Taylor (2014), an historian at the Birkbeck University in London, talked about her new book “Another Darkness, Another Dawn: A History of Gypsies, Roma and Travellers”. At the beginning, she addressed the intense politicization and instrumentalization of Rroma by politics and journalism. The Rroma are once again made to scapegoats for all social ills and abused in political debates about immigration, debates that are dominated by fear mongering.

From a historical perspective, Taylor states that until today, Rroma are not part of the official historiography. However, Rroma are not granted separate history either, rather, they are ascribed an existence in a timeless bubble untouched by modern life. Taylor wants to overcome this deficiency with her book, and wants to complement the official, popular history with the history of the Rroma. She does it by connecting important historical upheavals, such as the emergence and decline of empires, wars, political upheavals, the expansion of the state of law, enlightenment and social crises with the history of the Rroma and examining mutual influences: “If exploring the history of Romani peoples was a way of holding up a mirror on the societies in which they lived, it was also a salutatory lesson that it is naive to believe in a progressive view of history: things don’t always get better, especially if you belong to a stigmatized ethnic group. […] Carrying out the research for this book showed how the enslavement of Gypsies coexisted under the Ottomans with remarkable cultural diversity and autonomy; how branding, mutilations and ‘gypsy hunts’ occurred at the same time that Gypsies established themselves across Europe and the Americas; and how despite developments in education and attitudes toward minorities across modern Europe and the U.S. has failed to bring anything like active acceptance of the place of Romani peoples within its societies.” Taylor’s book seems to be an interesting, new contribution to the historiography of the Rroma, even though one cannot critically assess her book with her own review. Her book should be read with a critical attitude, as many scientists and Rroma experts, despite their good intentions, reproduce and maintain false information about the Rroma.

• Taylor, Becky (2014) It’s Time Historians Get Past the Stereotype of Romani Peoples and Write Them into History. In: History News Network online vom 15.6.2014. http://hnn.us/article/155822

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