Since its founding in 1994, Romano džaniben is the only professional periodical in the Czech Republic that is systematically focused on the language, history and culture of the Roma in the broadest sense of the word. Romano džaniben publishes scholarly articles on Roma from around the world (including articles by Romani scholars) and reviews of current Romani literature; some of its issues are monothematic. At the same time, it pays attention to the voice of Roma, publishing memoirs, essays, profile interviews with Roma artists and other personalities, and samples of their work. It is published twice a year with a volume of approximately 180 pages in print (300 copies) and online. Since 2022, it has been fully open access—all articles are available online for free in PDF format—and texts are published under a CC BY 4.0 license. History of the journal The journal was established in 1994 in Prague by a group of Czech Romani studies experts, including Hana Šebková, Edita Žlnayová, Zbyněk Andrš, Ruben Pelar, and Milena Hübschmannová, the founder of Romani Studies as a university program in CR (Charles Universtiy, Prague, since 1991) and the prominent figure of Czech post-war Romani studies as an academic discipline. Hübschmannová became the leading figure in the development of the journal (she hold the post of the editor-in-chief since 1994 until her death in 2005). Since then a number of Hübschmanová’s disciples were involved in leading the edition office of the journal, including Peter Wagner, Jana Kramářová and Eva Zdařilová. Since 2011 the editorial office is headed by Pavel Kubaník and Helena Sadílková. The journal is published by the organization Romano džaniben, twice a year. Since 2010, the journal is included on the list of Czech academic peer-reviewed journals established by the Czech governmental Board for Research, Development and Innovation. Present of the journal Romano džaniben is an open access journal as defined by the BOAI, with individual author texts subject to a CC-BY 4.0 public license. Texts are published in Czech, Slovak and Romani languages; the editorial office also accepts texts in English, but these are translated. More information in the section About the journal/ For authors.
Iulius Rostas: A task for Sisyphus: Why Europe's Roma policies fail
Copyright (c) 2025 Romano džaniben https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Enikő Vincze, Cornel Ban, Sorin Gog a Jon Horgen Friberg (Eds.): The political economy of extreme poverty in eastern Europe. A comparative historical perspective of Romanian Roma
Text představuje život a tvorbu Sorina A. Sandua – významného romského herce, básníka a překladatele z Rumunska. Shrnuje jeho divadelní a televizní působení, důraz na prosazování romštiny v umění i médiích a významné kulturní projekty, včetně první profesionální romskojazyčné inscenace Caragialeho Bouřlivé noci. Přibližuje také Sanduovu básnickou a překladatelskou činnost, jež zahrnuje bilingvní sbírky a převody rumunské i světové literatury do romštiny. Aktuální vydání přináší výběr z jeho debutové sbírky Transgresiune ve třech jazykových verzích.
Filippo Bonini Baraldi: Roma Music and Emotion
"Amen sam d'ande nacie le Gaboronengi" (My jsme z národa Gaborů)
Studie se zaměřuje na subetnikum rumunských Romů známé jako Gaborové. Vychází z autentického rozhovoru nahraného v romské kolonii v Brašově roku 2002 a zasazuje jej do širšího historického, sociolingvistického a antropologického kontextu. Text představuje původ, sebeidentifikaci a sociální charakteristiky Gaborů, zejména jejich endogamii, výrazné vizuální a kulturní identity (klobouky, tradiční oděv), profesní zaměření na obchod a klempířské řemeslo, jakož i jejich příklon k adventismu sedmého dne. Analýza ukazuje, jak se Gaborové odlišují od ostatních romských skupin prostřednictvím vlastního etnonyma a přísných komunitních norem, a jak utvářejí obraz „čistého“ a pracujícího národa v kontrastu ke stigmatizujícím stereotypům. Studie rovněž dokumentuje jejich mobilitu, obchodní trasy a ekonomické strategie, včetně účasti na protestním mítinku v Brašově, který představoval významný projev kolektivní emancipace. Příspěvek tak přináší komplexní pohled na současnou identitu, sociální organizaci a kulturní praxi Gaborů v Transylvánii.
From margin to margin: The depiction of Roma in Romanian cinema after 1989 -- A historical overview
This essay outlines a concise history of Romanian cinema over the last three decades, in relation to the cinematic representation of the Roma, one of Romania's largest ethnic minorities. Starting with the scarcity of representations of Romani characters in Romanian cinema until the fall of the socialist regime, a phenomenon that indirectly reflects the systematic marginalization and discrimination of this minority in Romania, the analysis focuses on films produced after 1989 that reproduce, reinterpret or renegotiate local and stereotypical images of Romani ethnic groups. These filmic representations are then interpreted and classified from a diachronic perspective.
Mazanost a zlý svět. Novinář a jeho doktorát o manele
Studie Adriana Schiopa představuje kulturně-antropologický výklad hudebního žánru manele a jeho proměn od pozdního socialismu po současnost. Autor sleduje, jak se manele z původně marginalizované „turecké hudby“ staly v osmdesátých letech symbolem mladistvého vzdoru a diskurzu protikladného vůči zkostnatělému oficiálnímu popu Ceaușescovy éry. V postsocialistickém období žánr na čas mizí do undergroundu, kde jej zásadně proměňují zejména romští hudebníci a kde vzniká subžánr bagabonțesc, zaměřený na tematizaci mazanosti, života na hraně zákona, okázalé spotřeby a rodinné loajality. Na přelomu tisíciletí však manele opět vstupují do mainstreamu díky tanečnímu „liftingu“ a stylové kompatibilitě s globální popkulturou. Následná celospolečenská morální panika (2003+) je podle Schiopa živena orientalistickým dědictvím, elitářstvím rumunské inteligence a rasistickými předsudky vůči Romům. Autor analyzuje i důležité tematické okruhy žánru – oslavu mazanosti, bohatství, rodinné soudržnosti a narativ „zlého světa“ charakterizovaného nedůvěrou a strategiemi přežívání v podmínkách dravého kapitalismu. Text završuje přehled nedávného vývoje směrem k trapanelám, kde se manele propojují s rapem a estetikou kriminality v digitální době.
Immoral Daughters and Innocent Patriarchs. Gender and Romani Ethnicity in State Socialist Romania. Two cases studies
This article explores how gender and Romani ethnicity intersected within the patriarchal structures of Romanian state socialism through two case studies separated by three decades. The first concerns a 14-year-old Romani girl institutionalized as a "juvenile delinquent" after reporting sexual abuse by her foster father in 1951. The second examines a woman who, in 1981, denounced her violent Romani husband to the Securitate for political crimes. Both cases reveal how class, age, and gender shaped institutional decisions in opposite ways: the girl's "immorality" was racialized and punished, while the man's violence was domesticated and forgiven. By reading denunciations, social reports, and character assessments as gendered bureaucratic practices, the article explores how socialist institutions perpetuated patriarchal and racial hierarchies under the guise of moral and social reform.
The introduction to the thematic issue provides a comprehensive overview of current knowledge about Romanian Roma, the largest Roma population in Europe. The author summarizes key themes in scholarly and popular literature by Romanian (Roma and non-Roma) authors, especially historical forms of oppression---centuries of enslavement, the Romani Holocaust, and the policies of the communist regime---and their long-term impacts on contemporary social exclusion. The text highlights the persistence of structural antigypsyism, manifested in housing, education, health, and employment, and situates it within the theoretical frameworks of critical Romani studies and the political economy of poverty. It also maps the phenomenon of Roma migration and transnational family networks after 1990, European states' responses to Roma mobility, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. A significant section is devoted to contemporary Romani artistic production, particularly theatre and literature, which challenge stereotypes and amplify the voices of Romani actors. The study thus weaves together historical, social, and cultural perspectives to offer both specialist and general audiences a multifaceted portrait of Romanian Roma.
Aby měly romské děti co číst / Sedm knížek pro děti a mládež
RECENZE KNIH Eva Danišová: Jekh, duj, trin! Jak jedna malá žabka dohopkala do školy Praha: Kher, 5. svazek edice Mirikle, ilustrace: Matěj Ilčík, 2024, 66 s., ISBN: 978-80-87780-43-5 Tera Fabiánová: Jak jsem chodila do školy / Sar me phiravas andre škola Praha: Kher, 1. svazek edice Mirikle, ilustrace: Martin 3AX Zach, překlad: Milena Hübschmannová, 2022, 40 s., ISBN: 978-80-87780-32-9 Tera Fabiánová a Milena Hübschmannová: Čavargoš/Tulák Praha: Kher, ilustrace: Magdalena Rutová, 2023, 104 s., ISBN: 978-80-87780-35-0 Gunilla Lundgrenová, Sofia Taikonová a Amanda Erikssonová: Žofi Z-4515 Praha: Kher, ilustrace: Amanda Eriksson, překlad ze švédštiny: Marie Voslářová, překlad z kalderašské romštiny do severocentrálního dialektu: Markéta Hajská a Iveta Kokyová, 2022, 40 s., ISBN: 978-80-87780-30-5 Stanislava Miková: Vařená vejce / Tade jandre Praha: Kher, Meander, předloha: Matěj Šarközi, ilustrace: Zuzana Hustáková Mašková, překlad: Karolína Ryvolová, 2023, 20 stran, leporelo, ISBN: 978-80- 87780-42-8 (Kher, z. s.), 978-80-7558- 258-4 (Iva Pecháčková – Meander) Květoslava Podhradská: O vakeriben paš o lekvaris / Povídání u povidel Praha: Kher, 2. svazek edice Mirikle, ilustrace: Klára Zahrádková, překlad: Karolína Ryvolová, 2022, 72 s., ISBN: 978-80-87780-33-6 Michal Šamko: Májky a totemy Praha: Kher, 4. svazek edice Mirikle, ilustrace: Petr Polák, 2023, 170 s., ISBN: 978-80-87780-37-4
Jiří Smlsal: Holokaust a majetková perzekuce Romů v protektorátu Čechy a Morava
Celia Donertová: Práva Romů: Boj za občanství v poválečném Československu
Sveto Biblija Andre Romaňi Čhib / Romaňi Biblija. O névo zákonos. Džas le Devleskere dromeha.
RECENZE Sveto Biblija Andre Romaňi Čhib Hermanus/Soľ: The Word for the World International / Slovo pre Svet o. z., 2023, 1292 s., ISBN 978-1-957770-47-5 Romaňi Biblija. O névo zákonos. Džas le Devleskere dromeha Orličky: Bohumil Jedlička, 2021, 394 s., ISBN 978-80-907837-3-7
E romaňi čhib ča barola - kada hin perdal ma realita / Romština se bude jistě dál rozvíjet - to je pro mne realita
Rozhovor s mladou romskou akademičkou, literární vědkyní z Prešovské Univerzity, která se odborně věnuje zejména romské literatuře, je zaměřen na její pohled na romštinu i romskou literaturu, na jejich roli a postavení v současné společnosti, na jejich budoucí rozvoj a proměny. Rozhovor je otištěn dvojjazyčně: romsky a v českém překladu Pavla Kubaníka.
Spomienky na počiatky môjho zapojenia do hnutia za práva Rómov
Významná osobnost romského politického dění na Slovensku, bývalá poslankyně slovenského parlamentu, první šéfredaktorka prešovského periodika Romano ľil a také první ředitelka košického divadla Romathan, dnes vedoucí neziskové organizace Nadace dobré víly Kesaj a oceňovaná podporovatelka romského jazyka, vzpomíná na své mládí, studium i na svou rodinu. Podrobněji líčí zejména počátky svého zapojení se do etnoemancipačního hnutí Romů v roce 1978, tedy účast na kongresu Romské unie ve Švýcarsku, kam se dostala na pozvání Jána Cibuľi, a následky, které za vlastní angažovanost nesla – byla vyhozena z redakce novin a sledována státní tajnou policií.
Revisiting the interpretation of the term "nation". Responses to the silencing of civil language and the language of "homeland" as a common home
The article focuses on the connection between language use and the loss of voice in contexts of social exclusion and/or poverty. The discursive event at the centre of this text is an audio recording of a meeting held between long-term residents of the neighbourhood Bedřiška and their municipal district mayor Liana Janáčková. In July 2007, it became a topic of public discussion as the recording revealed the stance of the then senator and her explicitly racist utterances. I understand this past event as embedded in a dialogic-affective time-space and examine it from a critical sociolinguistic and interdisciplinary perspective to shed light on its meaning today. My analysis is based on an interview published in the news magazine Týden on 6 August 2007 and an editorial written by the Romani journalist Jarmila Balážová in the news magazine Romano voďi on 21 August 2007. My analysis shows that the release of the recording not only forced the senator to account for her words, but more importantly enabled her to imagine the Czech public as non-Romani. I also argue that Balážová's experience of this discursive conflict can be read as an expression of the loss of her civic language and home, her reaction interweaving a language of insecurity and distrust with critical response.
Addressing the situation of Roma in Slovakia in 1989--2020 through the idea of a comprehensive approach and Romani participation in its development and definition
The study analyzes the activities of Roma in Slovakia since the second half of the 1990s with the emphasis on the efforts of the Roma to move from the position of implementers of government policies and to start actively creating these policies and taking responsibility for them at the highest state level. A significant milestone in this process was the establishment of the Office of the Government Plenipotentiary for Roma Communities in 1999, which has been headed predominantly by Romani representatives since its inception. By 2020 at least two efforts to develop the philosophy of a comprehensive approach took place on the grounds of the Office, under the management of the Roma themselves. None of them was ultimately implemented in Slovakia in the proposed form.
Roma as actors in negotiating housing policies during state socialism. The case study of Podunajské Biskupice and Plavecký Štvrtok (1950--1989)
The text examines the negotiation of local housing politics in Slovakia between the 1950s and 1980s and the agency of local Roma in this process, focusing on the diversity of their political strategies, their positioning, influence and limits of their political participation. The research is based on data from two municipalities in western Slovakia. In one of them, the Romani actors were fighting against existing discriminatory strategies and other factors posing limits to their participation. The other municipality was honored as a model of interethnic cooperation for the rest of Slovakia. Nevertheless, during the late 1970s, the situation has rapidly changed also in this locality. The text inserts the two specific experiences within the broader historical, social, and political context. The author attempts to analyze the dynamics of the changes in the local policies and the determinants that played a crucial role in the success or failure of the demands by the Roma. While doing so, the author focuses on two levels of political participation -- on the one hand in the framework of the Slovak Union of Gypsies Roma, and on the other hand, within the local administrative structures.
political participation, local Romani politicians, agency, state socialism, Podunajské Biskupice, Plavecký Štvrtok, Union of Gypsies-Roma, western Slovakia
The text presents the second part of two monothematic issues devoted to various forms of Roma efforts to achieve equal status in society, improve living conditions, and ensure that Roma are accepted by the non-Roma public as part of society as a whole. Most of the texts included in this second issue present various forms of these efforts in Slovakia.
Elena Marushiaková a Vesselin Popov (eds.) Roma Voices in History: A Sourcebook
Zilli Schmidt (/Zilli Schmidtová): Gott hat mit mir etwas vorgehabt! Erinnerungen einer deutschen Sinteza / Bůh se mnou měl nějaký plán! Vzpomínky německé Sintky
RECENZE Zilli Schmidt: Gott hat mit mir etwas vorgehabt! Erinnerungen einer deutschen Sinteza Herausgegeben von Jana Mechelhoff-Herezi und Uwe Neumärker Berlin: Stiftung Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas, 2020, 175 s., ISBN: 978-3-942240-36-9 Zilli Schmidtová: Bůh se mnou měl nějaký plán! Vzpomínky německé Sintky Praha/Kroměříž: Triton, 2023, 160 s., ISBN: 978-80-7553-563-4
Jana Horváthová (a kol.) ...to jsou těžké vzpomínky. Vzpomínky Romů a Sintů na život před válkou a v protektorátu
Martin Fotta a Paloma Gay y Blasco (eds.) Ethnographic Methods in Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Research: Lessons from a Time of Crisis
Roma in Brekov. Family photos and historical-ethnographic text by Koloman Gunár
The contribution is a commented collection of historic photographs of Romani families living in Brekov (eastern Slovakia), compiled by Elena Cinová, a local Romani native. It is supplemented by excerpts from a previously unpublished historical-ethnographic text by her father Koloman Gunár, which he completed in 2010 and entitled História osídľovania obce Brekov Rómami (History of the Settlement of Roma in Brekov). The entire contribution enters into the discussion on the modes of writing on the Romani histories. Here, specifically, with regard to the importance of local histories recorded by the Roma themselves.
"Burn me too." One family's history of remembering and forgetting
The text was presented by Petra Gelbart on 19 April 2023 at the international conference `Roma, Jews and the Holocaust' at Yale University. The conference focused on the experiences of Romani and Jewish holocaust survivors and their entaglements during and after the Second World War. The event. Also featured the presentation of Ari Joskowicz's new book Rain of Ash: Roma, Jews and the Holocaust (Princeton University Press 2023). The text by Petra Gelbart was written partly as a commentary on the book and partly as a testimony to some of the Romani efforts to gain equal recognition for the Holocaust of the Roma and Sinti in the U.S. and international institutions.
the struggle for recognition of the Holocaust of Roma and Sinti
"I couldn't have done it alone" / Interview with Elena Gorol
The interview provides an in-depth look at the experiences and views of Elena Gorolová, a well-known Romani activist who has campaigned for the recognition of forced sterilisation crimes and for compensation for the victims of these practices. These illegal procedures were conducted en masse particularly targetting Romani women in socialist Czechoslovakia, and subsequently in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, until the early 2000s. The law enabling their compensation was enacted in the Czech Republic only in 2021. In the interview, the acclaimed activist speaks openly not only about her own traumatic experience with the sterilisation practices, but also about her long fight for recognition and redress, which she has been leading since 2005. She discusses the sources of her inspirational yet personally demanding activism, and the intense debates and dilemmas she has faced with regard to her family, community, and fellow activists.
"...where they play, they become the sensation of the villages" / Romani theatre in Strážnice and its efforts for better perception of Roma
The text presents the findings of a research project on a Romani theatre in south Moravian Strážnice from the 1930s to the 1950s. The study focuses on specific Romani figures involved in the theatre residing within two Romani communities in Strážnice and Petrov but also follows their ties with other Romani families in Radějov, Kněždub, Hrubá Vrbka, Tvarožná Lhota, Sudoměřice, and elsewhere. The article contextualises the emergence of the Romani theatre within the social and cultural conditions of the time, and analyses the limited surviving information on its functioning, main representatives and the themes of the plays staged. In doing so, it seeks to present the Romani theatre artists and the development of their activities in the context of their efforts to emancipate the Romani people, improve their position in society and liberate themselves from a marginalised position.
The election of Romani kings as an example of Romani self-organization in the interwar period
The article addresses the institution of the Romani "king" and the processes of his election among the Roma in interwar Czechoslovakia. These activities are seen as manifestations of Romani self-organization and efforts to seek self-representation independent of the majority institutions. It is primarily based on texts from the contemporary press, although this source is tinged with a considerable amount of sensationalism and exoticization. The institution of the Romani king is presented on the example of neighbouring Poland, where the older tradition of electing Romani kings was revived in the interwar period by Kalderash boilermakers from the Kwiek family. The article focuses on activities of Czechoslovak Roma aiming at the election of their own king, involving different Romani communities from different parts of the country. It presents reports about Romani congresses and meetings organized with the aim of electing a king or taking a public position on another election. It also discusses the terminological adequacy of the Czech term "king" as a term established in non-Romani references to the position, but is not generally used in Romani.
On the struggle of the Roma for equal rights and the various forms this struggle has taken
The introductory text to the monothematic issue focusing on the struggle of Romani people for equality, recognition and improved status within the societies in which they live highlights the various forms of this struggle. It recalls academic studies published on the topic of Romani emaciation in the Czech or Czechoslovak context, or texts in which the Romani actors themselves reflected on these topics. It covers a wide range of collective and individual activism, from the struggle for social recognition, efforts to join existing political structures, building Romani political movement, to initiatives aimed at improving the public perception of Roma, including the recognition of the Holocaust of Roma and Sinti and its inclusion in the collective historical consciousness. This issue of the journal presents the initiatives of specific Romani men and women from the Czech lands and Slovakia across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries who, through their involvement in social events, have become significant actors in variously directed initiatives and fellow combatants in this struggle for recognition, self-organisation and equality.
Iliana Sarafian: Contesting moralities: Roma identities, state and kinship