Descrizione del progetto
Una rivisitazione della storia dei Rom stanziati nel Mediterraneo nell’epoca moderna
Storicamente, i Rom del Mediterraneo sono stati spesso rappresentati come una minoranza marginale di nomadi sparsi per il territorio. Tuttavia, questo tipo di interpretazioni spregiative si basa in gran parte su fonti istituzionali repressive. Il progetto MediterraneanGypsies, finanziato dal programma azioni Marie Skłodowska-Curie, intende cambiare le prospettive storiche riconsiderando la storia delle comunità Rom presenti in Andalusia, Sicilia e Sardegna tra il XVI e l’inizio del XVIII secolo. Il progetto esaminerà un’ampia gamma di fonti contemporanee inedite, come registri doganali, atti notarili e fondi parrocchiali, che offrono una migliore visione dello stile di vita adottato dai gruppi di Rom e dei loro legami socio-economici con la comunità. I risultati consentiranno di offrire una narrazione a tutto tondo e una comprensione più completa della storia di questo popolo.
Obiettivo
Thanks to the collaboration in Leeds between an expert in Gypsy and Italian history (the fellow, Dr Aresu, who will restart his academic career) and a scholar in modern Spanish history (the supervisor, Dr Alonso), MediterraneanGypsies aims at a rethinking of the way the history of Gypsy people has been framed to date. It proposes an innovative interpretative paradigm, which it applies to a specific study case: Gypsy mobility in three Western-Mediterranean areas of the Spanish Crown (Andalusia, Sicily, Sardinia) in the modern era (16th, 17th and early 18th century).
Traditional reconstructions, based mainly on institutional repressive documents (e.g. acts of the Inquisition), have privileged a reductive vision of the Gypsies as a diasporic, nomadic, marginal minority that was relentlessly persecuted. By building on his previous researches, Dr Aresu will analyse instead a broad range of primary sources, mostly unpublished - from custom records to notarial deeds and parish funds -, that he will collect via an extensive archival search in Madrid, Sevilla, Palermo, Cagliari and in the Romani Collection of the University of Leeds. With an interdisciplinary approach that intersects transnational history, micro-history and historical anthropology, the project will investigate the economic and social relations of Gypsy groups both among themselves and with the other residents, scrutinise their articulated relationships with the local and state institutions, and insert their mobility strategies within the broader circulation processes existing throughout the Mediterranean as a whole. A special focus will be on the role of women, in order to challenge the mono-dimensional image of the Gypsy fortune-teller and enchantress.
Beyond its scholarly value, the project will produce and disseminate alternative narratives on Gyspy history, which can potentially counter the worrying anty-gypsyist discourses that still have currency in parts of contemporary European society.
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-IF-EF-CAR - CAR – Career Restart panelCoordinatore
LS2 9JT Leeds
Regno Unito