Center for Indic Studies Seminar

December 1st, 2003

Board Of Trustee Room, IIIrd Floor, Administration Building.
11 AM- 12 : 30 PM
Video Link Quick Time

Speaker : Dr. Richard P. Devine, Ph.D,Umass Dartmouth

Topic: The Gypsies (Roma) from India: Searching for a Long Lost Home.

ABSTRACT:

This seminar will seek to find cultural traits of modern day "Gypsies" which may seem to overlap with their origins from northwestern India. Using printed scholarly sources, websites from the Gypsy Lore Society, and some useful sections from three recent videos about Gypsy peoples, this seminar will highlight how modern day Gypsy culture is primarily a result of their status as pariah and "outsiders." Despite continued stereotypes the Roma have been survivors within all of the modern industrialized societies of Europe and the United States.

The term "Gypsies" originally referred to the people who spoke the Romany language and refer to themselves as "Roma" or "Romanies." Linguists in the 19th century were able to analyze their spoken language as originating in Sanskrit. More recent research has suggested that the original emigrants from India were warriors doing battle with an invading Muslim army around 1,000 A.D.

When the "Gypsies" or "Roma" arrived in Europe around 1300, they were called "Egyptians," perhaps because the Europeans thought all darker colored people were from Egypt.

Myth and legend are integral to the Gypsy way of life, however, and many Rom will assert that they in fact did originate from Egypt - leaving with Moses and the other Hebrews. Another legend tells a story of how the Rom blacksmith -- forced by the Romans to make four nails for the crucifixion -- swallowed the nail for the heart of Jesus so the Roman soldiers were left with only the three nails traditionally shown on modern crucifixes.

For further information please contact:
Professor BalRam Singh
Tel: 508-999-8588
Email: bsingh@umassd.edu


 Last Updated On: 3/29/06