How do Roma people claim an identity? What are our stories? Who is telling the history? Whose history is being told and how?
Original post: https://povestinespuse.eu/en/home/
How can Roma people reclaim an identity when fundamental parts of their history remain untold and when the links between the past and the present are not being discussed?
It is with great pleasure that we are announcing the online launching of a new Collection of Roma Fairy Tales! The collection is available in three different languages: English, Romani and Romanian. The Collection of Roma Fairy Tales is part of a larger project initiated by Alina Şerban in 2014, the Untold Stories project. The Untold Stories project is intended for an international audience and aims to increase awareness of the cultural and social history of the Roma population through artistic events and research. The fairy tales presented in this volume were collected and written down by Roma actress, playwright and researcher Alina Şerban in Bucharest, Romania.
Alina Şerban is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London (MA Theatre Lab programme) and Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. She is currently a supported artist by Tara Arts and Arts Council England.
Alongside the Collection of Roma Fairy Tales, the project features research articles, as well as a reading performance of the play The Great Shame. These are focused on the struggle to voice and address the 500 year old history of Roma slavery in Romania and on the struggle to assert one’s Roma identity. The Great Shame is set to first be presented to the public on the 20th of February in Bucharest, on the anniversary of 160 years since the abolition of Roma Slavery in Romania.
It is particularly important that Roma voices be heard in a Romania and a Europe often and increasingly marked by racism and rejection of immigrants or minorities. The Untold Stories platform aims to fight against the increasing patronizing and hostile silencing and marginalization that Roma people face all over Europe, through artistic expressions and research. The website’s English version is regularly updated!
Therefore we invite you to engage with a piece of Roma culture, with fairy tales about houses made of salt, brave girls, merciful boys, resourceful children, dragons and emperors, in which injustices, adventures and courage are to be found in abundance. They represent a small window into a very important but often marginalized Roma cultural heritage. Enjoy your reading!
The Collection of Roma Fairy Tales can be found here: https://povestinespuse.eu/en/resources/roma-fairy-tales/