 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| est. 500,000 – 1,200,000[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Alsace,Aquitaine,Île-de-France,Languedoc-Roussillon,Lorraine,Midi-Pyrénées,Nord-Pas-de-Calais,Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur,Rhône-Alpes,Bretagne | |
| Languages | |
| Romani languages (Sinti-Manouche,Erromintxela,Kaló) French,[2]Spanish | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity (Evangelicalism andRoman Catholicism),Romani mythology | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Primarily otherRoma Manouches:Sinti Gitans/French Caló:Spanish Caló,Portuguese Caló,Brazilian Caló Roms:Balkan Roma Erromintxela:Kalderash,Basques,Cascarots Cascarots:Spanish Roma,Erromintxela,Basques |
Romani people in France (French:Roms en France), generally known in spokenFrench asgitans,tsiganes ormanouches, are anIndo-Aryanethnic group in France.[3]
The first Roma came to France in 1418, to the town ofColmar. In 1419, more Romanies arrived in Provence and Savoy. Nine years later, the first Roma were recorded in Paris. In 1802, a concerted campaign was launched to remove Roma from the French Basque provinces. Over 500 Roma were captured and imprisoned, awaiting their planned deportation to the French colony ofLouisiana. However, the colony was sold to the United States in 1803.[4]
In 1962, the Romani population in France increased due to an influx of refugees fromAlgeria.[5]
DuringNazi Germany rule in occupied France, Romanies in France were killed. After the collaborationist regime was established in 1940, theVichy French authorities in France increased restrictive actions and harassment targeting Romanies. Between 1941 and 1942, French police detained at least 3,000, or possibly up to 6,000, Romani people living in both occupied and unoccupied areas of France. However, French officials sent only a small number of Roma to camps in Germany, includingBuchenwald,Dachau, andRavensbrück.[6][7]
Every year in late May, Christian Romani people travel toSaintes-Maries-de-la-Mer forSaint Sarah.[8]
Gypsy Jazz andflamenco are popular Romani genres in France.Gipsy Kings are a popular flamenco band from Spain. There are two important Romani music festivals in France. There is a gathering at Saintes Maries de la Mer where Romani people from France and Spain congregate to celebrate the feast day of the Romani patron saint, Saint Sarah, on May 24th and May 25th in theCamargue. The music at this festival is predominantly flamenco with a large population of musicians making the pilgrimage fromAndalusia. Another festival, Mosaïque Gitane takes place each July every year inArles.[9]
Romanies in France inspiredVictor Hugo’s novelThe Hunchback of Notre-Dame.[10]
Studies reveal that the Romani people originated in South Asia,[11][12] presumably from the regions of present-dayPunjab,Rajasthan andSindh.[13][14][15][16]
Linguistic, historical and genetic evidence suggests that the Romani people initially migrated from the north of present-day India or the east of modern Pakistan in the second half of the first millennium.[17] They then spent a period of time in theByzantine Empire before migrating across Europe, with various groups diverging from an initially unified proto-Romani-speaking community based in the Balkans.[17]
The linguistic evidence has indisputably shown that roots of Romani language lie in South Asia: the language has grammatical characteristics of South Asian languages and shares with them a large part of the basic lexicon, for example, body parts and daily routines.[18] However, their exact point of departure within the subcontinent has not been established with certainty..[17] Romani's origins lie in theCentral Indo-Aryan group of languages, such asHindistani andHaryanvi, from present-day northern central India.[17] However, the Romani languages also share some linguistic innovations found in the Northwestern Indo-Aryan group of languages, likePanjabi andSindhi. Therefore it is possible either that their dialect was a transitional form between Central and Northwestern Indo-Aryan, or that they migrated from the central region to modern-day northwestern India and western Pakistan, residing there for a period of time before migrating further west.[17]
Genetic findings in 2012 suggest the Romani migrated from South Asia as a single group.[19] According to a genetic study in 2012, the ancestors of present scheduled tribes and scheduled caste populations ofnorthern India, traditionally referred to collectively as theḌoma, are the likely ancestral populations of modern European Roma.[20]
In France theRomani people are typically classified into three groups:
The term "Romanichel" is consideredpejorative in France,[22] and "Bohémien" is outdated. Members of the Romani minority often call themselvesVoyageurs (Travellers).[2] The FrenchNational Gendarmerie referred to them in an ethnic database by the acronym "MENS" ("Minorités Ethniques Non-Sédentarisées"), anadministrative term meaning "Travelling Ethnic Minorities". However this usage is not widely used, since this ethnic database was secret as creating ethnic data is illegal in France.[23]
The exact numbers of Romani people in France are not known, with estimates varying from 20,000 to 400,000,[24] depending whether they include or not sedentary Roma, Manouches and cognate groups who intermingled with non-Roma Travellers (includingYenish people). The vast majority of this population uses a variety ofFrench, usually calledVoyageur, as their native language.[2]
The French Romani rights group FNASAT reports that at least 12,000 Balkan Romani, who have immigrated from Romania and Bulgaria, live in unofficial urban camps throughout the country. French authorities often attempt to close down these encampments. In 2009, the government sent more than 10,000 Romani back to Romania and Bulgaria.[25]
In 2009, the European Committee of Social Rights found France had violated the European Social Charter (rights to housing, right to protection against poverty andsocial exclusion, right of the family to protection) in respect to Romani population from foreign countries.[26]
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In 2010 and 2011, the French government organized repatriation flights to sendRomanian Romanis to Romania. On 12 April, a chartered flight carrying 160 Romani left northern France forTimișoara. As in the 2010 deportations, the French government gave those Romani leaving France €300 each, with €100 for each child. The Romani on the 12 April flight were forced to sign declarations that they would never return to France.[27]
On 9 August, the city ofMarseille in southern France forcibly evicted 100 Romani people from a makeshift camp nearPorte d'Aix, giving them 24 hours to leave.[28] A chartered flight carrying approximately 150 Romani to Romania left the Lyon area on 20 September.[29] France's goal for 2011 was to deport 30,000 Romani to Romania.[30] As of 2012, France sent about 8,000 Romani to Romania and Bulgaria in 2011, after dismantling camps where they were living on the outskirts of cities. The actions prompted controversy and calls for greater inclusion of Romani people.[31]
Prejudiced views of Romani are widespread in France, with a 2014Pew Research poll indicating that two-thirds of French people have unfavorable views of Romani.[32] In 2016, more than 10,000 Roma were evicted by French authorities. According to a report published by theHuman Rights League of France and theEuropean Roma Rights Centre, 60 percent of all Romani living in France were forcibly evicted from their homes in 2016, many in cold winter months.[33]
Rumors andfake news stories of a white van occupied by Romani attempting to abduct children or young women have spread across the French internet on multiple occasions. A number of violent incidents against Romani occurred in March 2019 after rumors of Romani kidnapping children spread onFacebook andSnapchat. Two people in a white van were attacked by 20 youths inColombes on 16 March. On 25 March, 50 people attacked a Roma camp inBobigny with sticks and knives, burning several vans, and a separate group of Romani were chased and attacked inClichy-sous-Bois.[34] Similar incidents occurred inAubervilliers,Bondy andNoisy-le-Sec.[35]
Our results show that Northwest India could play an important role in the South Asian ancestry of Roma, however, the origin of Romani people might include the area of Pakistan as well.
Based on genome-wide SNP arrays and whole-genome sequences, it has been determined that the Romani people carry approximately 20–35% South Asian ancestry [4,7], and North-West India constitutes the major source of this component [4,7,54] [...] In general, Romani people carry approximately 65–80% West Eurasian (European, Middle Eastern and Caucasian) ancestry, estimated to have been acquired by extensive gene flow.
While a nine century removal from India has diluted Indian biological connection to the extent that for some Romani groups, it may be hardly representative today, Sarren (1976:72) concluded that we still remain together, genetically, Asian rather than European
Based on genome-wide SNP arrays and whole-genome sequences, it has been determined that the Romani people carry approximately 20–35% South Asian ancestry [4,7], and North-West India constitutes the major source of this component [4,7,54] [...] In general, Romani people carry approximately 65–80% West Eurasian (European, Middle Eastern and Caucasian) ancestry, estimated to have been acquired by extensive gene flow.
This population [...] migrated from northern India to Europe over 1,500 years ago [...] The Romani community are genetically diverse, and Romani groups established in different locations are highly varied.
What is the current state of the language? It is used less and less today in Romani communities. The young generation in some localities, such as Humenné, Michalovce, or Trebišov in eastern Slovakia, no longer speak the language at all.
Romská lexika je bližší hindštině, marvárštině, pandžábštině atd., v gramatické sféře nacházíme mnoho shod s východoindickým jazykem, s bengálštinou.[The Romani lexicon is closer to Hindi, Marwari, Punjabi, etc., in the grammatical sphere we find many similarities with the East Indian language, with Bengali.]
Media related toRoma people in France at Wikimedia Commons
