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Christopher Lirette

CUL 2200 – Introduction to Cultural Studies

Professor Craig Jones

June 21st, 2021

Assignment 5-2: The Roma and Economics Essay

The Romani people are a discriminated minority in Europe. Despite this prejudice they

have managed to survive for years and eke out a living wherever they may be with no land of

their own. The Romani people have remained remarkably independent in retaining a distinctive

cultural identity. So, how have the people managed this from an economic standpoint and

managed to perpetuate their way of life over the centuries they have been a part of Europe?

In Mary Christianakis’ article, “Lessons for Life: Roma Children, Communal Practices,

and the Global Marketplace,” she stays, lives and works with a Romani family troupe for a time.

The troupe consisted of five Roma families, 29 total people, 12 adults and 17 children. Her

observations are a window into the culture, economic strategies, family, and lives of this unique

people. Dr. Christiankis observations seem to indicate a form of “Kinship as survival Strategy,”

as written about in “Introducing Cultural Anthropology: A Christian Perspective.” While the

Romani people differ from the African Americans of the United States which Howell focuses on,

some similarities exist between how the two groups operate. “These domestic networks

solidified relationships of exchange that helped everyone access food, money, childcare, shelter,

and other necessities” (Howell 129).

Christiankis describes how this Roma family troupe works with one another to ensure

survival. Men play music, carry/lift items to market to sell and earn money. Children would help

to sell some items like scarves, play music, or beg. Women would help to take care of the
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children, cook, beg, or even read fortunes. Some of the boys and men would even be responsible

for causing distractions should the police begin to question those who were begging. The family

troupe operates similarly to a nomadic political band (Howell 150). This Romani family troupe

would come to Greece for tourist season and leave if/when better opportunities for the group

existed elsewhere.

A stark difference between the Romani and Western minded people is expectations

surrounding children. “Unlike children in America and Western Europe, Roma children are seen

as full emerging, contributing members of family life and not simply as young individuals

training for life (Levinson, 2005)” (Christianakis 12). Dr. Christiankis’ observations in her article

detail this mindset with children: begging, selling, and playing music during the days.

With that said, the Romani family troupe works together to learn from one another.

Examples are men help to train the children in ways of music, women teach children how to beg

in a way that is effective, and older women teach the younger generation to read coffee grounds

to tell one’s future. While the bulk of the training is adults training the children, children also

contribute to helping the family learn small pieces of language like phrases or words that can be

useful to other members of the troupe in their various endeavors (Christianakis 14).

While I personally am uncomfortable with the fortune telling aspect that the Roma people

use to teach their children to perform and survive, I am comfortable with the other things they

teach their children. There is almost a systematic distrust that is present in both the cultures that

stigmatize the Roma people and in Roma families regarding those same cultures. Duane Elmer

speaks of how important trust is. He says it must be nurtured, takes time, it involves emotional

risk, and that it must be perceived as being built from the other persons perspective (Elmer 77).

All of these aspects are absent from the relationship between the Roma and governments.
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Why would people who have been disenfranchised for so long, because of their ethnicity,

start trusting in governments to teach their children? While the Romani people had a passing

resemblance to African Americans, because both groups utilized kinship as a survival strategy,

there seems to be even more similarities between the two groups because of their mutual distrust

for the majority cultures they live in.

The principles across cultures are the same, I have African American friends who teach

their children to be hyper vigilant around police officers, because of African Americans’

historical mistreatment by local, state, and the U.S. government. Even vaccines are distrusted,

because of events like the Tuskegee Airmen experiments. Not to mention harmful stereotypes

have existed that painted both African Americans and the Romani people in a negative light. In a

sense, trust is a commodity that the majority culture enjoys in both Europe and America. While

history has taught both African Americans and the Roma people that trusting the governments is

dangerous to them as a people.

Regarding the Roma people it is understandable why they utilize the cultural strategies

that they do. At the core of their values and mindset is a desire for independence from whatever

state they live in, rooted in a distrust of those same governments and cultures because of

centuries of historical evidence that verifies such distrust. These two aspects are self-reinforcing

and can’t help but lead to the people to educating their own children and needing those same

children to work to survive. While I disagree with some of the methods, they teach their children

like manipulative begging tactics or fortune telling, I can understand why. Being part of a

migrant group necessitates the ability to make money wherever they are and begging is

something anyone can do almost anywhere. This limits the number of jobs/trades available to

those in-migrant Roma family troupes, but also preserves their identity, culture, and safety.
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Works Cited

Christianakis, Mary. “Lessons for Life: Roma Children, Communal Practices, and the Global

Marketplace.” Penn GSE Perspectives on Urban Education, vol. 8, no. 1, Jan. 2010, pp.

11–18. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=eric&AN=EJ912057&site=eds-live.

Elmer, Duane. Cross-Cultural Servanthood: Serving the World in Christlike Humility.

InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove, IL. 2006. Kindle Edition.

Howell, Brian M and Jenell Paris. Introducing Cultural Anthropology: A Christian Perspective,

2nd Edition. Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, MI. 2019. Kindle Edition.