Introduction The history of people labelled as Gypsies, tsiganes, cigan, kipti, bohémiens or Zige... more Introduction The history of people labelled as Gypsies, tsiganes, cigan, kipti, bohémiens or Zigeuner (hence: Gypsies) has not attracted much serious attention. Moreover, those who have devoted their research time and energy, have predominantly focussed on the antagonistic nature of the relationship between Gypsies and non Gypsies (or Gadze). This has produced a historiography, in which Gypsies are portrayed as victims of racism or as criminals who more or less caused the repression themselves by their anti-social behaviour. As a result we know a lot about the Gypsy hunts in 17th and 18th century Western Europe, the genocide in the 20th century, or the enslavement of Gypsies in the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia until the 1860s, but surprisingly little about the day to day interaction with the rest of society. This dominating approach is not only top down, it also fails to differentiate according to time and place so that the impression is conveyed that the ‘fate’ of the G...
This article is about the increasingly uncomfortable socio-economic position of the Eurasian comm... more This article is about the increasingly uncomfortable socio-economic position of the Eurasian community in independent Indonesia. Due to the deteriorating political relations between newly independent Indonesia and the Dutch over New Guinea and other decolonisation issues since 1949, the Eurasians living become the scapegoat of the political tentions between both countries. They are torn between two worlds and whatever nationality they have (Dutch or Indonesian), they become more and more an outcast group in what they consider their motherland. Unemployed and discriminated they impoverish. They feel trapped because the Dutch government refuses to help them in coming over to the Netherlands. When the relations Dutch-Indonesian relations reach a low in 1957 the Indonesian government expels all Dutchmen. The Dutch government has no choice but to allow almost all Eurasian, regardless their nationality, to come over.
... For thus enabling an international audience to become familiar with the ideas developed coope... more ... For thus enabling an international audience to become familiar with the ideas developed cooperatively in our ... exhaustive, but it can claim to be representative.35 lt comprises 54 Dutch,40 English (and ... 12 ln Search of the True Gypsy Mention of the top ten will suffice here, with ...
For a long time we have wondered why the findings of research into Gypsy groups have so rarely be... more For a long time we have wondered why the findings of research into Gypsy groups have so rarely been the subject of scholarly debate in the field of historical studies on migration, settlement and ethnicity. Why do new insights on Gypsies and other itinerant groups so seldom reach the academic curriculum or become part of public understanding? There seems to be a communis opinio about who they are and where they come from, while at the same time little substantial knowledge about their past exists as such. It is even possible to put forward the proposition that the traditionally negative view of Gypsies may drag on without end because of the splendid isolation in which Gypsy studies have come to be placed. Another factor is that by focusing exclusively on the group level instead of on interactions with the surrounding society and on comparisons with other groups in the same socio-economic position, our historical knowledge of the functioning of Gypsies has remained one-sided.
In order to grasp the West European image of Gypsies during the last two hundred and fifty years,... more In order to grasp the West European image of Gypsies during the last two hundred and fifty years, we have oral, iconographic and written sources at our disposal: surveys, sculpture, literature, magazines and newspapers which can tell us much about the norms, values and impressions of a society. These sources contain a wealth of information about people’s ideas, their behaviour towards others and their internal relations. In this chapter we focus on one written source in particular: encyclopaedias.2 We assume that they contain summaries of current information, and that they are written in more or less the same way. Because encyclopaedic information has always been seen as authoritative, we can use it to trace the prevailing opinions through time. The assumption is that encyclopaedias have played an important role in spreading a certain view of Gypsies, particularly among the upper classes. The fact that the people who decided on the policies concerning them came from those ranks justifies the choice of encyclopaedias as a main source.
Introduction The history of people labelled as Gypsies, tsiganes, cigan, kipti, bohémiens or Zige... more Introduction The history of people labelled as Gypsies, tsiganes, cigan, kipti, bohémiens or Zigeuner (hence: Gypsies) has not attracted much serious attention. Moreover, those who have devoted their research time and energy, have predominantly focussed on the antagonistic nature of the relationship between Gypsies and non Gypsies (or Gadze). This has produced a historiography, in which Gypsies are portrayed as victims of racism or as criminals who more or less caused the repression themselves by their anti-social behaviour. As a result we know a lot about the Gypsy hunts in 17th and 18th century Western Europe, the genocide in the 20th century, or the enslavement of Gypsies in the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia until the 1860s, but surprisingly little about the day to day interaction with the rest of society. This dominating approach is not only top down, it also fails to differentiate according to time and place so that the impression is conveyed that the ‘fate’ of the G...
This article is about the increasingly uncomfortable socio-economic position of the Eurasian comm... more This article is about the increasingly uncomfortable socio-economic position of the Eurasian community in independent Indonesia. Due to the deteriorating political relations between newly independent Indonesia and the Dutch over New Guinea and other decolonisation issues since 1949, the Eurasians living become the scapegoat of the political tentions between both countries. They are torn between two worlds and whatever nationality they have (Dutch or Indonesian), they become more and more an outcast group in what they consider their motherland. Unemployed and discriminated they impoverish. They feel trapped because the Dutch government refuses to help them in coming over to the Netherlands. When the relations Dutch-Indonesian relations reach a low in 1957 the Indonesian government expels all Dutchmen. The Dutch government has no choice but to allow almost all Eurasian, regardless their nationality, to come over.
... For thus enabling an international audience to become familiar with the ideas developed coope... more ... For thus enabling an international audience to become familiar with the ideas developed cooperatively in our ... exhaustive, but it can claim to be representative.35 lt comprises 54 Dutch,40 English (and ... 12 ln Search of the True Gypsy Mention of the top ten will suffice here, with ...
For a long time we have wondered why the findings of research into Gypsy groups have so rarely be... more For a long time we have wondered why the findings of research into Gypsy groups have so rarely been the subject of scholarly debate in the field of historical studies on migration, settlement and ethnicity. Why do new insights on Gypsies and other itinerant groups so seldom reach the academic curriculum or become part of public understanding? There seems to be a communis opinio about who they are and where they come from, while at the same time little substantial knowledge about their past exists as such. It is even possible to put forward the proposition that the traditionally negative view of Gypsies may drag on without end because of the splendid isolation in which Gypsy studies have come to be placed. Another factor is that by focusing exclusively on the group level instead of on interactions with the surrounding society and on comparisons with other groups in the same socio-economic position, our historical knowledge of the functioning of Gypsies has remained one-sided.
In order to grasp the West European image of Gypsies during the last two hundred and fifty years,... more In order to grasp the West European image of Gypsies during the last two hundred and fifty years, we have oral, iconographic and written sources at our disposal: surveys, sculpture, literature, magazines and newspapers which can tell us much about the norms, values and impressions of a society. These sources contain a wealth of information about people’s ideas, their behaviour towards others and their internal relations. In this chapter we focus on one written source in particular: encyclopaedias.2 We assume that they contain summaries of current information, and that they are written in more or less the same way. Because encyclopaedic information has always been seen as authoritative, we can use it to trace the prevailing opinions through time. The assumption is that encyclopaedias have played an important role in spreading a certain view of Gypsies, particularly among the upper classes. The fact that the people who decided on the policies concerning them came from those ranks justifies the choice of encyclopaedias as a main source.
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