Inaugural Conference in Romani Studies, Berkeley, November 10

Fri Nov 4 15:16:45 UTC 2011

(Forwarding for the organizer)

PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY AND JOIN US

Inaugural Conference in Romani Studies

November 10th, 2011

370 Dwinelle

9:00 am to 5:30 pm

For more information and images, please see our website: 
http://berkeleyromanistudies.tumblr.com

The conference will gather established and emerging scholars engaging 
new methodological approaches within the field of Romani Studies, a 
burgeoning and interdisciplinary field that explores the history, 
culture and politics of Romanies (Gypsies) in global contexts. By 
examining and exploring the various strategies by which Romanies have 
represented themselves and others - both in dialogue with and apart from 
the larger societies in which they live - the Inaugural Conference in 
Romani Studies seeks to stimulate research in this rapidly-growing field.

Conference Schedule

Words of Welcome - 9:00 am

Jeff Pennington, Co-director, European Union Center of Excellence; and 
Executive Director, Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies

Education – 9:15-10:15 am

“We Have a Lot of Papers, Really Nice Papers:” Educational Policies, 
Laws, their Implementation, and Equal Opportunity for Romanies in 
Slovakia > Julia M. White, University of Rochester

The Educational Attainment and Employment of young Roma in Bulgaria, 
Hungary and Romania: Increasing Gaps and Policy Challenges > Jaromir 
Cekota and Claudia Trentini, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

Report on Romani Education Today: From Slavery to Segregation and Beyond 
 > Jack Greenberg, Columbia University

Text, Image and Object – 10:25-11:35 am

The Role of Nineteenth Century British Women’s Novels in Constructing 
Contemporary Views of Romani Society > Helane Levine-Keating, Pace 
University

Are We Gitanos?: The Identity of the Early Modern Spanish Roma in Lope 
de Vega’s El Arenal de Sevilla (1603) > Antonio M. Rueda, Tulane University

Becoming European in the New Europe: “Gypsy Palaces” – Building the 
Spaces of an Ethnic Modernity > Elena Tomlinson, University of 
California, Berkeley

Break

Historical Perspectives 12:45-1:45 pm

Assimilation, Invisibility and the Eugenic Turn in Romania’s Gypsy 
Question, 1938-1942 > M. Benjamin Thorne, Indiana University

“Am I a Gypsy or Not a Gypsy?” A.V. Germano, Nationality, and the 
Performance of Soviet Selfhood > Brigid O’Keeffe, Brooklyn College, CUNY

Testimony in the Age of Digital Reproduction: The Limits and 
Possibilities of a Romani-Shoah Visual Archive > Ethel Brooks, Rutgers 
University

Romani Music 1:55 – 2:55 pm

Western European DJs and the “Fantasy Gypsy”: Club Culture and the 
Globalization of Balkan Romani Music > Carol Silverman, University of Oregon

Musical Orientalism and Romani Musicians in Bulgarian Popular Music > 
Traci Lindsey, University of California, Berkeley

Cultural Exclusion in Italy: Roma Refugee's Music as an Unrecognized

Resource/ Source of Intercultural Tensions > Laura Fantone.  University 
of California, Berkeley

Anti-Gypsyism -  3:05-4:05 pm

The Uses of Redress: Coerced/Forced Sterilization of Romani Woman in the 
Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia > Gwendolyn Albert, Independent 
Consultant, Council of Europe’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner, 
The European Roma Rights Centre and the Open Society Institute Public 
Health Program

Perceptions of Race Relations among Eastern European Immigrant 
Communities: A Case Study of anti-Roma (Gypsy) Prejudice in Pittsburgh, 
PA > Dana Stiles, University of Pittsburgh

Gadjology: a Brief Introduction > Petra Gelbart, New York University

Break

Keynote Lecture – 4:20 – 5:30

Romani Origins and Identity: New Directions

Ian Hancock > Director, The Romani Archives and Documentation Center, 
University of Texas-Austin, State Commissioner, Texas Holocaust and 
Genocide Commission

Film Screening - 7:30

Shutka Book of Records (Czech, 2005) dir. Alexander Manic

Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way (btw. Telegraph Ave. and College 
Ave.)

Introduction: Silencing Images: the Controversy over Shutka Book of 
Records > Sandra Ristovska, University of Pennsylvania

In addition to the day of lectures, the Conference will hold one 
informal, interdisciplinary roundtable on Friday, November 11th.  . 
Topics that will be discussed include but are not limited to 
intercultural dialogue, Romani Linguistics, Romanies in the Czech 
Republic, and Romani Music. The roundtable takes place from noon to 2 in 
the Ida Sproul Room at the International House, 2299 Piedmont St (at 
Bancroft.) Also on Friday, November 11th, The Berkeley music venue 
Ashkenaz will host a Romani Dance Celebration featuring Balkan band 
Edessa, with a Carol Silverman, Stefka Kamburova, Jessaiah Rose Zure, 
Sani Rifati as special guests. Doors will open at 7:30 pm; Dance lessons 
at 8; The show begins at 9.

The University of California, Berkeley is pleased to host the 2011 
Inaugural Conference in Romani Studies. The conference gathers 
established and emerging scholars engaging new methodological approaches 
within the field of Romani Studies, a burgeoning and interdisciplinary 
field that explores the history, culture and politics of Romanies 
(Gypsies) in global contexts. By examining and exploring the various 
strategies by which Romanies have represented themselves and others – 
both in dialogue with and apart from the larger societies in which they 
live – the Inaugural Conference in Romani Studies seeks to stimulate 
research in this rapidly-growing field.

Thank to our supporters: The UCB Institute of Slavic, East European, and 
Eurasian Studies, Institute of European Studies, Division of Social 
Sciences, Division of Arts and Humanities, The European Union Center of 
Excellence, The Division of Equity and Inclusion, The Department of 
Anthropology,  The Dept of Music, The Judaica Collection. The Department 
of East Asian Languages and Literatures, The Jewish Studies Program and 
I-House.

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