“Sous Les Pavés, Le Gitan,” Or a Romani Counter-Narrative to May 1968

Abstract

Although it occurred mostly during the same period as the revolts of May 1968, and it was hugely consequential for the Roma social movement, the “Romani revolution” is generally absent from French textbooks. This article describes the events that occurred during those years, and the groundwork of diverse Romani activists that led to the emergence of collective structures of representation.

Keywords:

• Roma
• “Gypsies”
• activism
• May 1968
• Communauté Mondiale Gitane
• transnationalism

Notes

Notes

1 There is no single term in the Romani language embracing all individuals of Romani or related ethnic affiliations. In this article I use the term Roma as ethnonym and the expressions Roma/Manouche Roma/Gitan in keeping with the choices of the represented individuals who defined themselves using these exonyms. The use of the quotation marks (“Gypsies”) is to underscore that non-Roma often attach derogatory connotations to these exonyms.

2 Asséo, Henriette. Les Tsiganes: Une destinée européenne. Paris, Gallimard Découvertes, 1994; Hubert, Marie-Christine. “L’Internement des Tsiganes: Une page oubliée de notre histoire redécouverte par l’exploitation des archives des camps d’internement.” Études Tsiganes, vols. 18–19, 2004, pp. 105–116.

3 Some members of the community will contest his Roma ethnicity, although without providing definitive proof (Liégeois, “Le Règne” 17).

4 Puxon, Grattan. “The Romani Movement: Rebirth and the First World Romani Congress in Retrospect.” Scholarship and the Gypsy Struggle, edited by Thomas Action, Hatfield, U of Hertfordshire P, 2000, pp. 94–113.

5 1958 (author’s note)

6 the unofficial publication of the CMG (1961–1966)

7 Vaux de Foletier, François. Les Bohémiens en France au XIX^e siècle. Paris, Lattès, 1981.

8 Henriette Asséo, Les Tsiganes: Une destinée européenne (Gallimard Découvertes, 1994); Delclitte, Christophe. “La Catégorie juridique ‘nomade’ dans la loi de 1912.” Hommes & Migrations, 1995, pp. 23–30; Marie-Christine Hubert, “Les Réglementations anti-Tsiganes en France et en Allemagne, avant et pendant l’occupation” (Revue d’histoire de la Shoa, 1999).

9 Druesne, Jean. “À propos de la loi sur les nomades. Les Origines de la loi de 1912.” Revue de la police nationale, Jan. 1971, pp. 40–45; Christophe Delclitte, “La Catégorie juridique ‘nomade’ dans la loi de 1912” (Hommes & Migrations, 1995); Asséo, Henriette. “La Perception des Tsiganes en France et en Allemagne (1870–1930).” Les Exclus en Europe 1830–1930, edited by André Gueslin and Dominique Kalifa, Paris, Éditions de l’Atelier, 1999, pp. 223–233; Asséo, Henriette. “La Gendarmerie et l’identification des nomades.” Gendarmerie, État et société au XIX^e siècle, edited by Jean-Noël Luc, Paris, Publications de la Sorbonne, 2002, pp. 301–311.

10 Alphonse Bertillon (1853–1914), the founder of anthropometry, the inventor of the mug shot, worked for the Parisian Préfecture de Police since 1879, and was on the committee set up to draft the public administration regulations mentioned in the Act of 1912.

11 There is no clear reason for the dissolution of the CMG. Puxon considers that it is due to Rotaru’s campaign against the law of 1912, and his reparations claim for the Roma genocide (Puxon). Others speculate that the main cause was that Rotaru did not have French citizenship. The Journal Officiel of 13 March 1965 indicates only that “par arrêté en date du 26 février 1965 a été constaté la nullité de l’association étrangère, dite ‘Communauté Mondiale Gitane’ […]” (Liégeois, “Le Règne” 25). The word “étrangère” confirms somewhat that French authorities were concerned by the trans-national aspect of this organization.

12 Jean-Pierre Liégeois, “Le Règne de l’utopie” (Études Tsiganes, 1974); Puxon, Grattan, “The Romani Movement: Rebirth and the First World Romani Congress in Retrospect” in Scholarship and the Gypsy Struggle (U of Hertfordshire P, 2000); McGarry, Aidan. “Ethnic Group Identity and the Roma Social Movement: Transnational Organizing Structures of Representation.” Nationalities Papers, vol. 36, no. 3, 2008, pp. 449–470.

13 The theory of NSMs (New Social Movements) states that the primary difference between the social movements enacted after May 1968 and the previous ones is in their goals: the new movements focused less on materialistic matters, and more on issues related to human rights (see Pichardo, Nelson A. “New Social Movements: A Critical Review.” Annual Review of Sociology, vol. 23, 1997, pp. 411–430).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ileana D. Chirila

Ileana D. Chirila is Assistant Professor of French at the University of New Hampshire. Her areas of research include transcultural/transnational literatures, contemporary Francophone literatures, cosmopolitanism, diaspora, Romani literature and culture, Sino-French literature. She is currently completing a monograph about Romani literature of French expression.