What do myths remain silent about, and how has literature shaped the narrative about Roma communities in Poland? Prof. dr hab. Emilia Kledzik from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (Faculty of Polish and Classical Philology) discusses her latest acclaimed book, The Poet’s Perspective: Jerzy Ficowski’s Romani Studies (Perspektywa poety. Cyganologia Jerzego Ficowskiego), as well as the background of her extensive research into the works of Bronisława Wajs – Papusza. Recently, Papusza’s works were published by Brill in English and Romani translations, accompanied by a biography written by Professor Kledzik.
In the first part of the interview, we discussed Prof. Kledzik’s research, Papusza’s work, and the role of Jerzy Ficowski [link]. In this part, we will explore the roots of Romani/Gypsy studies (Polish: cyganologia), orientalist discourse, and their wider cultural implications.
Research in Poland: What were the historical origins and foundations of Romani studies?
Prof. dr hab. Emilia Kledzik: This is a very good question that touches on the essence of Romani studies: its most significant method is generalisation and homogenisation. If we look at the first Romani studies monograph, which gained pan-European popularity—Heinrich Grellmann’s Die Zigeuner from 1783—it is likely that its author had never even seen the subject of his research. In laying the groundwork for modern Romani studies, its foundational myth about the Indian origins of the people called “Gypsies” was based on a rumour circulating among linguists and proto-anthropologists at the time. This rumour suggested that individuals from Malabar studying in Leiden spoke a language similar to that of rural communities in the region of today’s Hungary and Slovakia. Grellmann’s work became an important element of the Austro-Hungarian settlement campaign, the first state-driven initiative of its kind concerning the Roma. Initially, this discourse focused on Central Europe. Later, thanks to the works of George Borrow, it also developed in Great Britain, where, by the late 19th century, the pseudo-scientific society Gypsy Lore Society was established. Initially a gentlemen’s club fascinated with Romani culture, it eventually evolved into an influential and opinion-shaping institution that still seeks to impact Romani studies today.
Which specific ethnic group does it concern?
The 19th century was a period of intensive linguistic and anthropological research, marked by a striking need for classification and the identification of ethnogenesis. While these studies focused on various groups, their conclusions had to be general enough not to disrupt the universal concept of “gypsyness” as exotic, radically different, uncivilised, childlike, and peculiar. Emphasis was placed on what made all Roma communities around the world similar, rather than on their connections to the majority societies in which they lived.
Source: Życie Uniwersyteckie
When discussing the development of Romani studies, you reference Edward Said’s work on orientalism. How can this be applied to this field of study?
In several ways. First, orientalism and Romani studies, as institutionalised academic disciplines, developed at the same time—at the end of the 19th century. Grellmann wrote in his monograph that Europe, rather than engaging in civilisational “help” overseas, should focus on caring for its local “savages,” namely the Roma communities. In the small, colony-less German states, this type of reasoning likely sounded convincing.
Second, like any hegemonic discourse, Romani studies uses oppositions: civilised–savage, adult–childlike, exotic–local, dangerous–familiar, etc. Just as Said traced the construction of colonial spaces and the depiction of colonised peoples in the canon of European literature, similar processes can be traced concerning the Roma. However, we must keep in mind the scale: behind European literature rationalising colonialism were global processes of appropriation, subjugation, plunder, slavery, and genocide. In the case of the Roma, these processes occurred on a much smaller scale. Until the mid-19th century, the Roma were enslaved in today’s Moldova and Romania, but literature did not rationalise these processes to the same extent as, for example, Kipling’s works justified the conquest of India. Instead, my intuition suggests it served a disciplining function, portraying the Roma as an anti-model of a citizen, a member of the national community, or a bourgeois individual.
Is it possible to identify the most dominant “construct of gypsyness” in European culture?This construct included: nomadism, the use of the Romani language, dark skin, a love of music and celebration, carelessness, and a lack of interest in history or any communal discourse. These traits were attributed to the Roma by gadjé (non-Roma). Any deviation from this model was viewed by Romani scholars as a step toward assimilation—a gesture simultaneously desirable (modernising) and undesirable, as it implied the disappearance of their research subjects. Nothing provoked greater disdain among Romani scholars than hybrid phenomena “contaminated” by majority discourse.
This is why Ficowski was more interested in the Roma of the Polska Roma group, who led a semi-nomadic lifestyle, than in the Bergitka Roma group, who had been settled since the late 18th century in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Similarly, some of Papusza’s texts appealed to him, while others did not at all.
The Roma/ Gypsies are also associated with many myths and stereotypes. Did Romani studies contribute to the creation or perpetuation of any of these? Like any science, Romani studies have its assumptions and methods. The foundational myth of Romani studies was, as I’ve mentioned, the Indian origin of the people called “Gypsies.” Grellmann proposed this thesis in opposition to the prevailing belief in the late 18th century about the Egyptian ethnogenesis of Roma communities. This thesis influenced 19th-century linguistic studies comparing the Romani language to Hindustani or Sanskrit. At the time, identifying the Roma as part of the Indo-European linguistic community had an inclusive character. It implied that they were almost Europeans—communities neglected by former state systems and in need of care.
This same thesis about the Roma’s Indian origins deeply troubled ethnologists developing Romani studies in Nazi Germany. If the Roma came from India, it placed them dangerously close to Aryans, yet they were a group targeted by the Nazi regime for extermination. After World War II, the Indian origins of the Roma initially garnered support from the government of independent India for the emerging Romani activism—the first congress of the International Romani Union was attended by a representative of Indira Gandhi. In the discourse of a unifying Europe, however, this origin became a symbol of an exotic and distant culture. Nevertheless, most publications about the Roma still include a passage about their ethnogenesis, their journey to Europe, and their dispersion across the continent.
