Thomas Acton

Virginity and early marriage customs in relation to children's rights among Chergashe Roma from Serbia and Bosnia

Early marriage and virginity at marriage for girls is not a unique legacy of some Roma groups. In fact, only 50 years ago it was more or less common to expect a bride to be a virgin and to marry relatively young in many European societies, perhaps more so in rural and more conservative areas. However, in comparison to their host societies, the practice of early marriage remains relatively prevalent in many Romani communities. It is argued that simplistic explanations which blame Romani groups for not assimilating to a more ‘modern’ culture are incorrect and morally wrong. It is rather a system of very complex historical, social and economic circumstances that has led to a more conservative standpoint regarding early marriage. Furthermore, these standpoints differ among heterogeneous Romani groups. This article explores the connection between early marriage customs in one specific Romani group – the Chergashe – and childrens rights, as defined by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC). Interviews were conducted with 35 Romani adolescents and women from Serbia and Bosnia, of which 18 participants lived as migrants in Germany for a longer period of time. With the addition of information from relevant documents and reports to the original data, this article discusses the specific position of a number of Romani girls and women with respect to early marriage customs and UN CRC rights.

Scientific racism, popular racism and the discourse of the Gypsy Lore Society

ABSTRACT Scientific racism continued to be the guiding paradigm of the oldest scholarly association for the study of Gypsies well into the 1970s. It is important to acknowledge and analyse this when considering the continuing influence of racism on policy towards Roma.

Conflict Resolution and Criminal Justice - Sorting Out Trouble : Can Legislation Resolve Perennial Conflicts Between Roma/gypsies/travellers and "national Majorities"?

Abstract Attempts by the majority community in Britain to reduce perceived criminal behaviour by Roma/Gypsies/Travellers have generally been unsuccessful. Whether attempting to apply existing laws more rigorously, to enact more repressive laws, or to enact laws which will integrate Gypsies into the majority population, all policies have foundered on a failure to understand Gypsy culture, and in particular Gypsy modes of solving conflict and repressing criminal behaviour. A factor often overlooked is that Gypsy law varies considerably. Gypsy justice systems, taken together, exhibit virtually the widest functional range of cultural particularity possible, just as do non-Gypsy systems. Of possible state strategies towards Gypsy minorities, the human rights model, which ensures that the fundamental rights of human beings are respected in virtue of their humanity, not their nationality, presents the greatest advantages. The model might be applied to criminal justice issues between communities by promoting easier access to litigation and by turning to the idea of restorative justice. The latter is especially promising, but will depend on overcoming the monocultural impermeability of most European state legal systems. They need to be induced to work towards social harmony by the study of Gypsy culture and the provision of space for its continued practice.

From Summer Voluntary Schemes to European Community Bureaucracy: The Development of Special Provision for Traveller Education in the United Kingdom since 1967

Abstract This paper attempts to present an overall statistical picture of the development of educational provision for Gypsy children, which has recently culminated in major new policy initiatives from both the Department of Education and Science in the United Kingdom, and the European Community Commission and Council. Studies by educationalists have tended to concentrate on case histories and ‘good practice’, because any picture of overall statistical trends depends on a multitude of diverse and possibly unreliable or incommensurable sources. When the attempt is made, however, to categorise and quantify previous provision, very clear trends emerge, which set educational provision in the general context of Gypsy policy and politics. The paper shows how voluntary projects were followed by local and national state action, and finally by a concerted policy approach by the European Community, and argues that a comparative macrosociological approach reveals a pattern of development consistent with the original...

Theorizing Gypsy Law

The recent study of Gypsy law by Weyrauch and Bell in the Yale Law Journal has been widely circulated, often in second and third generation xerox copies, among European Romani intellectuals. It has also brought Romani social control mechanisms into the mainstream of legal philosophy. They take them as an example of autonomous lawmaking, which serves to maintain internal order and control, while at the same time unifying and protecting Gypsies and Gypsy traditions against potentially hostile host societies. Their examination, however is limited to the system built around the kris of the Vlach Rom, and they fail to see the relevance of other forms of Gypsy social control such as the blood-feud of the Finnish Kaale Rom, which they rule out of their discussion. This limits their understandings of the possibilities within the operation of Romani law and indeed of the kris itself. This paper argues that in fact there is a structural inversion between kris systems and blood feud systems, which shows how similar value-systems can be enforced via very different forms of social control. It is suggested that the different forms of social control are appropriate to different nomadic and sedentary modes of life in different Romani groups, and in fact, using the theories of Pashukanis, one might theorize the kris as an embryonic state developing a criminal law from the historically prior civil law embodied in the norms of Gypsy groups regulating conflicts through the feud system. These contrasts enable a deeper understanding of Gypsy lawmaking processes, which resolve some of the problems shared both by Weyrauch and Bell, and by their critics, such as Reisman.

Globalization, the Pope and the Gypsies

Why is globalization theory so fascinating? In part, at least, because it legitimizes questions very different from those addressed by political theory and the sociology of politics before they found the writings of Wallerstein (1974) or Sklair (1991). But that fascination endures precisely because the norm of political analysis is that bluntly expressed by Giddens above. If we look, however, at some recent developments in globalization theory, and the way these fit with international Romani politics, as a case study, we may come to see that the view of globalization as a new process in the history of the world is misleading; that it is the nationalization of the sixteenth century that has always been an aberrant and anti-human ideological process requiring violence and the use of force against the innocent to maintain its cognitive hold.

Alternatives to Romani identity politics

The publication of these two books may mark the point at which a particular form of scepticism about the dominant Roma cultural identity politics of the last half-century moves from being the isolated critiques of individual scholars to becoming an established school of thought. The fundamental contention of this “alternative view” is summarized by Surdu (252): “social policies in any of the matters regarding education, health or employment should build on universalist principles, and involve all persons affected by negative social-systemic outcomes, irrespective of their ethno-cultural allegiances or their so-called Roma origin”. Kováts and Law (181) drive home the point about the alleged fraudulence of multiculturalist state benevolence:

The campaign for a National Strategy for Gypsy site provision and the role of Public Health activism in the 1960–1970s

We trace the post-war evolution of a national approach to providing caravan sites for Gypsies and Travellers—something essential to protect the health of that population in the United Kingdom (UK). Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the late Norman Dodds MP championed in Parliament the plight of the UK’s Gypsies and other nomads. He was instrumental in galvanising support for the 1968 Caravan Sites Act. The vision of influential individuals working in public and environmental health surmounted practical considerations and local opposition to implement the national programme of site provision envisioned by the Act. We detail this hitherto neglected aspect of Gypsy politics and policy development. In doing so, we highlight the transformative potential of public health and argue for a return to the comprehensive vision motivating these pioneers in the 1960s and 1970s.

Book Review: The Gypsy Debate: Can Discourse Control?. Joanna Richardson. Exeter: Imprint Academic, 2006. Pp. iv+151. ISBN 1-84540-057-7 (pbk): £17.95.

The Gypsy Debate: Can Discourse Control?. Joanna Richardson. Exeter: Imprint Academic, 2006. Pp. iv+151. ISBN 1-84540-057-7 (pbk): £17.95.

Reviews: Lou Charnon-Deutsch, The Spanish Gypsy: The History of a European Obsession, Pennsylvania State University Press: University Park, PA, 2004; 280 pp., 31 illus.; 0271023597,

from the so-called Pantoffelkino (‘slippers cinema’) at home. Bergfelder’s lucidly written book is enormously informative. It provides a wealth of insight into the mechanisms of the West German and European film industry, the business of production and distribution, the legal battles over rights and financial deals. These are vital issues about which students are frequently ignorant and which Bergfelder succeeds in bringing to life. Even more fascinating is the discussion of the Karl May westerns, which examines this phenomenally successful genre from a variety of angles, including the biography of the popular novelist Karl May, who only knew the Wild West from afar; the star appeal of the male ‘dream couple’ Pierre Brice and Lex Barker; and the reception of these ‘sauerkraut’ westerns in Germany’s best-selling teenage magazine. This wideranging exploration makes compelling reading for anyone interested in German popular culture.