüli társadalmi tőkeforrásának a tanulás támogatását és a gyermekre fordított szülői figyelmet tekinti a szakirodalom (Coleman 1988 idézi Pusztai 2004). ,,A családon belüli társadalmi tőke hipotézise szerint a társadalmi tőke e formájának eredményessége nem a szülők iskolázottságától függ, hanem attól az összetartó, családon belüli kapcsolatrendszertől, amelynek tagjai egységet mutatnak a gyermek jövőjé- ért vállalt áldozatban” (Pusztai 2004: 69- 83.). A tanulmányi életút fontos pontja interjúalanyunk szakkollégiumi tagsága, amely nemcsak lakhelyéül szolgál, hanem egyfajta olyan közeg is, ahol biztosított a szakmai fejlődés és a közösségi élet megélése.

Hogyan kerültél először kapcsoltba a szakkollégiummal? 

„A jelentkezési határidő, nem tudom, augusztus… nem, július közepe volt, tehát nyáron, és azelőtt egy héttel vagy kettővel az egyik ismerősöm mondta, hogy van egy ilyen itt, Nyíregyházán. (…) akkor elgondolkodtam rajta, hogy mégis lehet, hogy ide kéne jönnöm, mert így Anyunak is levennék egy csomó terhet a válláról, már csak azért is, mert nem töri annyit a fejét a pénzen. Először nem akartam, mert nem voltam még nagyobb roma kö- zösségben sem. (…) beadtam a jelentkezést, eljöttem egy felvételire, írnunk kellett egy rövid tesztet. Vallásos kérdések is voltak benne. Aztán szóbeli elbeszélgetés is volt az életről. És igazából ennyi. És aztán pedig az Isten ide lerakott. (…)…kapcsolatok építésére is nagyon hasznos egyébként. Meg itt kapunk mindenféle segítséget a nyelvsulihoz, nyelvvizsgához, most beindult egy ilyen tutor program és a fősuliról kellett választanunk tutort magunknak, és én az egyik szaktanáromat választottam. És akkor ő segít majd nekem. (…) Meg egyébként mindenki nagyon segítőkész, aki nem tud, az azért nem tud segíteni, mert nem ért hozzá.” Egy korábbi kutatásunkban megállapítottuk, hogy a felekezeti szakkollégiumokban dolgozó oktatók segítik a hallgatókat tanulmányi munkájuk előemenetelében, esetleges gondjaik feldolgozásá- ban, megoldásában – legyen az akár iskolai vagy személyes jellegű probléma. Coleman társadalmitőke-elméletének logikája szerint az oktató aktív jelenléte másképpen is hozzájárul az intézményi kapcsolatháló kohéziójához, aminek számos hatása közül leginkább a teljesítményre ösztönző kontrollt kell kiemelnünk. (…) A minél gyakoribb és sokoldalúbb kapcsolattartás növeli a tanulmányi eredmé- nyesség esélyét (Pusztai, Kardos 2011). Interjúalanyunk a felsőoktatásban töltött első évét gyakorlatilag sikeresen vette. Bár a beszélgetés lezajlásakor még nem volt túl a nyári vizsgaidőszakon, de már nagy szorgalommal ké- szült rá. Későbbi személyes beszélgetésünk során pedig örömmel mesélte, hogy minden vizsgáját sikeresen teljesítette. Számos kutatás eredménye, hogy a szakkollégiumi közösségek, valamint a szakkollégiumok által kínált lehetőségek, pedagógiai módszerek jótékony hatással vannak a hallgatók eredményességére, továbbtanulási szándékára. 
Elmondható, hogy a kollégiumi közösségben lakók között kevesebb a lemorzsolódás esélye, elégedettebbek saját intézményükkel, gyakrabban tervezik a továbbtanulást a felsőoktatás következő szintjén, s aktívabban vesznek részt extrakurrikuláris tevé- kenységekben is (Pusztai 2011). 

Roma identitás az interjúalany életében 

Érdekes információként hangzik el az interjú közben, hogy alanyunk a szakkollégiumba való bekerülése előtt sosem volt nagyobb roma közösségben („Először nem akartam, merthogy evangélikus roma szakkoli, és nem sok mindent tudtam az evangélikus vallásról sem, meg nem voltam még nagyobb roma közösségben se.”). Általános iskolai és gimnáziumi évei alatt is olyan osztályokba járt, ahová többségében magyar gyerekek jártak, de sosem érzett semmilyen megkülönböztetést származását illetően. A cigány nyelvet a családban senki nem beszéli, a hagyományőrzés pedig inkább csak hagyományos cigányzene hallgatásában és kedvelésében fejeződik ki. Alanyunk falujában sem ismer más családokat, ahol jelentősen megnyilvánulna a cigány kultúra, ekkor azonban érdekes mondat hangzik el a szájából, amelyben megkülönbözteti magukat más cigány származású családoktól: ,,…bár mondjuk nem vagyok olyan jóban az ottani, ilyen… tényleg azokkal az emberekkel, akik… hát na, most hogy mondjam… (nevet), akiknek a környezetén látszik, hogy cigányok, az udvaron, meg ilyen helyeken”. Szabóné Kármán Judit (2012) munkájában tökéletesen rávilágít az előbbiekben elhangzottakra. Vé- leménye szerint identitásunk és azonosságtudatunk egyfajta válasz arra, hogy „kik és mik vagyunk” a való életben. A cigányság esetében ez nem egyéni döntéssorozatok következménye, hanem a szocializációs folyamat részeként jön létre. A roma/cigány emberek is társas kapcsolataik révén megtapasztalva mások reakcióit hozzák létre saját én-identitásukat, miközben szocializációjuk során fokozatosan kialakul a csoport-hovatartozás tudata is. A fentiekben elmondottakkal alanyunk nem tagadja meg identitását, hiszen egy következő kérdésre adott válaszában kifejti, hogy büszke cigány származására, saját magára nézve is jobban szereti a cigány elnevezést használni, mint a romát. Ebben az esetben arra gondolunk, csupán saját és családja tenni akarását, szorgalmát kívánja még inkább kiemelni. A roma identitás ápolása főleg a szakkollégiumban válik hangsúlyossá, ahol külön órát szentelnek arra, hogy a diákok megismerhessék eredetüket, kultúrájukat. A szakkollégiumi élet, mint ahogy már az előzőekben is láthattuk, sok mindenben támogatja az ott tanuló hallgatókat. Baráti, vallási közösség, hagyományápolás, szakmai fejlődés és támogatás, anyagi segítség, ösztönző erő, lehetőség és még sorolhatnánk, mi minden valósul meg egy intézményi keretben. Már az 1990-es évek első vizsgálatai is azt mutatták, hogy a lakó-tanuló közösségek – a szakkollégiumok is felfoghatóak ilyen csoportosulásoknak – nagyon hatékony környezettel veszik körül a hallgatókat, a tapasztalatok szerint programjaik épp a hallgatótársakkal és az oktatókkal való kapcsolattartás hatására működnek jól (Tinto 2003; Pascarella–Terenzini 2005; Pusztai 2011). A hazai szakkollégiumoknak is vannak hasonló törekvéseik (Erős 2010; Ceglédi 2011; Kardos 2011), igaz, ezek általában csak a kiemelkedő és elkötelezett hallgatókat érik el (Pusztai 2011), napjainkban azonban egyre jellemzőbbé válik a kevésbé jól teljesítő, ám tehetséges, hátrányos helyzetű hallgatók szakkollégiumok által való felkarolása. Interjúalanyunk hátrányos társadalmi közegből érkező, roma származású fiatal nő. Rendezett családi környezetének és az iskola támogató hatásának következtében eljutott a felsőoktatásig, ahol meglehetősen jól veszi az akadályokat. Érté- kelhetjük úgy, hogy életének legfőbb szakaszaiba mindig akkor érkezett el, amikor tanulmányi élet- útjában nagyobb lépések következtek be: általános iskola, katolikus gimnázium és kollégium, felső- oktatásba lépés és szakkollégiumi tanulmányok. A szerencsés iskolaválasztás, az elfogadó légkör, meghatározó baráti közösségek és pedagógusszemélyiségek mind hozzásegítették eddigi sikeres ,,pályafutásához”. A vallási közösség, a hit ehhez még egy plusz adalékot adott az alany számára, aki mély elkötelezettséget érez tanulmányi és választott szakmája iránt. Fiatal kora ellenére konkrét célkitűzései vannak, amelyeket minden bizonnyal megvalósít, ha a továbbiakban sem hagyja el szorgalma és kitörő lelkesedése. 

Összegzés 

Tanulmányunkban hazánk egyik fontos problé- makörére kívántuk felhívni a figyelmet, amely a hazai halmozottan hátrányos cigányság helyzetével foglalkozik. A szakirodalom feldolgozását számba véve foglalkoztunk a cigánysággal kapcsolatos definíciós problémákkal, majd a romákat támogató ösztöndíjrendszerek segítségével próbáltunk rámutatni a roma fiatalok helyzetére oktatási rendszerünkben. Az Oktatáskutató és Fejlesztő Intézet megbízásából készített Szakkollégiumi kutatások 2011 adatbázisának az eredeti vizsgálattól eltérő szempontú másodelemzését egy korábbi munkánkban végeztük el, amelynek néhány eredménye jelen tanulmányunkban is bemutatásra került. Az eredmények nyomán elmondhattuk, hogy a felekezeti szakkollégiumok céljaiban, alapelveiben, pedagógiai módszereiben a társadalmi folyamatok hatására olyan változások következtek be, amelynek révén kiemelkedő feladatukká vált a hátrányosabb társadalmi státusú tehetségek felkarolása. Tanulmányunk záró fejezetében pedig egy életút-interjú részleteinek bemutatásával kívántunk rámutatni azon fiatal roma rétegre, amelynek tagjai mintegy kivételt képezve eljutottak a felsőoktatás közegébe. Ennek alapján belátható, hogy a sikeres iskolai pályafutás szá- mos tényező együttes eredménye, mint például a szűkebb családi, tágabb baráti, vallási közösség, a támogató iskolai légkör, meghatározó pedagógusszemélyiségek. Munkánk összegzéseként elmondhatjuk, hogy egy olyan felsőoktás-pedagó- giai kérdésre hívtuk fel a figyelmet, amely hosszú távon nyújt majd segítséget a romák felsőoktatásba való integrálásban. További kutatásaink és érdeklődésünk középpontjában is az újonnan megalakuló roma szakkollégiumok felsőoktatáspedagógiai munkája áll majd. 

Irodalom 
Alcalde, Jose Eugenio (2008): Cigány gyerekek az iskolában. Budapest, Nyitott Könyvműhely. Babusik Ferenc (2002): Az iskolai hatékonyság kulcstényezői a romák oktatásában. 
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Bábosik István (2009): Személyiségismeret és kapcsolatépítés. In Kállai Ernő – Kovács László (szerk.): Megismerés és elfogadás Pedagógiai kihívások és roma közösségek a 21. század iskolájá- ban. Budapest, Nyitott Könyvműhely. 21–30. p Bordás Andrea – Ceglédi Tímea (2012): A debreceni szakkollégiumok mint a tudásmegosztó és tudásteremtő tanuló közösségek színterei. In Dusa Ágnes – Kovács Klá- ra – Nyüsti Szilvia – Márkus Zsuzsanna (szerk.): Ifjúsági élethelyzetek 2. Debrecen, 2012, Debreceni Egyetemi Kiadó, 9–53. p. Cserti-Csapó Tibor (2012): A cigány népesség a társadalmi-gazdasági térszerkezetben. Budapest, Virágmandula Kft. Demeter Endre – Gerő Márton – Horzsa Gergely (2011) (szerk.): Szakkollégiumi kutatások eredményei. Budapest, OFI Erős Péter (2010): A magyarországi szakkollégiumok 2007- ben – egy kvantitatív kutatás néhány eredménye. In Juhász Erika (szerk.): Harmadfokú képzés, felnőttképzés és regionalizmus. Debrecen, Center for Higher Educational Research and Development. 210–216. p Fazekas Mihály – Sík Domonkos (2008): A magyarországi szakkollégiumok: érdekérvényesítés, forrásszerzés, kommunikáció. Budapest, Kutatási Zárójelentés, Nemzeti Civil Alapprogram Felsőoktatási Törvény, 2005, 13§, 6. szakasz Fiáth Titanilla (2002): A magyarországi roma népesség általános iskolai oktatása. In Babusik Ferenc (szerk.): A romák esélyei Magyarországon. Aluliskolázottság és munkaerőpiac – a cigány népesség esélyei Magyarországon. Kávé Kiadó. 11–70. p. 
Forray R. Katalin (1998): Cigánykutatás és nevelésszociológia. Iskolakultúra, 1998. 8. évfolyam, 12. szám, 3–14. p. 
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2015. augusztus 27., csütörtök

The immigration of the Luri

http://rombase.uni-graz.at/cd/data/hist/origin/data/persia-it-03.en.pdf

The immigration of the Luri

 In 1020 the Arabian historiographer Al-Talibi included the following Persian text about the immigration of the Luri, in his "Story of the Persian Kings" (the original being lost later on): "One evening, when he (Bahram Gur) came back from hunting, he passed a group of subjects who were sitting in the grass and were eating and drinking. He asked, why they did not have any music since music makes the spirit happy. They answered: ‘Oh King, we looked for musicians for 100 Dirham, but we could not find one.’ So Bahram said, ‘We will procure you one!’, and he ordered a writer to write a letter to the Indian Shankalat and to ask him to send four thousand of the best musicians and best singers to his court. Shankalat did so and Bahram distributed them throughout the whole kingdom and requested from the people to take up their service, to enjoy their art and to pay them appropriate reward. And it is from them that the dark Luri derive who know to play the flute and the lute so well." [Kenrick, Donald (1998): Sinti und Roma: Von Indien bis zum Mittelmeer. Die Wanderwege der Sinti und Roma, Berlin, p. 18.]