Description
Recently, minorities became a fashionable research subject, but Roma people in Romania have not, with some notable exceptions, had their own history told. One explanation for their absence from history is that their oral tradition has not generated written evidences. The documents related to the Roma's past, available in archives, are about them but never by them. The purpose of the project is to recover and (re)construct their histories by collecting, preserving and interpreting oral testimonies of the Roma, providing a voice for the silent ones. To manage the complexity of such issues, our Romanian-Icelandic team will undertake an interdisciplinary approach that combines oral history research with anthropology, ethnology, sociology, and media studies. The project will attempt to answer questions about the nature of their cultural heritage and explore ways in which the (in)tangible cultural heritage, respectively traditions (e.g. music) can become tools for empowering Roma communities. The Romanian-Icelandic partnership will contribute to achieving interdisciplinarity of the research in order to combine Roma history with anthropology, ethnology, sociology, and media studies. Both the beneficiary and the partner will contribute to the project by writing articles and volumes on the theme and by disseminating the project results. The partnership will strengthen institutional bilateral relations through joint supervision of doctoral dissertations and tutoring of postdoctoral works.
Summary of project results
This project was founded on three pillars: the lack of visibility of the Roma in Romanian history, especially during the communist regime, the expertise of the Oral History Institute in Cluj-Napoca in conducting oral history interviews and the existence of an excellent relationship the University of Iceland. Built on this solid basis, the project aimed to contribute to the knowledge of the recent history of Roma communities in Romania and, in this respect, we have created three main instruments available both to researchers and the general public: an oral history archive with more than 620 interviews and additional documents, the Roma Virtual Museum (
www.romamuseum.ro) and several scientific publications. These are educational instruments for both Roma and non-Roma meant to improve mutual knowledge and understanding, as well as to stimulate interdisciplinary research. The opportunity of the project has been confirmed, among other, by a significant number of racist comments made by online users when the project was launched. Moreover, for the academia in Romania, this approach was a challenge because the Roma did not represent, with few significant exceptions, a theme of interest for historians which explains the absence of the Roma within the Romanian dominant historical narrative. Romanian historians did not provide sufficient research and/or sources to fight stereotypes and prejudices which are needed for a necessary debate in the Romanian society on taking the responsibility for the situation of the Roma in Romania in the past, especially for the slavery and the Holocaust. Therefore, this project forced entry into the academic world both of a pariah theme, the Roma and a methodology, oral history and provided sources for Roma history as part of the Romanian history, essential for new public policies aiming at improving Roma population’s situation and Romania and Europe.
Summary of bilateral results
One of the objectives of the project was to increase the mutual knowledge between Romania and Iceland. The implementation of the project would not have been possible without the involvement of our partners at the University of Iceland in all activities to deliver the foreseen results: the oral history archive, the Roma Virtual Museum and scientific publications. Our partner had the necessary expertise in the study of national identities, cultural heritage and Roma culture which are essential to achieve the interdisciplinary approach by associating Roma history with anthropology, ethnology, sociology, and media studies. The partnership strengthened institutional bilateral relations through joint supervision of doctoral dissertations and tutoring of postdoctoral works. Synergies have emerged in terms of the management culture of the two universities, as well as mutual ''contaminations" regarding the research work. As far as prospects for the future go, the project manager and the partner team leader already participated in another European project, i.e. Calohee. Joint research projects will be developed, and the collaboration at the institutional level will be materialized through the development of formal and informal educational programs for students and pre-university teachers having as theme the Roma history. Last, but not least, one of the most important outcome in terms of bilateral relations is the mutual understanding and informing Icelandic public about Roma history and culture and its contribution to Romanian and European history.