This is the first monograph on the history of the Rudari people of Romania and the first mapping of their settlements. The Rudari are a population which has traditionally inhabited the Balkan area and much of Central Europe. Many of them do not know the Romani language but speak Romanian dialects and today make a living out of carving wooden household items, although their Slavic name alludes to mining. Indeed, the Rudari were for centuries gold-prospectors and gold-washers working for the Crown of Wallachia and were administrated as slaves by a monastery situated on the auriferous Olt river....

The publication of this outstanding book marks the beginning of the Brill book series Roma History and Culture. The core of the present volume is an until now unpublished manuscript by Shakir Pashov (1898-1981), a Bulgarian Roma activist whose name continues to be surrounded by rumours and myths.The volume includes the original manuscript of Shakir Pashov on the history of the Gypsies in Europe, followed by archival documents highlighting his life and work, and the text of the first booklet devoted to him, which was the first attempt to create a Roma historical narrative. There is also...

In their centuries-old history, the Roma (formerly known as Gypsies) experienced many difficult moments and cruel trials from their arrival in Europe until now. The history of the Roma in the USSR is no exception in this respect. Along with affirmative state policy towards them (at least until the end of the 1930s), they also fell victim to the massive political repressions of that time. In this book, the Roma victims of these repressions are made visible and the scale of the repressions against them is discussed. The authors describe the political repression of Roma not as an isolated...

Combining historical and ethnographic approaches in her pioneering study, Magdalena Slavkova offers an insightful contribution to our understanding of Romani evangelicalism. The phenomenon appeared at the beginning of the 20th century in Bulgaria, considerably earlier than many other European countries, with various missionaries working among the Roma, such as Methodists and Baptists among them, as well as later Pentecostals. This book explains the conversion process of men and women from different Romani groups who demonstrate their identity as believers in Jesus Christ and shows how power...

By looking at the national Roma community in Finland, the Finnish Kaale, this book explores the impact of Evangelical Christianity on social and political mobilisation, and the ways in which religious identity becomes entangled with community identity. Based on extensive fieldwork carried out over the course of a decade, and coupled with archival research into the social mobilisation of Roma in Finland since the 20th century, this book presents an ethnographic picture of the ways in which members of the national Roma community in Finland live with, engage with and embody their religious...