Romani people in France

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French Romanis
Total population
(est. 20,000 - 400.000 [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
Languages
French, Spanish, Romani, Sinti-Manouche, Erromintxela
Related ethnic groups
Romani people

Romani people in France, generally known in spoken French as "gitans", "tsiganes" or "manouches", are an ethnic group which originated in Northern India. The exact numbers of Romani people in France are not known, with estimates varying from 20,000 to 400,000. At least 12,000 Romani are estimated to live in unofficial urban camps throughout the country, with French authorities often attempting to close down these encampments. In 2009, the French government sent more than 10,000 Romani back to Romania and Bulgaria.[2]

Origin

The Romani people originate from Northern India,[3][4][5][6][7][8] presumably from the northwestern Indian states Rajasthan[9][10] 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.[12]

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.[13]

Genetic findings in 2012 suggest the Romani originated in northwestern India and migrated as a group.[4][5][14] 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 modern European Roma.[15]

Population

Guitar player Django Reinhardt.
Ritual bath in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, a shrine associated with Romani people.
A seal on a document on the Montreuil-Bellay "nomad concentration camp (1943).

In France the Romani people are typically classify into three groups:

The term "Romanichel" is considered pejorative, and "Bohémien" is outdated. The French National Gendarmerie tends to refer to "MENS" ("Minorités Ethniques Non-Sédentarisées"), an administrative term meaning "Travelling Ethnic Minorities". This term is not considered neutral or correct, because broadly a majority of French Romani have homes like other minorities, and are not more "travelling" than others.

The exact numbers of Romani people in France are not known, with estimates varying from 20,000 to 400,000. The French Romani rights group FNASAT reports that at least 12,000 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.[2]

In 2009, the European Committee of Social Rights found France had violated the European Social Charter (rights to housing, right to protection against poverty and social exclusion, right of the family to protection) in respect to Romani population from foreign countries.[17]

Repatriations

In 2010 and 2011, the French government organized repatriation flights to send Romani back to Romania. On 12 April a chartered flight carrying 160 Romani left northern France for Timisoara. 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 had each signed declarations that they would never return to France.[18] On 9 August, the city of Marseille in southern France forcibly evicted 100 Romani people from their makeshift camp near Porte d'Aix, giving them 24 hours to leave.[19] A chartered flight carrying approximately 150 Romani to Romania left the Lyon area on 20 September.[20] France’s goal for 2011 was to deport 30,000 Romani to their home country.[21] As of 2012, France sent about 8,000 Romani back to Romania and Bulgaria in 2011, after dismantling camps (illegal under French laws) where they were living on the outskirts of cities. The actions prompted controversy and calls for greater inclusion of Romani people.[22]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Roma people in France.

References

  1. ↑ "Situation of Roma in France at crisis proportions - report". EurActiv. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  2. 1 2 "Q&A: France Roma expulsions". BBC News. 19 August 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  3. ↑ 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’
  4. 1 2 Mendizabal, Isabel; 21 others (6 December 2012). "Reconstructing the Population History of European Romani from Genome-wide Data". Current Biology. Retrieved 12 December 2012. Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)
  5. 1 2 Sindya N. Bhanoo (11 December 2012). "Genomic Study Traces Roma to Northern India". New York Times.
  6. ↑ Current Biology.
  7. ↑ K. Meira Goldberg, Ninotchka Devorah Bennahum, Michelle Heffner Hayes (2015). Flamenco on the Global Stage: Historical, Critical and Theoretical Perspectives. ISBN 9780786494705.
  8. ↑ Simon Broughton, Mark Ellingham, Richard Trillo (1999). World Music: Africa, Europe and the Middle East. ISBN 9781858286358.
  9. ↑
  10. ↑
  11. ↑
  12. ↑ 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
  13. ↑ 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.
  14. ↑ "5 Intriguing Facts About the Roma". Live Science.
  15. ↑ Rai, N; Chaubey, G; Tamang, R; Pathak, AK; Singh, VK; et al. (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 Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)
  16. ↑ Liégeois, Jean-Pierre. Roma, tsiganes, voyageurs. Council of Europe, 1994.
  17. ↑ "European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) v. France" (PDF). Coe.int. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  18. ↑ "France resumes deportations of Roma people from Romania". Czech Press Agency. Romea.cz. 13 April 2010. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  19. ↑ Ira, Kumaran (11 August 2011). "Marseille mayor orders mass expulsion of Roma camp". World Socialist Web Site. International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI). Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  20. ↑ "France: One Year On, New Abuses against Roma". Human Rights Watch. 28 September 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  21. ↑ Bran, Mirel (12 October 2011). "France's Immigration Chief Revisits the Roma Expulsion Issue, in Romania". Le Monde. Worldcrunch. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  22. ↑ Marian Chiriac (2013-05-03). "France, EU, Seek Action on Roma from Romania". Balkan Insight. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
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