MIGRATION OF ROMA TO WESTERN EUROPE UNDER THE IRON CURTAIN IN THE LIGHT OF MEMORIES OF THE WITNESSES

• Authors: Hajská Markéta
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This article applies the slow memory approach to the study of the pre-1989 migration of Roma from Czechoslovakia to the West. It focuses on reconstructing this phenomenon from memories of Romani 1 witnesses. It analyses the ways in which the process of migration to the West was remembered, described and interpreted by the witnesses. The emigration of Roma from communist Czechoslovakia to Western Europe is almost entirely absent in Romani studies and migration studies literature, with only a few random references by some authors. There is no data about the number of Romani migrants, and, generally, the topic is very under-researched. Oral historical methods and studies of memories of Romani witnesses who immigrated to Western countries present a unique possibility with which to research this phenomenon. The concept of slow memory enables the researcher to focus on how the Roma remember sociocultural and political events in the past and how they interpret them. Their testimonies showed a variety of motifs and descriptions of events that had various coinciding elements. Using the slow memory approach thus offers new perspectives on past events, especially by considering the marginalised and under-represented perspective of the Roma, which emphasises mainly the role of kinship and social networks and the big role of Romani solidarity in these stories.

Keywords

EN

ROMA; COMMUNISM; CZECHOSLOVAKIA; COLLECTIVE MEMORIES; SLOW MEMORY; MIGRATION; ORAL HISTORY

• Publisher: Institute of Ethnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Slovenský národopis (Slovak Ethnology)
• Year: 2024
• Volume: 72
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 504 – 518

Contributors

author

Hajská Markéta

• Institute of Ethnology and Central European and Balkan Studies (IECEBS), Charles University, Faculty of Arts, Prague, Nám. J. Palacha 2, 116 38 Praha 1, Czech Republic

• https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0731-0346

Identifiers

DOI

https://doi.org/10.31577/SN.2024.4.39