The European Roma Rights Centre has a series of articles on the false perceptions and stereotyping of the Roma.

Stereotypes take on a life of their own once they emerge from Pandora’s box. Distorted perceptions are mirrored onto ethnic and racial groups and inflict psychological wounds on individuals that are cast as belonging to those groups. The end result is collective marginalisation or collective oppression

Pictures in Our Heads written by Sinan Gökçen deals with how negative stereotyping leads to marginalisation and exclusion of minority groups.

Glancing over the volumes of academic research on the history of ethnic and racial stereotyping, it is possible to state that stereotypes are sometimes centuries old. Media is a powerful agent in the creation and maintenance of racial stereotypes, but many other social factors shape the perceptions seeping into everyone’s minds to slowly galvanize the pictures in our heads

In the Eye of the Beholder: Contemporary Perceptions of Roma in Europe is written by Larry Olomoofe. Here is an excerpt from this fascinating article.

During a social event in Budapest in 2003, I was in attendance with a number of Hungarian Romani friends including four Romani women. During the course of the event, a non-Romani man approached me and started making idle conversation about the venue and some of the people present there. During this conversation, he mentioned that he found one of the Romani women particularly attractive. I concurred with his view and he went off but came by every so often to repeat that this woman was beautiful. After about an hour, he came rushing back to me and said, “She is a Gypsy. I cannot believe it. Be careful.” I responded by asking him, “So now you know she is a Gypsy, she is no longer beautiful?” He simply muttered something under his breath and walked away. Once again, I was somewhat shocked by his response to this particular woman’s Romani identity and the effect her ethnicity had had on his allegedly objective aesthetic judgement of beauty.

Over time, I have analysed this peculiar encounter attempting to interpret its meaning and concluded that the man in question, once he recognised that the woman was Romani suspended his objective faculties and deployed his pre-determined notions of Roma to categorise this woman. All he saw after this revelation was a “Gypsy” and he could not see beyond this. Despite being an educated professional, this woman may as well not have existed for this man. She was an apparition who did not exist. She only existed when he decided to invoke the various technologies of racism and anti-racism, which informs the way she (Gypsies/Roma) is perceived and received by mainstream society. In this event, Roma still do not exist because ‘Roma’ that non-Roma see in their mind’s eye are “Roma” they have constructed without the participation of the Roma themselves in the process. The sheer presence of Roma (and I mean this literally) is the only thing they contribute to the ‘dialogue’ which the non-Romani observer(s) conduct within/amongst themselves

Research and the Many Representations of Romani Identity by Adrian Marsh is an in-depth look at academic and historic misrepresentation of the Roma and how this can be redressed.

If the record of the past that exists is one that largely misrepresents this experience for Gypsy people, is there corpus of Romani historiography that addresses these misconceptions and misconstructions? Increasingly, the presentation of Romani histories is one that is being undertaken by Gypsies themselves, and there is a body of work that we can define as Romani historiography being added to the narratives of Gypsy people recorded and interpreted by non- Romani authors, especially around key recent historical episodes such as the experience under Stalinism, or Nazi atrocities against Roma and Sinti in occupied Europe

The Perception of Gypsies in Turkish Society by Suat Kolukirik explores negative images and stereotypes in literature and everyday language in Turkey.

Hair comes out of Gypsy’s Bismillah [in the name of Allah] (indicating that Gypsies are unreliable and insincere about religious life);

Let neither plum in your garden nor Gypsy on your doorstep;

You are like a Gypsy child. (referring to those who stay in the sun for a long time and turns dark);

One should sleep with a Gypsy woman to break a spell of bad luck;

Half of 72 nations (half of a nation) Gypsy plays the instruments, Kurd dances;

The Gypsy is noisy, his cart is lousy (refers to Gypsy’s filthiness and lousiness);

Did you sleep with a Gypsy? (for one who speaks a lot);

Is there a Gypsy wedding? (for a noisy place);

Don’t behave like a Gypsy (said to a miserly person);

Gypsy money (for change or coin)

Gypsy fight (for verbal fight)

Finally, an article by Henry Scicluna about anti-Romani hate speech and how it affects our perceptions of the Roma.

Hate speech is particularly dangerous because all anti-Romani activities – evictions, school segregation, physical aggressions – spring from it. Vilifying statements by high officials, including ministers, politicians and various authorities, echoed by the press have provided legitimacy for hatred and hence for exclusion. As a result, the ordinary citizens, fortified in their prejudices, condone and support discriminatory measures against Roma

The examples of hate speech in the article are particularly shocking because they are coming from people in positions of power and these people have control over the fate of Europe’s citizens. Please take the time to visit the European Roma Rights Centre website and read some of the other articles posted there. It is an essential resource for anyone interested in Roma rights and an education for those of us who perhaps know very little about this marginalised and abused minority.

[You can also find some of the most recent rulings against Greece in relation to violations of human rights. I will try and prepare a post about them in the next couple of days]

Technorati: roma, romani, gypsy, europe, racism, hate speech