Gypsy Explained
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Dictionary of Gypsy Life and Lore
This comprehensive reference volume offers in-depth information on one of the world’s most fascinating and misunderstood cultures. Throughout history, Gypsies all over the world have been maligned and rejected. Outcasts of the countries in which they live, these nomads have wandered for years over the face of the earth. They have no homeland, no political unity, no recognition among nations. In popular folklore, they are vagrants, thieves, tinkerers, and con artists, which is to say, egregiously misunderstood. Until about a century ago, these travelers’ original home had been a matter of dispute. Their language had been a source of puzzlement. Yet their conduct and their traditions, their feeling for music, dance and song, have all been acclaimed. Harry Wedeck’s Dictionary of Gypsy Life and Lore sheds much-needed light on the true history and culture of the Gypsies, separating fact from fiction while celebrating their folktales, rites, and customs.
Gypsy Law
Author: Walter O. Weyrauch
language: en
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Release Date: 2001-09-12
Approximately one thousand years ago Gypsies, or Roma, left their native India. Today Gypsies can be found in countries throughout the world, their distinct culture still intact in spite of the intense persecution they have endured. This authoritative collection brings together leading Gypsy and non-Gypsy scholars to examine the Romani legal system, an autonomous body of law based on an oral tradition and existing alongside dominant national legal networks. For centuries the Roma have survived by using defensive strategies, especially the absolute exclusion of gadje (non-Gypsies) from their private lives, their values, and information about Romani language and social institutions. Sexuality, gender, and the body are fundamental to Gypsy law, with rules that govern being pure (vujo) or impure (marime). Women play an important role in maintaining legal customs, having the power to sanction and to contaminate, but they are not directly involved in legal proceedings. These essays offer a comparative perspective on Romani legal procedures and identity, including topics such as the United States' criminalization of many aspects of Gypsy law, parallels between Jewish and Gypsy law, and legal distinctions between Romani communities. The contributors raise broad theoretical questions that transcend the specific Gypsy context and offer important insights into understanding oral legal traditions. Together they suggest a theoretical framework for explaining the coexistence of formal and informal law within a single legal system. They also highlight the ethical dilemmas encountered in comparative law research and definitions of "human rights."
Gypsy Politics and Social Change
This book, first published in 1974, analyses the position of the Gypsies in Britain in the twentieth century, and assesses its significance in their overall history. Two dramatic shifts in Government policy towards the Gypsies are examined – in the 1880s and the 1960s – as are the changes in the stereotype of the ‘true Gypsy’. Dr Acton traces the developments of attitudes and economic conditions that gave rise to the 1970s increase in interest in Gypsies, and discusses the concomitant political and pressure group activity. He gives an account of the historical background to modern Gypsy politics; describes the postwar situation of the Gypsies in England and Wales, including pro-Gypsy pressure group activity up to 1965, and goes on to cover the campaigns of the Gypsy Council, including a sociological assessment of its work. He considers these aspects of Gypsy life in the light of modern sociological theory on minorities and race relations.