Romani people in Albania

The Romani people in Albania are divided mainly into two groups, the "Jevgs" (Jevgj), who speak only Albanian and are more assimilated, and the "Gabels", who are bilingual, and live more according to Roma tradition.[1] Jevgs claim Egyptian descent.[2] Other divide the Roma in four groups (urban/rural, assimilated/un-assimilated).[3] According to Robert Elsie, the Romani number between 60,000 and 100,000 people.[1] An 1994 estimation put the number at 95,000 Roma in Albania. [4] The ERRC estimates 120,000 Roma in Albania.[5]

The Jevgs and Gabels share common genetic history.[2]

The poverty rate among Roma in Albania is particularly high (78%), in relation to the majority (22%).[6]

History

Origin

The Romani people originate from Northern India,[7][8][9][10][11][12] presumably from the northwestern Indian states Rajasthan[11][12] and Punjab.[11]

The linguistic evidence has indisputably shown that roots of Romani language lie in India: the language has grammatical characteristics of Indian languages and shares with them a big part of the basic lexicon, for example, body parts or daily routines.[13]

More exactly, Romani shares the basic lexicon with Hindi and Punjabi. It shares many phonetic features with Marwari, while its grammar is closest to Bengali.[14]

Genetic findings in 2012 suggest the Romani originated in northwestern India and migrated as a group.[8][9][15] According to a genetic study in 2012, the ancestors of present scheduled tribes and scheduled caste populations of northern India, traditionally referred to collectively as the Ḍoma, are the likely ancestral populations of the modern European Roma.[16]

In February 2016, during the International Roma Conference, the Indian Minister of External Affairs stated that the people of the Roma community were children of India. The conference ended with a recommendation to the Government of India to recognize the Roma community spread across 30 countries as a part of the Indian diaspora.[17]

Migration to Albania

The oldest existence of Romani people in Albania is from 1635, and they may have been present since the 12th and 13th centuries.[18]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Robert Elsie (2010). Historical Dictionary of Albania. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 388–. ISBN 978-0-8108-6188-6.
  2. 1 2 Issues in Law and Medicine: 2011 Edition. ScholarlyEditions. 9 January 2012. pp. 147–. ISBN 978-1-4649-6742-9.
  3. ↑ Human Rights in Post-communist Albania. Human Rights Watch. 1996. pp. 161–. ISBN 978-1-56432-160-2.
  4. ↑ OECD (2 December 2003). Reviews of National Policies for Education Reviews of National Policies for Education: South Eastern Europe 2003 Volume 1: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo: Volume 1: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo. OECD Publishing. pp. 75–. ISBN 978-92-64-10072-5.
  5. ↑ Balkan Neighbours. ACCESS Association. 2000. p. 2.
  6. ↑ At Risk: Roma and the Displaced in Southeast Europe. United Nations Development Programme, Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. 1 January 2006. p. 15. ISBN 978-92-95042-53-7.
  7. ↑ Hancock 2002, p. xx: ‘While a nine century removal from India has diluted Indian biological connection to the extent that for some Romanian groups, it may be hardly representative today, Sarren (1976:72) concluded that we still remain together, genetically, Asian rather than European’
  8. 1 2 Mendizabal, Isabel (6 December 2012). "Reconstructing the Population History of European Romani from Genome-wide Data". Current Biology. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
  9. 1 2 Sindya N. Bhanoo (11 December 2012). "Genomic Study Traces Roma to Northern India". New York Times.
  10. ↑ Current Biology.
  11. 1 2 3 K. Meira Goldberg; Ninotchka Devorah Bennahum; Michelle Heffner Hayes. "Flamenco on the Global Stage: Historical, Critical and Theoretical Perspectives". Books.google.ca. p. 50. Retrieved 2016-05-21.
  12. 1 2 Simon Broughton; Mark Ellingham; Richard Trillo. "World Music: Africa, Europe and the Middle East". Books.google.ca. p. 147. Retrieved 2016-05-21.
  13. ↑ Šebková, Hana; Žlnayová, Edita (1998), Nástin mluvnice slovenské romštiny (pro pedagogické účely) (PDF), Ústí nad Labem: Pedagogická fakulta Univerzity J. E. Purkyně v Ústí nad Labem, p. 4, ISBN 80-7044-205-0
  14. ↑ Hübschmannová, Milena (1995). "Romaňi čhib – romština: Několik základních informací o romském jazyku". Bulletin Muzea romské kultury. Brno: Muzeum romské kultury (4/1995). Zatímco romská lexika je bližší hindštině, marvárštině, pandžábštině atd., v gramatické sféře nacházíme mnoho shod s východoindickým jazykem, s bengálštinou.
  15. ↑ "5 Intriguing Facts About the Roma". Live Science.
  16. ↑ Rai, N; Chaubey, G; Tamang, R; Pathak, AK; Singh, VK (2012), "The Phylogeography of Y-Chromosome Haplogroup H1a1a-M82 Reveals the Likely Indian Origin of the European Romani Populations", PLoS ONE, 7 (11): e48477, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0048477
  17. ↑ "Can Romas be part of Indian diaspora?". khaleejtimes.com. 29 February 2016. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  18. ↑ Andreas Hemming; Gentiana Kera; Enriketa Pandelejmoni (2012). Albania: Family, Society and Culture in the 20th Century. LIT Verlag Münster. pp. 132–. ISBN 978-3-643-50144-8.

Further reading

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