Anthropological approaches to the study of Roma - YBLS001

• Anglický název: Anthropological approaches to the study of Roma
• Zajišťuje: Program Liberal Arts and Humanities (24-SHVAJ)
• Fakulta: Fakulta humanitních studií
• Platnost: od 2025
• Semestr: letní
• E-Kredity: 4
• Způsob provedení zkoušky: letní s.:
• Rozsah, examinace: letní s.:2/0, Zk [HT]
• Počet míst: neomezen / neurčen (20)
• Minimální obsazenost: 5
• 4EU+: ne
• Virtuální mobilita / počet míst pro virtuální mobilitu: ne
• Stav předmětu: vyučován
• Jazyk výuky: angličtina
• Způsob výuky: prezenční
• Poznámka: předmět je možno zapsat mimo plán; povolen pro zápis po webu
• Garant: Mgr. Yasar Abu Ghosh, Ph.D.
• Vyučující: Mgr. Yasar Abu Ghosh, Ph.D.
• Třída: Courses available to incoming students

Anotace

čeština

Bouřlivý osud evropských Romů a Sintů ve 20. století ohrozil jejich kulturu i samotnou existenci jako skupiny. Přestože byli vystaveni intenzivní asimilační politice a pronásledování, opakovaně se v jednotlivých evropských společnostech vynořují s pozoruhodnou revitalizační silou. Kdo jsou tedy Romové a Sinti a co z jejich pohledu znamená být Romem/Sintem? V tomto kurzu se seznámíme s historickými a sociálními adaptacemi různých romských skupin především v Evropě, ale i v jiných regionech světa. Poté se zaměříme na středoevropské Romy jako na region, který se stal laboratoří politik zabývajících se údajně znepokojivým přizpůsobením se Romů modernitě. Kurz bude čerpat z nejnovějších výzkumů témat, jako je rasově podmíněná modernita, budování paměti, politické arény a subjektivity, práce a třída, centrum a periferie, gender, strukturální a politické násilí atd. Tento kurz bude zpochybňovat monokauzální vysvětlení a bude studující podněcovat k tomu, aby o romské zkušenosti a jejím prostřednictvím přemýšleli kritickým způsobem, který zohledňuje společnosti, v nichž žijí. Na základě rozmanitého výběru empirického materiálu, od etnografických, historických a sociologických případových studií až po film a umění, kurz představí Romy „jako dobré k přemýšlení“ o současných společnostech.

Poslední úprava: Abu Ghosh Yasar, Mgr., Ph.D. (17.02.2025)

angličtina

The tumultuous fate of European Roma and Sinti during the 20th century has seen their culture and very existence as a people challenged. Despite being subjected to intense assimilation policies and persecution, they regularly re-emerge with remarkable revitalizing power. Who are then the Roma and Sint and what does it mean to be Roma/Sinti from their point of view? In this course, we will learn about the historical and social adaptations of various Roma groups mainly in Europe but also in other regions around the world. Then we will focus on Central Europe as a region that has become the laboratory of policies addressing the allegedly troubling fit of the Roma/Sinti to modernity. The course will draw on the latest research on topics such as racialized modernity, memory building, political arenas and subjectivities, labor and class, center and periphery, gender, structural and political violence etc. This course will challenge mono-causal explanations and will stimulate students to think about and through Roma and Sinai experience in a critical way that brings into consideration the societies they live in. Building on a diverse selection of empirical material, ranging from ethnographic, historical, and sociological case studies to film and art, the course will present the Roma/Sinti “as good to think with” about contemporary societies.

Poslední úprava: Abu Ghosh Yasar, Mgr., Ph.D. (17.02.2025)

Cíl předmětu

• Examine the historical underpinnings of social marginalization in CEE.
• Develop a substantive knowledge of the history and anthropology of European Roma.
• Apply theoretical approaches to contemporary Roma issues in Europe.

Poslední úprava: Abu Ghosh Yasar, Mgr., Ph.D. (25.02.2025)

Podmínky zakončení předmětu

Grading of Assignments 

The grade for this course will be determined according to the following formula:

Assignments/Activities	% of Final Grade
Class Journal à 15%	45%
Reading presentation	30%
Class participation	25%

 

Poslední úprava: Abu Ghosh Yasar, Mgr., Ph.D. (25.02.2025)

Metody výuky

Study packages as well as update course information are available in the course MS Teams interface: Obecné | Spring26_Anthropological approaches to the study of Roma | Microsoft Teams

Poslední úprava: Abu Ghosh Yasar, Mgr., Ph.D. (24.02.2026)

Požadavky ke zkoušce

Assignment 1 – Class Journal 

A learning journal is a record of the learning process that you are doing for the course, of the doubts, questions and insights that have arisen for you as you have participated in the classes and done your own reading. Its purpose is to enhance your learning through the very process of writing and thinking about your learning experiences. The aim is for you to reflect on what you are learning and how you are learning it. Questions and doubts are as important here as asserting what you know. Throughout the semestre you will be required to submit three Class Journals, two before mid-term (main component of your mid-term assessment), one towards the end of the semestre (for the dates see Sylabus). Consult the separate document for details on how to write a CJ.

 

Assignment 2 – Reading Presentation

The syllabus contains references to other texts used in the lectures. These are not mandatory but highly suggested to those interested in each topic. Feel free to get creative about your presentations; however, you should at least present the readings’ main points (10 minutes), provide discussion questions for the class (2 questions), and organize and run the discussion (10min). You can choose the dates of your presentation in a spreadsheet that will be shared online. You should also upload your presentations in the assigned folder. There are two readings assigned to each seminar session, therefore two presentation will take place every week. 

Poslední úprava: Abu Ghosh Yasar, Mgr., Ph.D. (25.02.2025)

Sylabus

The first session will take place during the second week of the Spring semester. 

Week 2

3.3.

Class overview, schedule of presentations, requirements and topics

Naming the Roma/Gypsies – from nomenclature to politics of naming

Michael Stewart, Roma People, International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.12082-3, (748-753), (2015).

Week 3

10.3

Epistemologies

Stewart, M. 2013. Roma and Gypsy Ethnicity as a Subject of Anthropological Inquiry. Annual Review of Anthropology: 415-432.

Stefania Pontrandolfo and Marco Solimene. Flexible Epistemologies: Gypsy/Roma Thinking and Anthropology Theory NOMADIC PEOPLES 24 (2020): 228–240 doi: 10.3197/np.2020.240204

 

Week 4

17.3.

Politics of Identity

Roman, R. B. (2018). “Neither here, nor there”: Belonging, ambiguity, and the struggle for recognition among “in-between” Finnish Kaale. Romani Studies, 28(2), 239-262.

Martin Fotta, Non-sedentarism, Violence and Politics of Assertive Egalitarianism among Calon Gypsies of Bahia, Brazil, Ethnos 84, 5, (806-827), (2018).

 

Week 5

Ethnography and Writing

24.3.

Iliana Sarafian. 2024. Roma Ethnographies of Grief in the COVID- 19 Pandemic. In Ethnographic Methods In Gypsy, Roma And Traveller Research: Lessons from a Time of Crisis. Martin Fotta and Paloma Gay y Blasco (eds). Bristol University Press.

Gay y Blasco, Paloma, Liria Hernández, Paloma Gay y Blasco, and Liria Hernández. "Writing friendship." Writing Friendship: A Reciprocal Ethnography (2020): 81-108.

 

Week 6

31.3.

Social escapes, social margins

Gmelch, S. B. 1986. Groups that don’t want: Gypsies and other artisan, trader, and entertainer minorities. Annual Review of Anthropology 15: 307-330.

Williams, P. 1982. The Invisibility Of The Kalderash Of Paris. Urban Anthropology 11 (3/4): 315-346.

7.4. Reading week (no classes)

Week 7

14.4

Local histories of Czech and Slovak Roma

Ort, J. 2022. Belonging, mobility, and the socialist policies in Kapišová, Slovakia. Romani studies 32 (1): 23–50.

Sadílková H. 2020. The Postwar Migration of Romani Families from Slovakia to the Bohemian Lands. A Complex Legacy of War and Genocide in Czechoslovakia. In Čapková K., Adler E. Jewish and Romani Families in the Holocaust and its Aftermath. New Brunswick, Rutgers University Press, p. 190-217.

 

Week 8

21.4.

Gendered Perspectives

Tauber, E. 2008. Do you remember the time we went begging and selling?... In Romani/Gypsy Cultures in New Perspectives. J. Ries, J. Fabian eds.

Paloma Gay Y Blasco. 2011. Agata's story: singular lives and the reach of the ‘Gitano law’. JRAI 17(3): 445-461.

 

Week 9

28.4.

Labor Entanglements

Elana Resnick, The Intimacy of Labor, Public Culture 35, 2, (233-254), (2023).

Grill, J. 2018. Re-learning to labour? ‘Activation Works’ and new politics of social assistance in the case of Slovak Roma. JRAI 24 (1): 105-119.

 

Week 10

5.5.

Mobilities

Jan Grill. 2012. ‘Going up to England’: Exploring Mobilities among Roma from Eastern Slovakia, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 38(8): 1-19.

Raluca Bianca Roman. 2018. Roma Mobility, Beyond Migration: Religious Humanitarianism and Transnational Roma Missionary Work as De-Constructions of Migration. Intersections. East European Journal Of Society And Politics, 4(2): 37-56.

 

Week 11

12.5. 

Racialization as a structure

Černušáková, B. 2020. Stigma and segregation: containing the Roma of Údol, Czech Republic. Race & Class 62:1, 46-59. 

Fejzula, Sebijan. “The Anti-Roma Europe: Modern Ways of Disciplining the Roma Body in Urban Spaces.” Revista Direito e Práxis, vol. 10, no. 3, 2019, pp. 2097–116, https://doi.org/10.1590/2179-8966/2019/43882.

 

Week 12

19.5.

Violence and Memory 

Reading TBC

 

Poslední úprava: Abu Ghosh Yasar, Mgr., Ph.D. (01.03.2026)