Roma communities today Historical background, culture and

current issues

-Week 12 Class 1: Roma in the U.S. (cont.)

ANTH 4020/5020

Today‘s outline

1. Film „American Gypsy“

2. Film discussion

3. Text discussion (R. Gropper, 1975,

„Gypsies in the City“)

Documentary

Short summary

… the story of Jimmy Marks, a used car salesman in Spokane, Washington …

Discussion questions

1. What were your main new insights about Roma communities today? Surprising facts?

2. Which acts or statements in the film express prejudice and false perception on the side of the Gadje?

3. Why was the Marks family declared unclean (by other Roma) after their home was raided by the police?

4. What are the (social) consequences of the American Roma‘s desire to limit contact with non-Roma?

5. What did you not like about the making of the documentary? Is there anything you find risky or difficult?

Text presentation

by Caitlin:

• Gropper, Rena. 1975. Gypsies in the city. Cultural Patterns and Survival. Princeton: The Darwin Press, pp.17-59 (Ch. 2: Gypsies in the United States and in New York; Ch. 3: The Economics of being a Gypsy).

Discussion questions

• What do you think about the“quality“ or thoroughness of this ethnographic study?

• How are Roma maintaining seperateness?

• Why do they view others as alien and impure?

• Why did the Roma in the U.S. manage to retain much more cultural traditions than groups in Europe?