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The East European Roots of Romani Nationalism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Ian Hancock
Ian Hancock*
Affiliation:
University of Texas (Austin)
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Extract

The Oxford English Dictionary defines nation as “a distinct race or people, characterized by common descent, language or history, usually organized as a separate political state and occupying a definite territory.” Nationalism in turn may be defined as a sense of identity as a people, and the efforts resulting to foster this and to obtain recognition as a distinct population, bound by common historical, cultural, linguistic, political, religious or other ties in the eyes of the larger society.

While in the broadest sense the term “nation” may apply to a non-politically autonomous ethnic group consisting of only a few hundred individuals (cf. the West African or Native American use of the word as an equivalent to “tribe”), it is most often used synonymously with the notion of an actual country, the existence of an independent geographical homeland being an integral part of its interpretation. However, as the dictionary definition indicates, this is usually, and therefore by implication not invariably, a defining criterion. There have been nations of people lacking a homeland (or a homeland allowing them access or control) throughout history. The pre-1948 Jewish population, for example, or the Palestinians in the present day. Bloody wars have been fought because of the existence of nations of people lacking their own autonomous territory.

It is into this latter category that the Romani nation fits and, though the efforts to secure a geographical homeland were central to the nationalist movement, especially during the 1930s and 1940s, the price paid for not having one has been heavy.

Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 19 , Issue 3: Special Issue - The Gypsies in Eastern Europe , Fall 1991 , pp. 251 - 268
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 by the Association for the Study of the Nationalities of the USSR and Eastern Europe, Inc. 

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References

Notes

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37. The preliminary draft compiled by Ian Hancock and Yaron Matras.Google Scholar