Description
The main objective of the project is to document and promote Roma culture and identity as well as knowledge about the cultural and social history of the Roma in Romania. During the project, seven oral folk tales will be collected and documented. These will be available as part of a special collection in Romanian, Romani and English. At the same time, a theatre play on Roma slavery will be produced. As part of the documentation process for the play, several research articles and events will be organized, focusing on three main themes: 'Experiences of Roma slavery', 'Roma slavery-connection with present social realities' and 'Roma slavery - similarities with African-American slavery in the USA'. A two day cultural event will be organized on 20 February, the ”Day for Abolishing Roma slavery”. The cultural event will showcase both a performance based on the folk tales collected and the theatre play. A total of 270 people will participate in the project events, including the conferences, happenings, and cultural events.
Summary of project results
The Roma people are the most discriminated ethnic group in Romania and in Europe. The Roma history is poorly known in Romania or even Europe. Thus, Roma people often do not have the chance to learn about their history, and the same is true for the vast majority of Romanians. Untold stories project aims to document the cultural Roma history, fighting Roma discrimination, raising self-esteem and empowering the Roma people to know their history and culture, and enriching the cultural dialog. All specific objectives of the project were reached: to document and promote Roma culture and identity and knowledge about the cultural and social history of Roma in Romania. This objective was achieved on one hand by collecting Roma oral folk stories and on the other hand by documenting and producing a theater play based on the experience of Roma slavery. The documenting and theater-play production were presented as part of a two-day cultural event, the commemorative day of the abolition of Roma slavery. During the project seven oral folk tales were collected and documented and are available as part of a special collection in Romanian, Romani and English. The fairy tales are available here:
http://povestinespuse.eu/wp-content/uploads/roma_fairy_tales_told_by_ta… A theatre play on Roma slavery was produced and a performance based on collected folk tales and three research articles are available online, focusing on three main themes: „Experiences of Roma slavery”, „Roma slavery-connection with present social realities” and „Roma slavery - similarities with African-American slavery in the USA”. Throughout the project a dissemination and information campaign were organized, to ensure the visibility of the project’s productions (indicators): a collection of folk-tales, research articles, brochure of the event, and more than five times of the original estimate of minimum hits estimated for the website. The website is also available in English version
www.povestinespuse.eu. All people accessing the website had access to Roma culture and history (folk tales and research) All participants at the cultural event received information on Roma culture and history Through public events and mass-media information was disseminated on Roma culture and history, particularly on how Roma slavery informs today’s Roma culture and social reality.
Summary of bilateral results