Vol.2, No 6/2 1999 pp. 305 - 309
NEW BOOKS REVIEW
BUCHBESPRECHUNGEN
ROMAS IN SERBIA
The Romas have been living on the territory of former and
present Yugoslavia for centuries. There has been and still is a certain
number of them living in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and
Montenegro; however, they are most vastly settled in Macedonia and Serbia.Thus,
regarding the present Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Republic of Serbia
and Republic of Montenegro), the largest number of them are in Serbia and
this makes them the second largest ethnic minority, with the Albanians
as the first one. Due to their propensity for ethnic mimicry, they mostly
declares themselves as the Serbs in the Public Census, namely, the official
statistics states that there are slightly more than 100,000 of them, while
the estimates of the leading demographers show that their number is exceeding
500,000. This is an important minority entity that has not been given sufficient
attention so far, unlike, for instance, the Hungarian and Muslim population
in Serbia.
Still, it does not imply that the Serbian Romas have
not been studied at all. There has been considerable literature about the
Romas at our disposal ever since the times of Vuk Karadžić and the birth
of the modern Serbian state in the second half of the nineteenth century;
besides, there are rich sources left by Tihomir Đorđević in the first decades
of the twentieth century followed by synthetic studies of Tatomir Vukanović
in the second half of the twentieth century. (We are stressing the most
recent, worthwhile, undertaking in this tradition, namely, the book entitled
My Gypsy - Romas in Vojvodina, KID "Pčesa", Novi Sad, 1997). This literature
has primarily relied on the ethnographic approach, though it has very often
been concentrated on mere - though exceptionally useful - description of
the Romani life and customs. Therefore, it represents the very basis as
well as an indispensable guidance for modern scientists exploring the Romani
issue, namely, of those who are obliged to advance the given research from
the standpoint of other disciplines. Considering their studies, sociology
takes a prominent place among the sciences dealing with the issues such
as law, political, culturological and linguistic ones. The time has come
to make a shift from an exclusively historical and ethnological treatment
of the Romas to viewing their actual position in the Serbian society. Thus,
the scientists exploring the Romani issue should make the present state
of the Romas the very focus of their studies; they should also question
their present legal and political status as well as their social-economic
and cultural position; all this should aim to make the Romas the citizens
with the same rights as others, able to lead a dignified kind of life as
expected at the end of the second millennium.
The book we will present in short - Romas in Serbia -
represents a result of modern Serbian romology, contribution made by prominent
sociologists (Aleksandra Mitrović and Gradimir Zajić) and law experts (Vladimir
Đerić and Vesna Rakić-Vodinelić) who are well acquainted with the so-called
Romani issue. The book consists of three separate studies, namely, the
first one, entitled Social Position of the Roma in Serbia, prepared by
the co-authors, A. Mitrović and G. Zajić, the second one entitled Protection
of the Romani Rights at the International Level is prepared by V. Đerić
and the third is written by V. Rakić-Vodinelić, Legal Status of the Romas
in the FR of Yugoslavia. Aware of the fact that the proper constitutional-legal
regulation is very important for overall existence and realization of the
ethnic group rights in every multi-ethnic and multi-religious community,
we shall review only the text prepared by Mitrović and Zajić, for many
reasons, including the fact that it deals with a sociologically intriguing
view of the Serbian Romas.
Let's say at the very beginning that, though the study,
on the whole, has a high scientific and stylistic level, still, in some
of its parts it reveals some weaknesses. While taking almost the half of
the whole book (64 pages out of 128), it sometimes turns into a mere description
or a repetition of what has already been said many times in addition to
paraphrasing other people's opinions without quoting the sources. (It is
obviously a technical error, but it is surprising that the publisher has
released the book into print without a list of references; thus, the incomplete
publication has done damage to its authors). Another thing that will immediately
strike the eye of a more careful reader - and which is often the case with
the studies written by co-authors - is the fact that chapters and sections
are not uniform in quality and style. Here we are to face a slight paradox,
namely, the first part of the study, in which better known things about
the Romas are presented and which the author has written about many times
before - is expressed in a clear and refined sociological jargon, while
the second part - more innovative and original in its ideas and suggestions
- is written with numerous repetitions and stock phrases and thus it appears
confused and without any sense for a vigorous sociological sentence. The
impression that the study about the Social Position of the Romas in Serbia
leaves is that, for some reason, it was prepared in a hurry.
Otherwise, the co-author of the study, Aleksandra Mitrović,
ph. d. from the Institute for Criminological and Sociological Research
(Belgrade), who also worked in the Institute for Social Politics for many
years, has, among the sociologists, the reputation of being the greatest
expert and connoisseur of the Romas; we should also add that she is at
present our leading romologist. As a connoisseur of the language and foreign
sources, she has had a chance to get acquainted, at many study visits abroad,
with Western experience, in addition to being familiar with a critical
attitude to the domestic Romani heritage; open for new ideas and ready
to collaborate with younger associates, Miss Mitrović is a paradigm of
the sociologists who finds the office work too confined and therefore,
tends to check up her analyses in practice, "on the site" thus giving concrete
help to people. To illustrate, it is enough to mention two instances of
her active engagement, namely, for the last twenty years she has been successfully
leading a specific experimental project of transforming the way of life
in a wretched Romani settlement - Masurica near Surdulica - and this work
has made her famous even outside our borders; at the same time, she is
the founder of the Society for Betterment of the Romani Settlements, a
very active non-government organization. As a specialist in the sociology
of economics and profession of the Romani population, Gradimir Zajić is
her romologist companion with no less contribution made in both the above-mentioned
projects.
"Ethnogenesis, demographic and cultural characteristics,
professions and ways of providing means of subsistence, material position
of the household, marriage and family relations, conditions and possibilities
for education, status and way of life, residence and ghettoization, social
reputation and prejudice toward the Romas, political organizations and
Romani self-organization" (p. 123) are the key themes dealt with by our
authors; thus, the study consists of the following chapters: "Ethnogenesis
of the Romas," "Demographic Characteristics," "Cultural Traits," "Socio-economic
Position" ("Professions and Ways of Providing for Means of Subsistence,"
"Material Position of the Romani Households," "Education"), "Socio-political
Engagement" ("Political Organizations," "Self-organization of the Romas"),
"Status and Way of Life" ("Social Reputation - Prejudice Toward the Romas"),
"Residence and Ghettoization," "Marriage and Family Relations" ("Ethnic
Characteristics of the Romani Families," "Contemporary Romani Family")
and "Concluding Remarks." What are the basic results and conclusions reached
in every chapter?
The Romas, coming from their ancestral country, India,
due to their intense migrations, crossed Asia and rushed into Europe; they
reached the Balkans together with the Turkish invasion, "while the fact
that the Turks remained in the Balkans for five centuries explains the
reason why the Romas remained in this region for the longest period of
time and in the greatest number" (p. 10). In Serbia there are the following
groups living: Turkish, White, Romanian and Hungarian Romas, mostly of
Orthodox and Islam confessions. According to the Public Census (1991) there
are 138.645 Romas living here; most of them live in the central Serbia,
but their greatest concentration is at Kosovo where they make up 2,2% of
the overall population. The demographers claim that there are more than
500,000, that they are a young population with a high nativity and mortality
rate and that their share in the Serbian state population will increase.
The Romas possess their own specific cultural traits
based on the patterns adopted as early as while living in their old homeland;
still, the truth is that the history of every Romani community represents
part of the environment in which it has found itself, namely: "In their
peculiar cultural interaction, the Romas have almost always accepted more
than they have given elements of their culture while, however, retaining
their peculiarities that kept them compact in the greatest number of the
countries in which they live." (p. 23). Their spiritual culture is based
on language, music, religion and myths. Preserving their own language that
is being standardized just now, they have endured as an ethnos. Music is
an "important Gypsy ethnic sign" (T. Đorđević); they are more performers
than creators, but "the fact is that music is cherished among the Romas,
that the music practice, that is, the instrument-playing skill is transmitted
from one generation to another and that this skill has become one of the
significant recognizable signs of the Romani ethnicity." (p. 25). Without
their own religion, they seldom fail, in Serbia, to mix Islam and Orthodox
Christianity with pagan elements. Their lore and stories are rich, while
their customs are adopted to local environment. The most important holidays
celebrated by most of the Romas are the New Year (Vasuljica) and Saint
Đurđe's Day (Đurđevdan).
Regarding Serbia, the Romas have an alarmingly low socio-economic
position, lagging far behind that of the majority population and the other
ethnic groups. They are not economically active and are mainly unemployed.
Their unfavorable age structure (the most numerous Romas are up to the
age of 15), their educational structure (with no education or possibly
four grades of the elementary school) and their professional structure
(with no qualification, mostly sheer physical work force), along with prominent
barriers in employment (except for the jobs in the city dumps and alike),
all crucially contribute to the fact that the supported persons prevail
among the Romas, while the poverty culture seems to be their doom. The
gray economy in the Serbian society, as a consequence of the war on the
former Yugoslav territory, is a widely spread form of the so-called survival
strategy and it is abundantly and successfully applied by the Romas. A
small number of them concentrate a large profit, while the majority of
the Romas "make meager income that are not, of course, to be disregarded
in the ongoing struggle for survival" (p. 37).
Education is an influential channel of social promotion
and mobility; however, the Romas apparently do not use it at all: "The
Romas are, namely, an ethnic group with the greatest number of illiterate
people (34,8% - according to the data from 1981), as well as with the greatest
number of those who have failed to complete elementary schooling with respect
to the overall Serbian population (78,7%). It should also be stressed that
in 1981 only 0,4% (or 181) of the Romas have high or University education.
It seems probable that the situation has not changed in the last fifteen
years" (p. 43). This brings us to another issue: how do we expect them
to continue their schooling when they are deprived of the possibility for
bilingual education from pre-school to University age? Despite some noble
efforts made to include as many Romany children and youth in formal and
informal educational developments, it is clear that in Serbia there will
be no far reaching effects unless a comprehensive system of the Romani
education and upbringing is founded, namely, the system that would comprise
their education and upbringing in the regular school system, additional
forms of education and upbringing for their children as well as a specific
system of education and upbringing for the Romas. Without pre-school and
elementary education along with the learning of the Romani language, we
will be witnessing enormous exclusion of the Romani children from the educational
system. This will be devastating for the integration of the Romas and the
society on the whole: "Even simple calculation about the possible duration
of the consequences springing from the children exclusion from the regular
schooling shows that in the next period there will be generations that
will continue to 'breed' illiterate and thus socially handicapped people
unable to integrate into modern trends of the social developments" (p.46).
Regarding the political scenes the Romas behave much
in the same way as the Serbs, that is, in accordance with the slogan often
quoted in relation to the majority people: "Wherever there are three Serbs,
three political parties immediately spring up." They are almost without
any political influence, though, regarding their number and the minority
rights, they would otherwise be a powerful political factor. (In the present
National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia the Romas have only one member,
namely, a socialist from Kosovo). Inclined to support the ruling party,
ready to put their faith into "leaders" - "political ragamuffins" from
their own groups - and always divided regarding their religious and territorial
groupings, they managed only last year to form their first genuine political
party. A somewhat better situation is to be found regarding their self-organization
into various cultural and artistic societies which also include an association
at the state level, namely the Alliance of the Roma Societies. There are
also some quite new forms of self-organization: "Thus, for instance, an
organization was founded in Kragujevac, aided by sponsors and donators,
which has managed to open up a soup kitchen and a kindergarten. On a more
complex level, some initiatives are launched in the domain of culture and
publishing. A children paper is issued as well as books in the Romani languages"
(p. 49).
All this, along with the well-known stereotypes about
the Romas, has justified A. Mitrović and G. Zajić's insistence that there
are certain mechanism of discrimination of this ethnic group in Serbia;
they are obvious in residential (spatial) segregation manifested in ghetto
settlements known to us all, in economic segregation (unemployment or employment
at the underpaid, infamous or stigmatized jobs), educational segregation
(illiteracy and lack of bilingualism) and political segregation (extreme
group weakness).
At the end of our review of this small but exceptionally
useful sociological study we can conclude, together with the authors, "that
in a multi-national social structure, the formation of permanent ethnic
stratification with a distinctive sub-proletarian group composed of ethnic
minorities will take place if the structural integration (or 'structural
assimilation') is not open to all or at least to some minority groups even
in the future perspective, or, rather, if there is no channel of social
mobility or promotion through which the competitive ability of the group
can be strengthened" (p. 64). The Romas, together with Serbia, unfortunately,
well confirm this general theoretical thesis.
Dragoljub B. Đorđević
