This book is a landmark in the development of a new, authoritative academic approach to Romani studies which leaves behind the patronising racism of experts in "Gypsy Lore" and locates itself in the problems identified by Romani people themselves. It has been assembled in honour of the 70th birthday of the doyen of committed Romani linguists in Britain, Donald Kenrick.
It includes a critical biographical study of Kenrick's work by Thomas Acton, but it is much more than just an act of piety. It includes cutting-edge work by linguists: Ian Hancock on the latest theories on the emergence of Romani itself, and Peter Bakker on the origins of English Romani, while Anthony Grant takes an unsentimental look at the prospects for survival of minority languages in Britain.
Grattan Puxon illuminates the birth of the World Romani Congress, while Gunilla Lundgren shows how far Romani scholarship has come since the days of the Swedish Gypsylorist, the "blond bandit" Arthur Thesleff. Elena Marushiakova, Vesselin Popov and Milena Hubschmannova take a new, politicised approach to folklore, while Valdemar Kalinin takes Kenrick gently to task for underestimating the Romani contribution to the Russian spirit!
The pivotal episode of 20th century Romani history is the porraimos, The Nazi genocide of Roma. Susan Tebbutt looks at its impact on just one artist, while Herbert Heuss locates it in German society and history.
All these and other papers are areas where Donald Kenrick has been a key thinker, encourager and networker. Edited by Thomas Acton, Professor of Romani Studies at the University of Greenwich, this thought-provoking book, with essential essays by leading scholars is not just a memorial to modern developments in Romani studies: it will itself be a key text.
A word for Donald Barikano Lav Donaldoske; Valdemar Kalinin
Introduction: the life and times of Donald Simon Kenrick; Thomas Acton
A champion; Eli Frankham
Chapter 1: The emergence of Romani as a Koïné outside of India; Ian Hancock
Chapter 2: The genesis of 'Angloromani'; Peter Bakker
Chapter 3: Proclamation or preservation? The Bible and Minority Languages; Paul Ellingworth
Chapter 4: The Celtic languages in the twenty-first century: a partisan review; Anthony P. Grant
Chapter 5: "Anti-Gypsyism is not a new phenomenon"; Herbert Heuss
Chapter 6: "My name in the Third Reich was Z:5742": the political art of the Austrian Rom, Karl Stojka; Susan Tebbutt
Chapter 7: Myth as process; Elena Marushiakova and Vesselin Popov
Chapter 8: The Romani movement: rebirth and the First World Romani Congress in retrospect; Grattan Puxon
Chapter 9: Gypsies and planning policy; Diana Allen
Chapter 10: The blond bandit Arthur Thesleff committed scholarship in early Finnish Romani Studies and today; Gunilla Lundgren
Chapter 11: A dialogue with Dr Donald Kenrick about the 'Russian spirit'; Valdemar Kalinin
Chapter 12: Donald Kenrick as polyglot: could he be replaced by a machine? Erik V. Gunnemark
Chapter 13: To eat is to honour God; Milena Hubschmannova
A summary bibliography of works by Donald Kenrick; Thomas Acton
Donald; Charles Smith
Brief notes on contributors
Thomas Acton is Professor of Romani Studies at the University of Greenwich.
He has known Donald Kenrick since spending his gap year before going up to
Oxford teaching at a school for Traveller children on a disused airodrome near
Hornchurch, Essex. He is the first person to hold a chair in Romani Studies at
any university but has always believed in the practical contribution scholarship
can make to providing equality of opportunity and treatment for the Roma.
Scholarship and the Gypsy Struggle: Commitment in Romani Studies; edited by Thomas Acton.
University of Hertfordshire Press, 1st November 2000. ISBN
1-902806-01-8, £17.95.
For more information about Donald Kenrick and his books
University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield,
Hertfordshire AL10 9AD, UK
Tel: + 44 707 284681 Fax: + 44
707-284666 Internet: UHPress@herts.ac.uk