is a complex issue that involves the adoption of certain language, behavior, clothing, or traditions from a minority culture or social group by a dominant culture or group. It often occurs in a way that is exploitative, disrespectful, or stereotypical. An imbalance of power between the appropriator and the appropriated is a critical condition of this concept.
One Example…
of cultural appropriation is the misappropriation of *Gypsy culture*. Romani people have been targets of cultural appropriation in various ways. For instance, on platforms like Etsy, Ebay, and Pinterest, you can find over 498,000 objects tagged as “Gypsy,” including items like dangly jewelry, “Boho” (which is an appropriation inside an appropriation) skirts, colorful bedsheets, and even pet supplies. Fashion designers also label their companies and collections using comparable terms and racially stereotypical themes. Music and dance groups may name themselves using various forms of the term “Gypsy,” even when no Romani person is involved. Television shows and Hollywood films perpetuate stereotypes of Gypsy fortune tellers, witches, gangsters, and thieves.
The food and liquor industry
is not immune either; products like “Zhena Gypsy Tea,” “Zeguiner Hot and Spicy Sauce,” and a beer labeled “Gypsy Tears” are examples. Festivals around the globe incorporate every imaginable stereotype related to Gypsies.
Unfortunately,
many appropriators ignore Romani explanations and pleas to stop. Some create false Romani identities for profit or to add mystery or exoticism to their products. However, true cultural appreciation should involve understanding the history and struggles faced by the culture being appropriated.
–Dijor Machon (JP,CMC,Dip) is an Australian Rom, Showman, and Event Manager who spends his free time finding and restoring all manner of things from knick knacks to vardun -recapturing Rom culture for future generations.
Whether you fell in love with the Boba Fett action figures as a kid or are just now falling in love with Din Djarin, Grogu, and Bo Katan, there’s no denying that Mandalorians are growing in popularity. All one has to do is walk down the grocery aisles and see all the merchandised food packaging to know that. And while I’ll admit that I’ve always been a Skywalker kinda fan who always saw themselves as a Jedi, the newest contributions to canon have me seeing myself as a Mandalorian instead. Why? Because I have come to the head canon that Mandalorians are space Roma. That’s right. We are the Mandalorians. And here’s why I believe that.
Warrior Origins of a Wandering People
According to current canon[1], Mandalorians are a clan-based culture of multiple species, bound by a common creed, language, and code. In Legends they were also nomadic.[2] Sound familiar?
Mandalorians played an important role in Galactic history as warriors. Based on how many words in Romanes are military terms, one of the leading theories surrounding our origins is that we were part of the military in Northern India during the raids by Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi, and that defeated soldiers and their families were displaced into the Byzantine Empire[3].
Survivors of Attempted Genocide
Whether in Legends or Canon, Mandalorians are often referenced as having survived several calamities, including the Mandalorian Wars. In current canon, the Mandalorians were targeted for genocide by the Empire. The survivors of it even have a name for the event, and it has left deep, traumatic wounds in them as a people. Sound familiar?
Resnol’nare and Romanipen
So what is this Mandalorian creed? A set of rules for behavior that determined who was a Mandalorian and who wasn’t. Sound familiar? Some of the values include loyalty, solidarity, helping fellow Mandalorians, and keeping your word. It also required Mandalorians to take care of orphaned or abandoned children until they came of age or were reunited with their own people. And those who didn’t follow the creed? “A Mandalorian ignorant of their heritage and culture was considered to be dar’manda—soulless.”[4] Sound familiar?
As for the Mandalorian code, there have been several versions in Legends, the most commonly referenced is the Resol’nare, or the six sacred tenants of Mandalorian life.[5]
Wear the armor
If we take this concept less literally and instead consider traditional Romani dress (particularly for women), the dihklo functions as a form of armor. And given that one branch of the Mandalorians places emphasis on the helmet in specific with this rule, I find the concept of culturally significant headwear quite familiar.
Speak the language
This is often considered a marker of acceptance in Romani communities. And it is something even those who are reconnecting share with each other and relearn as an act of cultural reclamation.
Defense of self and family
Does this really need an explanation? Protecting our families is central to who we are.
Raising children as Mandalorians
Again, raising our children in the culture requires no explanation.
Contributing to clan welfare
Helping one another also requires no explanation.
Answer the call of the Mand’alor
Listen to and respect your elders. And when a community elder summons us to act, show up.
Mando’a, Romanes and Patrin
As for the language, Mando’a tends to be a language spoken almost exclusively by Mandalorians and their foundlings or closest friends, but is not commonly found in the language databanks of protocol droids. Additionally, Mandalorians are seen to use a second, written language comprised of symbols decipherable only by other Mandalorians, which they use to communicate with each other about locations, etc. Sound familiar?
What Makes a Mando a Mando?
In the Mandalorian, one of the main arguments we see onscreen between the two largest clans of Mandalorians is how they define what Mandalorians are. One group argues that Mandalorians are defined by their blood and lineage. The other argues that it is adherence to the culture which makes a true Mandalorian.
This is the Way. Káva Si o Drom.
A nomadic, diasporic clan-based group of people descended from warriors, bound together by common culture, language, and behavioral codes. Am I describing Mandalorians or Roma? They have specific head coverings that some groups argue are necessary to keeping the ways of their ancestors. They have secret coded sigils they leave as markers along roadways and paths. Survivors of an attempted genocide, they hide from the mainstream culture around them, concealing their identities for safety and protection. They look after unwanted children, believe in loyalty, honesty, and honor. Roma or Mandalorian? Yes, is my answer.
–Maya Preisler (BFA, cross-disciplinary studies) is an American Roma of mixed ancestry who proudly celebrates her diverse heritage through art, writing, and activism.
It’s true. Well, I suppose technically you can call yourself anything you like including willfully ignorant. No doubt by now, unless you live under a rock (or are — as we’ve covered — willfully ignorant), you are aware of the debate surrounding the word Gypsy. In case you’ve missed it, Gypsy refers to the Roma or Romani, an ethnic diaspora originally from Northern India. This term is generally considered offensive although some groups of Rom still prefer to self-identify as such.
Merriam-Webster defines Gypsy as
1: usually offensive, see usage paragraph below
a: a member of a traditionally itinerant people who originated in northern India and now live chiefly in Europe and in smaller numbers throughout the world : ROMANI sense 1, ROM entry 1
b: the Indo-Aryan language of the Roma people : ROMANI sense 2
2: gypsy, often offensive, see usage paragraph below : a person who wanders or roams from place to place : WANDERER
So if you’re one of those people who goes around calling yourself a Gypsy just because you’re fond of walking barefoot and wearing flowing dresses, because you have a free spirit, or any other reason than it being a part of your ethnic identity, you’re misusing a word that isn’t yours to use. You are also claiming an ethnic identity that isn’t yours to claim.
You can’t just wake up one day and become a Gypsy. Being Romani isn’t about our external appearance. Anyone who knows us will tell you this. We come in many shades and tones. We speak many languages, live in many countries, wear many different clothes. It is our culture that ties us together, and that is something that you cannot learn.
When I was a teenager I was angry at the elders for saying this, for telling us that it was our Romanipen that made us Rom. Yet they would not say what Romanipen was, would not elaborate. Because I did not understand what Romanipen was, could not fathom how something I could not define could define me. And yet, it does. That is the secret many who are reconnecting to the culture will tell you, that no matter how hard your ancestors tried to hide who you were, certain things always leaked through.
And that is the first truth I can tell you of what Romanipen is. Romanipen is the stain in wood so deeply embedded that even after successive generations of white-washing, it keeps rising to the surface.
Romanipen is the way the orchard grows with its roots interconnected deep within the soil so that any sapling from the orchard will know other saplings from the orchard many generations after the oldest trees are soil beneath their feet. It is the way each generation of tree knows how tall to grow, what shape its leaves should be, and when to bear fruit.
Romanipen is the way we walk through the world, the way we see the world, the way we communicate with it. It is an inner compass, a knowingness, a connection to our ancestors and to each other that cannot be defined or described in ways outsiders could ever understand. It is an oath, a binding geas which calls us to speak of it only in riddles and metaphors, because that is the only way it can be spoken of. And if that does not resonate with you, then you my darling, are not a Gypsy. Of course, you can call yourself anything you like, but you still won’t be one.
–Maya Preisler (BFA, cross-disciplinary studies) is an American Roma of mixed ancestry who proudly celebrates her diverse heritage through art, writing, and activism.
Romany Gypsies, are certainly a race in the sociological sense and, for the most part, by this day and time are not pure in the sense of having only ancestry from predominantly one culture. By definition of our ways (historically and in some cases today) being migratory in nature, and having a sense of departure from an ancient homeland in which almost none still live – the border territories between Hindustan and Pakistan; in the Land of Kings – interactions with people outside of that culture is nearly guaranteed, and in many ways necessary for the survival of the identity of the group as a unit in the first place.
Innumerable comparisons to the Jewish people are available, and should be apparent. The Hebrew language was dead, no more common in the modern time than Latin in the 1800s, yet today is the first language of several millions – largely because of the successful reconstitution of Medinat Yisrael, The State of Israel, in all its continuity of Jewish tradition, both religious and legal; military, social, and community. The result has been the virtually ex nihilo rebuilding of an entire society separated from itself by almost 3000 years.
Romany Gypsy are much the same, prior to the erection of a formal political unit either real or imagined. With the Gypsy Courts being the traditional higher form of political unit available, and with numerous and not always positive interactions between many of the constituent tribes, significant difficulty exists in emulating the accomplishments of our Jewish counterparts, who infamously were targeted alongside ourselves by persons and governments who used incredibly finite definitions of blood relationships to determine who would be exiled, who would be kept; and whom would be murdered en masse.
Endlösung der Judenfrage – The Final Solution for the Jewish Question was a political euphemism used to assuage the milder passive constitutions of those in positions of authority in central Europe between 1920 and 1945. At least, that is what the words were. The action itself was a formal declaration of genocide against several millions – and not themselves even always German citizens. Or, at least; citizens before the racist laws were passed stripping them of citizenship, and thus from any protection of the law. The Wannsee Conference established all the protocol by which the industrial strength of a then-modern country would be spent in the most efficacious eradication of large fractions of the population of Europe as the machinery and technology of the time would allow. It defined the entirety of the Europe, and specifically Germans and Germanic derived people, into classifications entirely by the proportion of Jewish blood compared to an assumption of Aryan.
The very delusion of Aryan blood is laughable, specifically because it refers to Persians. Ask any citizen of Teheran or Ctesiphon today what they call themselves, and get ready to laugh when a person would compare that concept to any National Socialist. We, the Romany Gypsy, have more in common with Persians, Turks, and any number of people continuing East of there back to India, than we do with any member of ABBA, despite their song Dancing Queen; we have had no monarchs but hordes of dervishes. And we were executed by droves alongside our Jewish compatriots, by a heartless mechanical state which had no concept of its own limitations or frailty.
NA BISTER: The Red Army liberated Auschwitz – Birkenau on 27 January 1945. Let it never be forgotten both, that it was this day which freed those prisoners of the concentration camps; nor that it was valiant men and women making the Volga red with the rotten blood of damned Fascists who did it. Chelmo, Majdanek, Sobibor, Belzec, Maly Trostenets, Jasenovac; Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald, Dachau were all names of places where we were slaughtered because of how much blood of a certain type we possessed; as determined by ingrate sophists who stole the identity of a group of those whom they obliterated for no better reason than hate.
There are those in the modern world who want to identify correctly, all the Rom as ourselves and this is good. There are those who want to divide away persons who have not had their entire lives to learn about being Romany Gypsy; those who are Gypsies who want to hurt the inquisitiveness of people who just recently learned they had another facet of their existence. People who may have had, for perhaps a good three generations, not known they were Romany Gypsy, just for the same reason that someone might not have known they were Jewish – to protect themselves from the vitriol and anger from people who really want to find everyone who has that heritage, round them up, and remove them from the planet.
The sort of person who is going to use this kind of anger against people who are learning about being Gypsy is using the same argument, the same logic, as a bunch of uneducated, arrogant, self righteous sorts who thought that they had enough piss and vinegar to undo the Soviet Union just because they did have enough to compel all the armies of Eastern Europe who had been so abjectly decimated by a previous engagement a few years prior. The same sort of person who thinks that honorable soldiering is the same thing as running down pedestrians, chasing people through alleyways with firearms and adding a bunch of holes to bleed out of when those pedestrians have no weapons to fight back; is just something Tha Boiz do for a good time.
Fuck These People. All of them. Neither is that conduct indicative of a professional soldier, nor is it exemplary of any kind of role model to adhere any desire to emulate.
If we are so lucky, one day we may have a little place of our own full of dikhlos, bangles, fuzzy horses, fantastic competition sports like only Cossacks and Scots could be admitted for cross-league games; with a national ensign of a red wheel imposed on a blue over green square, quartered on some magnificent field with artistry showing freedom and a mustang inability to be broken or caged.
Much like Dawlat Israel. Until that time, we have only each other for strength in a world which is becoming smaller and more oppressive with each passing year. And, for any of the Gypsies who are comfortable being compared to actual Nazis, with actual logic; go forth and be happy. Continue to be the lapdog of the forces of literal evil that brought humans to the real brink of our own destruction. Enjoy your fever dreams of conquest. But enjoy them alone, because we disown you, who are worse than an enemy – you have become a traitor to your own kind. Much like Judas, go spend your 30 bits of silver on whatever whoredom lets you sleep at night.
As for the rest of Romany Gypsies; who have borne ourselves with aplomb; know that our time is soon, and not to be spent concerned with the idiosyncrasies of Nazis. One more time, just in the event that this got confused along the way: FUCK THEM. They deserve not horses.
-Serenity A Velasco Valle (BA/psych, AA/SocSci, AA/Humanities) is a Spanish Gitana and Romanichal Gypsy activist, author and independent film producer who lives in the USA.
On Facebook, there’s this kushti little group of American Gypsies, who, over a very short period of time, have become a family. The fact that many of us actually ARE distant cousins only sweetens it all the more.
One day, back in December of 2018, we were discussing wanting a place where we could link our businesses and educate others about us, American Gypsies. We’re not quite like what you see on TV, at the same time, we’re quite different in some ways to European Gypsies.
So, we did the obvious thing and ran a poll in our group as to what to call the site and this is it.
What might you find here? Well, definitely links to our businesses. Cultural posts, rants, who really knows… our subject matter will be as diverse as we are. We can’t promise regular updates, but we will put stuff up as the mood strikes us. As of right now, it’s a work in progress, we’ll be adding links on the “Our Trades” page in the coming days and weeks, and more posts, so travel back often. ~Latcho Drom!
American Gypsy Trúpa 