Contemporary scholarship in the fields of Romani Studies and antigypsyism (i.e., anti-Gypsyism or antiziganism), increasingly recognizes the centrality of location or “standpoint” in the discourse ...around representation and legitimacy. Deriving from a conceptual understanding of antigypsyism, this paper analyzes Gypsylorism, in the sense of constructions of “the exotic Other within Europe” (Lee, 2000). The trajectory of knowledge production from the early days of ”Gypsyology” to (critical) Romani Studies is analyzed: first, by means of a historiographical analysis of Nordic literature, which establishes the analytical dichotomy between subalternity and Gypsylorism, and second, by a scrutiny of recent academic debates in the field. The paper argues that the emergence of authors from the Romani standpoint in fictional and academic literature has contributed to a change as well as provoked counter-reactions. The paper illuminates debates and trajectories by discussing the failed attempts to make the Gypsy Lore Society (GLS) claim historical responsibility for its Gypsylorism/Orientalism at its Istanbul conference in 2012 and the compromise resolution of GLS in Stockholm in 2016, which avoided an apology and maintained the unresolved antagonism.
Centered on the trajectory of the emancipation of Roma people in Scandinavia, Romani Liberation is a powerful challenge to the stereotype describing Romani as passive and incapable of responsibility ...and agency. The author also criticizes benevolent but paternalistic attitudes that center on Romani victimhood. The first part of the book offers a comprehensive overview of the chronological phases of Romani emancipation in Sweden and other countries. Underscoring the significance of Roma activism in this process, Jan Selling profiles sixty Romani activists and protagonists, including numerous original photos. The narrative is followed by an analysis of the concepts of historical justice and of the process of decolonizing Romani Studies. Selling highlights the impact of the historical contexts that have enabled or impeded the success of the struggles against discrimination and for equal rights, emphasizing Romani activism as a precondition for liberation. The particular Swedish framework is accentuated by a stimulating preface by the international activist Nicoleta Bitu, and afterwords by two prominent Romani advocates, the politician Soraya Post and the singer, author, and elder Hans Caldaras.
Centered on the trajectory of the emancipation of Roma people in Scandinavia, Romani Liberation is a powerful challenge to the stereotype describing Romani as passive and incapable of responsibility ...and agency. The author also criticizes benevolent but paternalistic attitudes that center on Romani victimhood.
The first part of the book offers a comprehensive overview of the chronological phases of Romani emancipation in Sweden and other countries. Underscoring the significance of Roma activism in this process, Jan Selling profiles sixty Romani activists and protagonists, including numerous original photos. The narrative is followed by an analysis of the concepts of historical justice and of the process of decolonizing Romani Studies. Selling highlights the impact of the historical contexts that have enabled or impeded the success of the struggles against discrimination and for equal rights, emphasizing Romani activism as a precondition for liberation.
The particular Swedish framework is accentuated by a stimulating preface by the international activist Nicoleta Bitu, and afterwords by two prominent Romani advocates, the politician Soraya Post and the singer, author, and elder Hans Caldaras.
För att gå rakt på sak: romer har av den antiimperialistiska vänstern inte setts som ett revolutionärt subjekt, helt enkelt för att antiziganismen inte har sitt ursprung i kolonialismen. Just ...antiziganismens förkoloniala rötter i europeisk historia är en anledning till att många forskare, inklusive jag själv, hävdar att antiziganismens genealogier är äldre än rasismen. Samtidigt är det uppenbart att den alltsedan upplysningstidens början blivit laddad med rasism och därför bör betraktas som en specifik form av rasism (Wippermann 1997; Selling 2013). Därför insisterar man i denna forskningstradition på begreppet antiziganism snarare än det mest etablerade alternativa begreppet: antiromsk rasism (jfr
The Interpol predecessor, the International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC), gradually came under the control of the Nazi Regime. Besides the task of combatting 'ordinary criminality', it, since ...1934, had 'combatting of the Gypsy plague' on its agenda. The Swedish contacts were handled independently by the head of the Swedish forensic institute (SKA), Harry Söderman, who had good contacts with the ICPC presidents Heydrich and Nebe. This essay discusses, from a Swedish perspective but also with an international comparative view, critical and apologetic discourses on the ICPC Nazification and antiziganism. It focuses on available ICPC files at Riksarkivet and their archival surroundings, which lead to the Sandler Commission's investigation of police collaboration against the Scandinavian sabotage and resistance organization Wollweber. A main conclusion is that the informal network character of the ICPC and its lack of transparency discouraged critical reflections on this Nazification, and, to this day, obstructed a break with antiziganistic police traditions. In contrast to the independent inquiry commissions of Switzerland and Norway, which discuss the context of antiziganism and the ICPC, the selective governmental initiatives in Sweden have until now neglected the topic. The essay also discusses the problematic ICPC source material situation.
Texts and events regarding the Swedish Living History project in the years 1997-2008 are studied in the sense of a discursive formation, 'Living History'. The article focuses on political aspects of ...changes, antagonism and discursive positions in public debates about 'Living History', whereby politics, journalism and academic history are seen as interacting parts. An examination of 651 press articles leads to the conclusion that 'Living History' changed its initial political focus of explicitly combating racism and anti-Semitism to eventually become a forum for universal democratic values, while at the same time focussing on apologetic views on communism. This development corresponds to the changing hegemonic discourse on 'Living History', from stressing the uniqueness of the Holocaust to a view strongly influenced by totalitarianism theory.
Centered on the trajectory of the emancipation of Roma people in Scandinavia, Romani Liberation is a powerful challenge to the stereotype describing Romani as passive and incapable of responsibility ...and agency. The author also criticizes benevolent but paternalistic attitudes that center on Romani victimhood. The first part of the book offers a comprehensive overview of the chronological phases of Romani emancipation in Sweden and other countries. Underscoring the significance of Roma activism in this process, Jan Selling profiles sixty Romani activists and protagonists, including numerous original photos. The narrative is followed by an analysis of the concepts of historical justice and of the process of decolonizing Romani Studies. Selling highlights the impact of the historical contexts that have enabled or impeded the success of the struggles against discrimination and for equal rights, emphasizing Romani activism as a precondition for liberation. The particular Swedish framework is accentuated by a stimulating preface by the international activist Nicoleta Bitu, and afterwords by two prominent Romani advocates, the politician Soraya Post and the singer, author, and elder Hans Caldaras.
In the previous chapters I have already provided many examples from the Swedish history and also given insight in Swedish Romani studies historiography. Thereby, I have indicated that the Swedish ...experience cannot be understood as an isolate. In this section, I deepen the understanding of how this development in the European periphery may give a different perspective on the overall development and what reciprocal lessons can be learned.
The history of the emancipation of the Romani people in Sweden during the twentieth century must be understood in the context of the post-war social-democratic welfare state project, Sweden’s entry into the
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