IV.
I. Roma in Russia and the Former Soviet Union
ANDRONIKOVA, I. M. “Evolution of the Dwellings of the Russian
Gypsies.” Soviet Anthropology and Archeology, Vol. XI, No. 1, pp.
3-28. Reprinted from Sovetskaia etnografiia, No. 4 (1970).
A unique look at the dwellings of the various
Romany groups in different parts of the former Soviet Union, this richly
illustrated article blends ethnographic detail with a history of the Romany
experience in different parts of the country over the past few decades.
BARANNIKOV, A. P. “Ob izucenii cygan SSSR.” Bulletin de l’Academie des
Sciences de l’U.R.S.S. Leningrad: Izvestija Akademii Nauk SSSR. Vol.
VII, No. 5 (1929), pp. 369-98; and No. 6 (1929), pp. 457-78.
This unique study traces the history of the Romany
presence in tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union from the early 18th century
to the late 1920s. He details Romany efforts to create their own literature
and provides excellent demographic evidence on the Romany presence in the
Soviet state.
BARANNIKOV, A.P. “On the Russian Gypsy Singers of To-Day.” Journal of
the Gyspy Lore Society. Third Series, Vol. XI, Nos. 3-4 (1932), pp.
187-192.
This article is an excellent look at Romany life
in the Soviet Union in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The author blends
his discussion of Romany musical traditions with the shifts and changes
in Soviet cultural policies during this period.
BARANNIKOV, A. P. The Ukrainian and South Russia Gypsy Dialects.
Leningrad: Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1934. Ukrainian Edition: Ukrains
ki ta pivdenno rosiis ki tsigans ki diyalekti. Leningrad: Izdatel stvo
Akademii nauk CCCR, 1933.
This classic study of Romani dialects in Ukraine
and other parts of southern Russia has a brief historical introduction.
The bulk of this work, though, concentrates on linguistic matters. It has
chapters on the various Romani dialects in this part of the country, and
also discusses at some length the phonetics, morphology, and syntax of
these dialects. It ends with an extensive collection of Romani texts from
sedentary and nomadic Roma in Ukraine and southern Russia.
BOBRI, Vladimir. “Gypsies and Gypsy Choruses of Old Russia.” Journal
of the Gypsy Lore Society. Third Series, Vol. 40, Nos. 3-4 (July-October
1961): pp. 112-20.
This classic essay explores the unique Romany
choral tradition in Russian history. According to the author, a close associate
of Catherine the Great put togther a Romany serf chorus, which soon became
the rage among the nobility. Over time, no noble family of any consequence
was without its Romany serf chorus. This strong Romany musical tradition
continued until well into the 19th century, and was the basis for continued
Russian fascination with Romany music.
CHINYAEVA, Elena. “Hostages of Their Own Music.” Transitions, Vol.
4, No. 4 (September 1997), pp. 45-49.
This author shatters the stereotypical Russian
image of the Roma based on the rich musical contributions in Russian society.
The author shows that these images are very much contrary to actual Romany
life and culture in Russia. These stereotypes remained a part of the Russian
art scene throughout the 1980s. Today, the gypsy problem is not the issue
it is in Central and Eastern Europe, though there is a danger of Romany
artistic traditions being lost in the larger Russian culture.
CHERENKOV, L.N. “Nekotorye problemy ethnograficheskogo Tsygan SSSR,” in
I.I. Krupnik, ed., Malye i Dispersnye Etnicheskie gruppy v Evropeiskoi
chasti SSSR (Geografiia rasseleniia i kul turnye traditsii). Moscow:
Moskovskii filial Geografischeskogo obshchestva SSSR, 1985.
This essay looks at the estimated 200,000 Roma
in the former Soviet Union, and analyzes this population along dialectical
and ethnographic lines. He subdivides these categories and his studies
along settlement, religious, occupation, lifestyle, and name patterns.
He feels that a Romany mindset centers around a sense of their own unique
ethnic heritage and socio-professional grouping.
CROWE, David. “The Liuli (Gypsies) of Central Asia.” AACAR (Association
for the Advancement of Central Asian Research) Bulletin. Vol. VI, No.
1 (Spring 1993), pp. 2-6.
This essay provides a look at Central Asia’s
small Romany group, the Liuli, which is divided into four groups. Most
of the Liuli live in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, though there are also Liuli
in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakstan, and Turkmenistan. Though they officially number
less than 30,000, they have been able to avoid the strong force of assimilation,
and speak a secretive language known as lavzi mughat or arabcha, a throwback
to the days when they wandered in the Middle East.
DEMETER, N.G. and L.N. CHERENKOV. “Tsygane v Moskve.” In I.I. Krupnik,
ed. Etnicheskie gruppy v gorodakh Evropeiskoi chasti SSSR: Formirovanie
rasselenie dinamika kultury. Moscow: Moskovskii filial Geograficheskogo
obshchestva SSSR, 1987.
This is a solid look at the history and development
of the Romany community in Russia’s most important city. According to the
authors the Roma began to settle in the imperial capital in 1660 and, over
the next few centuries, came to have an important cultural and artistic
impact on its life. The triumphal creation of the Moscow Theatre Romen
in 1931 became the centerpiece of Romany culture in the Soviet era. By
the mid-1980s, Moscow was home to 1,500-2,000 Roma. Though the Roma once
lived together on the fringe of the city, urban renewal and construction
dispersed them throughout the sprawling environs of this ancient Russian
capital.
DEMETER, R.S. and P.S. Demeter. Obraztsy folklora Tsygan-Kelderarei.
Moskva: Glavnaya Redaktsiya Vostochnoi Literatury, 1981.
This study of Russian Kalderash Roma is by two
of the Soviet Union’s most respected Romany scholars. Though mostly a collection
of Kalderash works, it contains a small introductory section that details
the Roma experience in Russia.
DOBROWOLSKI, V.N. Kisilefskie Zigane. St. Petersburg, 1908.
This classic study centers around the author’s
fieldwork and personal experiences among the Roma in the region west of
Moscow. Though the author provides little background into how he gathered
this material, the result is an extremely important, detailed look at the
history, life, and customs of Russian Roma at the end of the 19th and early
20th centuries. See the citation for Devey Fearon de l’Hoste Ranking in
this bibliography for more information on this work.
DRUTS, Efim, and Aleksei Gessler. “Folklor russkikh tsygan.” in I.I. Krupnik,
ed., Malye is Dispersnye Etnicheskie gruppy Evropeiskoi chasti SSSR
(Geografiia rasseleniia i kul turnye traditsii). Moscow: Moskovksii
filial Geografischeskogo ovshchestva SSSR, 1985.
This glance at the folklore of northern Russian
Romany centers around the folk traditions of urban Roma. This tradition,
which followed them from their nomadic past, has entered the Russian cultural
mainsteam, and has taken on a musicial dimension never practiced by the
Roma themselves.
GILLIAT-SMITH, B.J. “Russian Gypsy Singers.” Journal of the Gypsy Lore
Society. Third Series, Vol. I, No. 2 (1922), pp. 58-64.
An excellent look into Romany life in the early
Soviet Union, this article consists of frequent interviews with a group
of traveling Romany musicians from St. Petersburg who were performing in
Bulgaria.
HALLIDAY, W.R. “A Russian Gypsy Renegade.” Journal of the Gypsy Lore
Society, Third Series 2, no. 3 (1923): p. 6.
This is the story of Jacob, a romantic figure
and Russian Romany diplomat, who Peter the Great sent to spy on the Turks.
It is said that he became an agent for the Ottomans upon his arrival in
Istanbul.
HAARMANN, Harald. Spracherhaltung und Sprachwechsel als Probleme der
interlingualen Soziolinguistik: Studien zur Gruppenmehrsprachigkeit der
zigeuner in der Sowjetunion. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlang, 1979.
In many ways, this study cuts to the heart of
issues of preservation of the Roma’s language and culture against the heavy
force of assimilation in Soviet society. The author bases his work on a
detailed evaluation of the 1970 Soviet census. He looks at how many Roma
considered Romani their first language and how many were fluent in a second
language. This work provides a unique glimpse into Romany life and acculturation,
and underscores the strengths and weaknesses of the linguistic acculturation
process in different parts of the former Soviet Union. If this work is
flawed, it is because the author seemed to accept Soviet census data at
face value.
JANICKI, Joel. “Gypsies.” in George J. Gutsche, ed. The Modern Encyclopedia
of Russian and Soviet Literatures, Vol. 9 (Gulf Breeze, FL: Academic
International Press, 1989), pp. 186-189.
This is an valuable survey of references to Roma
in Russian and Soviet literature. This essay underscores the tremendous
impact of the Roma on the Russian literati. Writers such as Pushkin, Tolstoi,
and Blok have included the Roma in their works.
LEMON, Alaina. “Increasing Opportunities for Romani Publishing.” Transitions,
Vol. 1, No. 18 (6 October 1995), pp. 56-58.
This article looks at the revival of the Romany
press in Eastern and Central Europe. Most of the publications mentioned
in this article are included in this bibliographys periodical section.
LEMON, Alaina. “In Russia, A Community Divided.” Transitions, Vol.
1, No. 4 (29 March 1995), pp. 12-18.
This essay is drawn from several years of fieldwork
done by the author in Moscow and elsewhere. She begins by dealing with
the size of the Romany population and traces the history of the Roma in
Russia since they arrived there in the 15th century. The author addresses
the question of discrimination and looks at state policy towards the Roma
since the 18th century, and discusses briefly the political difficulties
they face as they try to have their problems addressed in the Russian political
arena.
LEMON, Alaina. “Roma (Gypsies) in the Soviet Union and the Moscow Theatre
Romen.” Nationalities Papers, Vol. XIX, No. 3 (Winter 1991), pp.
359-372.
A study of one of the most unique, longlasting
Roma theatrical groups in Europe, it blends the tale of this remarkable
theatre with the complex political and cultural upheavals that swept the
Soviet Union from the 1930s through the late 1980s. The author has done
extensive field work among Soviet Roma.
MANUSH, Leksa. “Folk lor Latyshskikh Tsygan.” Sovetskaya Etnografiya.
Vol. 3 (May-June, 1981), pp. 113-123.
This fine article looks at the history of the
study of Latvian Romany folklore from the mid-19th century through the
1970s. It is an essential work for anyone interested in folklore and culture
of Latvian Roma.
NAZAROV, Kh.Kh. “Contemporary Ethnic Development of the Central Asian Gypsies
(Liuli).” Soviet Anthropology and Archeology, Vol. XXI, No. 3 (Winter
1982-83), pp. 3-28.
This is an indepth exploration of the history
and culture of the Liuli, collectively the four groups of Central Asian
Roma. The author uses detailed census information from the 1920s to the
1970s to underscore the significance of their presence, which he traces
to the Middle Ages. He provides the most indepth look at the Liuli currently
available in English. This article is particularly strong on the impact
of Soviet policies on the Roma, not only in Central Asia, but throughout
the Soviet Union.
RANKING, Devey Fearon de l’Hoste. “The Gypsies of Central Russia.” Journal
of the Gypsy Lore Society. New Series. Vol. I, No. 3 (January 1911),
pp. 195-217; “The Gypsies of Central Russia: The Gypsies of Kisilefka.”
Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society. New Series, Vol. IV, No. 4 (April
1911): pp. 245-258; “The Gypsies of Central Russia: Manners and Customs.”
Journal
of the Gypsy Lore Society. New Series. Vol. VI, No. 2 (1912-13), pp.
90-110.
This collection of articles is drawn from the
author’s reading and translation of V.N. Dobrowolski’s Kisilefskie Zigane,
which is discussed elsewhere in this bibliography. The articles provide
an extremely useful analysis of Dobrowolski’s important studies on the
Roma in this village in the Smolensk oblast.
ROM-LEBEDEV, I. Ot Tsyganskogo khora k teatru Romen. Moskva: Iskusstvo,
1990.
Though this excellent study centers around the
history of the Moscow Theatre Romen since it founding in 1931, it is much
more. It traces the history of the Roma and their arts back to the 18th
century, and brings to life the rich musical and artistic traditions and
individuals that have so enriched Russian history. A unique collection
of photos and theatre art make this a very special study of Romany life
and culture in Russia and the former Soviet Union.
SHOUP, Paul S. The East European and Soviet Data Handbook: Political,
Social, and Development Indicators, 1945-1975. Columbia University
Press, 1981.
A work that contains important data on the Romany
population in the former Soviet Union, its constituent republics, and the
countries of Eastern Europe.
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