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Five Hundred Years of Romani Atlantic History: Flows, Circulations and Migrations that Made the Modern World

Research Output:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
Chapter

Open access

Abstract

This Introduction provides a condensed telling of five hundred years of Romani history within an Atlantic context. It illustrates that Romani people have been part of the modern Atlantic world and that the Atlantic world has shaped the Romani diaspora and Romani people’s sense of who they are. Stories of Atlantic circulations, interactions, connections and exchanges show how Romani people and ideas held about them, transcended empires, nations and borders. The Introduction specifically contextualizes three moments of visibility. During the early modern era, Romani people experienced (often forced) population movements as part of imperial expansions and prompted the translation of European antigypsyism in the context of colonialism, slavery, capitalism, Indigenous genocides and emerging racial thought. At the turn of the twentieth century, nationalistic immigration controls provoked a heightened recognition of Romani people that impacted their experiences, forms of sociability and strategies of mobility. After World War II, as transnational migrants and refugees, they garnered new attention and built diasporic communities in the face of novel and changing international circumstances. Adding Romani people to Atlantic history allows us to think differently about the Atlantic world and transforms our understanding of Romani lived experiences.

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Bibliographic Information

Output type

Research Output:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
Chapter

Original language

American English

Pages from-to (Number of pages)

Pages 1-40

Publication milestones

  • Published - 2026

Publication status

Published - 2026

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

ISBN (Print)

9781009706056, 9781009706025

ISBN (Electronic)

9781009706032

Host publication title

The Romani Atlantic

Host publication editors

  • Martin Fotta
  • Ann Ostendorf