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This was written by a journalist in the Vasárnapi Ujság (Sunday News) about Gypsies after a famous murder case (Vasárnapi Ujság, no. 54 (1907) pp. 30, 601).The main and much quoted characters from the nineteenth-century novel, Uncle Toms Cabin10 later served as an inspiration for various products of popular My study involved a detailed analysis of the then dominant discourse of criminalised Otherness. I summarise the representative consequences of this case in the following manner: Tales of origins can also play an important role in contemporary art, an excellent example being this successful animated series that emphasises the importance of cultural roots in their creative creed of Roma origin. It is also a means of knowledge-production through popular culture that reaches a wider audience. For more details see Orosz (2017). Furthermore, in the Czech Republic, a Roma fairy-tale was recently broadcast on public service radio with the help of Roma artists, which came from the collection of Gejza Demeter (to honour his grandfather, a Roma blacksmith) (, 2016). The relationship between national origin and folklore may also occur in historical work; David M. Crowe references Balkan tales of origin in his book on the history of the Eastern European and Russian Roma (Crowe 1995, p. 195).
Péter Szuhay, in his historical study of photography, identified the following duality in the turn-of-the-century depiction of Roma in studio and ethnographic photographs: Take a look at these articles below for more information about the Goddess-Saint, Romanipen/Romani religion/spirituality, and her celebration. Be sure to click the links for the whole articles. Miklós, Markó: A régi mulató Magyarország, Híres cigányzenészek , Budapest, [Markó M. ] 1927 [1896] In the sections below I will introduce four consecutive periods of Roma representation and show that from the era of Enlightened Absolutism through to modernity the representation of Roma musicians and their music was closely related to nation-building and national independence in Central and Eastern Europe. At the turn of the century, and subsequently, their representation focused on the marginal (social) situation of the Roma. As typical with many a Gatlif film, the rich soundtrack and sound design mixes music and ambience to engrossing effect.
My own recent research among Romani refugees from the Czech
Republic, Slovakia, Poland and in countries of the Balkans has
uncovered the little-known fact that other Black Virgins are
worshipped by Roma in central/eastern Europe and that Roma from
these countries perform similar rituals. These rituals include
laying flowers at the feet of the statue, adorning the statue
with clothing of the sick hoping for cures, placing requests to
the statue, and lighting candles to the female divinity. To the
Roma,Kali Sarais the Protectress who will cure sickness,
bring good luck and fertility and grant success in business
ventures.
The Romani ceremony at Les Saintes Maries, as elsewhere, consists
of carrying the statue on a platform strewn with flowers (4) into
the closest body of water such as a sea, lake, flowing river or
even a large pond of clear water. The platform is then lowered to
touch the water while the crowd throws flowers into the water.
Indian scholars such as Dr.
Weer Rishi (5) and others who have witnessed this Romani ceremony, as well as Western observers who are familiar with Hindu religious customs have identified this ceremony with theDurga Poojaof India. In Romani,Kali Sarameans Black Sara and in India, the Goddess Kali is known asKali/Durga/Sara. Like the Hindus, the Roma practice shaktism, the worship of Goddesses. In other words, the Roma who attend the pilgrimage toLes Saintes Mariesin France and in other related ceremonies elsewhere honouring black female divinities, are in fact continuing to worshipKali/Durga/Saratheir original Goddess in India. The title comes from an interview in which Sándor Sára, the film director, defined the goal of his 1961 documentary Gypsies (Cigányok) as follows: It is my conviction that the film should be primarily against prejudice and racial discrimination renouncing the need for completeness, assuming a certain bias, complaining with the spirit of their weepers (Sára 1970, p. 12).
Bohumira Smidakova presents an important Western narrative through the history of and changes to images of Roma from Spain, and analyses the figure of the Gitano as a building block of national discourse. My goal is to formulate an Eastern narrative of this representation, mainly by using illustrative Hungarian case studies. Symbolic exclusion was to some extent accompanied by a rejection from the nation: I highlighted this observation when drawing parallels between the aforementioned Dános case and the consequences of recent media habits. There are illustrative examples from all over Europe: while the targets in Western Europe are Roma from Eastern Europe who usually arrive as economic refugees, in Hungary and the surrounding region our own compatriots, who have been settled for centuries, fall victim to symbolic and physical Such attitudes were not Hungarian particularities: exhibiting and studying African and Asian primitives as part of popular social science lectures, museum exhibitions, or even on postcards would define the portrayal of these groups for a long time to come. 6 In the next period, from the end of the nineteenth century until the end of 1910s, in the era of visual-centred modernity it was the spread of the technical image and the popular press, along with societal changes, that brought about different patterns of representation.
Griffiths, Allison: Wondrous Difference, New York: Columbia University Press, 2001 According to theDurgasaptashati(seven hundred verses in the worship of Goddess Durga and her various forms), chapter 5, verse 12, which mentions Sara, contains the following:Salute to Durga, Durgapara, (Deliver of all difficulties), Sara, (Embodiment of everything par-excellent), Cause of everything, Krishna and Dhurma (Evaporated form in smoke). Other references in this ancient Hindu scripture also confirm that Sara is one and the same with the Indian goddess Durga who is also another aspect of Kali, the consort of Shiva. THE ROMANI GODDESS KALI SARA by RONALD LEE The first period extends from the age of Enlightened Absolutism until the end of the nineteenth century. At this point it is still too early to talk about technical visual representation; the appearance of photographs and film is going to be critical for the development of the modern Roma image.
Pócsik, Andrea: A Media Archaeology of the Romanis Criminalization, in Gržinić, Marina; Stojnić, Aneta; Šuvaković, Miško (eds): Regimes of Invisibility in Contemporary Art, Theory and Culture: Image, Racialization, History, Basel: Springer International Publishing AG, 2017b, pp. 141157 In the documentary Gelem, Gelem (Germany, 1991), although the music plays a merely illustrative role, to set the mood, the title of the film, which is taken from the first line of the Roma anthem, can be considered to have a symbolic meaning in documenting an almost contemporary case of persecution and scattering. Music can also be an important tool for intercultural crossing, as for example in the film Remember (Ukraine, 2017), which concerns a Ukrainian woman passing on her memories to her granddaughter about her friendship with the only Roma survivor of the Porrajimos in the community. In this wartime story, a song in Romanes is of central and symbolic significance.
Soon the expanding nationalist ideology and political pressure exerted its power on the (filmic) representation of Roma. A later example that illustrates the consolidation of Romani musician stereotypes is a Hungarian melodrama from the 1940s called Pista Dankó (Hungary, 1941) by István Kalmár. While the subject of this film is not directly related to any politicised musicology debates, its distortions are, however, consistent with them. The fictional life-story of the famous composer in Pista Dankó portrays the victimhood of the male protagonist through intricate acts, played by the same actor (Pál Jávor) who depicted the cheerfully crying (sírva vigadó) gentry character in other Szuhay, Péter: Az egzotikus vadembertől a hatalom önnön legitimálásáig, Beszélő, nos 7/8, July/August 2002, pp. 97107 Both types of myths relate to the period of wandering, but in a very different manner.
What is important during this period is the evolving society of linguistically assimilated Roma musicians, as a result of violent state aspirations aiming at Roma assimilation, the spread of Romani music as a service, and their role in the Hungarian nation-building process. As a result, Roma are increasingly represented (e. g. in media illustrations or literature) with motifs related to music and wandering images that become either stronger or somewhat altered over time. The themes of music, wandering, assimilation and separation are characteristic of several films in the Archival selection (e. g. Tony Gatlifs Latcho Drom (France, 1993), Pisla Helmstetters From the Source to the Sea (France, 1989) and another episode of the aforementioned Katariina Lillqvist puppet series, The Black Sarah (Finland, 2002)). The French pilgrimage site Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer is an important place of worship which links the arrival of Roma in Europe to Biblical motifs. Roma, Sinti, Manush, Gitanos and Travellers from all parts of Europe, but mainly from Western and Southern Europe, visit the statue of Saint Sarah (the patron saint of Roma) in the local church, while celebrating their transnational unity with dance and music.
Pócsik, Andrea: Átkelések: A romaképkészítés (an)archeológiája, Budapest: Gondolat Kiadó, 2017a It is questionable to what extent the narrative of victimhood weakened the efforts of Roma emancipation and the enforcement of their interests. This is a complex issue which can easily lead to speculation. One should also consider which options existed for achieving the legal protection of Roma with the help of film, yet without showing the serious consequences of exclusion. These issues are fundamental to film-making, especially forms of depicting misery on screen.
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The study, using a media-archaeological approach, appeared in my
2017 book and an English-language volume (Pócsik 2017a, 2017b).
Media researcher György Gaál discusses the reception of the media
(Gaál 2007). Trumpener, Katie: A cigányok ideje.
Egy történelem nélküli nép a Nyugat narratíváiban,
Replika, 1996, pp. 2324, 219241. Originally appeared in
1992 as Time of the Gypsies: People Without History in the
Narratives of the West, Critical Inquiry, vol. 18, no.
4, Identities, Summer, pp. 843884 Sara, toi la sainte
patronne des voyageurs et gitans du monde entier,
tu as vécu en ce lieu des Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.
Tu es venue dun lointain pays au-delà des mers.
Jaime venir te retrouver ici, te dire tout ce que jai dans le
Cœur,
te confier mes peines et mes joies.
Je te prie pour tous les membres de ma famille et tous mes
amis.
Sara, veille sur moi! Until recently it was widely
believed that this worship ofKali Sara, the Romani Black
Madonna or Goddess was unique toLes Saintes Maries de La
Mer.
Italian Statue of Scantily Clad Worker Draws Controversy: An 'Offense to Women'
The relevant literature is only partially available; while some authors touch upon this subject, they rely almost exclusively on examples from the arts (i. e. literature and fine art). A key figure in this topic is Katie Trumpener, a German literary historian whose work analyses Roma representation and the relationship between conceptualisations of specific historical events (e. g. the persecution of Roma during Nazism) and the representation of Roma as a group outside history. The concept of sub-human Otherness resembles that of the subaltern in postcolonial theories, evoking the position of discursive (and real) subordination. The docudrama from director Tony Gatlif is inspired by 94-year-old pamphleteer Stephane Hessels bestselling essay, "Time for Outrage. " Julie Brown approaches this discourse from a postcolonial perspective, which was important beyond the field of musicology and influenced Béla Bartóks folk music collection.
It is therefore worth repeating the following questions once more, relying on critical theories (postcolonialism and feminism, along with their rich sources and useful terminology): How is the representation of a social situation constructed that prevents the conscious unlearning of the subordinate position? What kind of tools can contemporary filmmaking employ in order to undermine the paternalism entrenched in the attitudes towards people living in disadvantaged living conditions, and sometimes even their sense of solidarity? St. Sarah, Kali Sara, Sara Kali, Sara-la-Kali, Sati-Sara, The Black Madonna, The Black Mothermany names for one Goddess-Saint sacred to Roma all over the world. Today is her festival she is the Goddess of Fate, good fortune, fertility, and protection and Roma honor her in pilgrimage, by worshiping her statue, through dance and community so many ways, so many incarnations of the goddess who accompanied the Roma all the way from India. It is worth mentioning the traditions literary and theatrical of the filmic representation of African-Americans here.
Tales from an Endless Road (Finland, 2002) is a six-part series of puppet animation by Katariina Lillqvist about the move away from India. The English title refers to the genre and the act of wandering, while the title in Romani, Mire bala kale hin (I Have Black Hair, Finland, 2002) refers to the myth of origin, which is also present in the Hungarian animated film, Doja, the Gypsy Fairy (Hungary, 2015). 1 In lieu of a conclusion, let me briefly sum up an episode from the puppet animation series, Songs of the Gallows (Finland, 200103) by Katariina Lillqvist in which memories play a similarly significant role. In my opinion, the Eastern and Western narratives fuse within this medieval legend based on historical sources. The Polish princess, Catherine Jagiellon, arrives in the court of the Finnish monarch, Juhana, to get married. In the empire, migratory Roma are severely punished for their lifestyle, not by forced assimilation, but by hanging.
The volume containing this study summarises the findings in the following way: Introduced by Julie Davies, Education Development Officer for the International New Arrivals, Travellers and Supplementary Schools Team at Manchester City Council. All nations have myths about their origin. The cultural memory of the Roma has preserved several such myths; some are myths of creation with Biblical elements, while others are tales of their own origin. While recounting these tales is beyond the scope of this paper, I will highlight two of the myths, both of which have appeared on screen and symbolically embody the central topic of this essay: the differences between the representation of Roma in the East and West. This analysis is conducted in conversation with Bohumira Smidakovas essay about the Western narrative of Roma representation.