RomArchive - The Digital Archive of the Roma

Awarded
Story
Country
Germany
Year
2020
Storyteller
Isabel Raabe
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Overview

Roma and Sinti are the largest minority in Europe. Their image is marked by stereotypes and prejudices, little is known of their cultural richness and its intertwining with European culture. RomArchive - The Digital Archive of the Roma wants to change this. RomArchive makes this richness of the arts and cultures of the Sinti and Roma visible for the first time and illustrates their contribution to European cultural history. It presents counter-narratives told by Sinti and Roma themselves and, with over 5,000 objects, offers a reliable source of knowledge that counters stereotypes and prejudices with facts. RomArchive went online in January 2019 after a five years development phase in which 150 project participants from 15 countries participated. It was awarded with the Grand Prix of the European Heritage Award/Europa Nostra Award 2019. This story wants to tell about the background, challenges and output of this pioneering project. A very European story.

Have you learned about the history and culture of the Sinti and Roma in school? Not me. Nor have I learned that 500,000 Sinti and Roma were victims of the genocide perpetrated by the Nazis. What we learn are negative images from the media or traditional stereotypes like the figure of Carmen. But where can we find valid sources of knowledge? Where can we learn about Roma? Where can we read the stories based on self-portrayal? This is the reason why me and my colleague Franziska Sauerbrey initiated this project. RomArchive wants to fill this gap by making the arts and cultures of the Roma visible and accessible online and providing counter-narratives told by Roma themselves. That the German Federal Cultural Foundation generously supports this project can also be seen as a sign: One of the largest public foundations in Europe is dedicated to Europe's largest minority, recognizing and promoting the richness of its centuries-old culture. Roma and Sinti are a group shaped by the national cultural characteristics of the countries they live in. At first glance, a Romanian Roma, a Spanish Gitano and a German Sinto do not have much in common. So, presenting the cultures of this heterogeneous minority spread over all European countries, how can this be done? It was important to bring together all the different voices and cultural identities of the Roma and Sinti. For RomArchive does not want to define the image of the Roma, but to show the diversity and plurality and the interweaving with the different national cultures. Take flamenco, national culture in Spain, which was largely shaped by the Spanish gitanos, the compositions of Liszt or Brahms, which were influenced by Roma music, or European jazz, which was created by the Manouche musician Django Reinhardt. Self-representation is the guiding principle for RomArchive. Roma shape the archive in all decisive positions of responsibility: as curators, as artists, as scientists and in the advisory board which is accompanying the project. For this reason, the committee architecture was an important prerequisite for the success of the project. How are decisions made? How can self-representation succeed in the face of the diversity of the participants? What is authentic, what is stereotypical? If the colourful skirts are stereotypes for some, for others they are the authentic clothes of their grandmother. There is not only the "single story". These negotiation processes take time and so it took more than two years until the advisory board, which appointed the curators and set the strategic guidelines for the project, agreed on a collection policy and ethical guidelines for the archive. Fourteen curators (almost all with Romani background) and their teams have selected exemplary collections for the archive sections of visual arts, film, literature, music, dance, theatre and drama and the interdisciplinary section of flamenco, as well as material on politics of photography, self-testimonies in connection with the persecution of the Sinti and Roma under National Socialism (archive section „Voices of the Victims“) and academic material on the civil rights movement. The material was collected after years of research worldwide from libraries and archives, but also from private collections. More than 5000 objects (photographies, audio material, texts, audio-visual material, contemporary and historical documents) were gathered. In total 150 project participants from 15 countries participated in the development of RomArchive. Despite all cultural and political particularities, it must not be forgotten how much effort it takes to digitise cultural artefacts and catalogue them thoroughly in a database according to archive standards. Art need freedom, archives need standards. RomArchive meets all archive standards and yet its web interface resembles more a magazine than a database. You can meander through the website and lose yourself in a positive sense. The target group of RomArchive is not only the majority society, which can fill its knowledge gaps, but also the Roma and Sinti communities themselves. Roma activists told us again and again how important it is to empower the youth, to make them proud and aware of the cultural richness of the Roma. This was one reason why Romanes, the language of the Roma, which is spoken in many dialects, is the third language of RomArchive, along with German and English. The curators were able to hoard treasures, such as unique audio recordings from the Phonogrammarchiv in Vienna, which document the oral tradition, the "oral literature" of Sinti and Roma. Or extensive collections of historical images of Flamenco from the Centro Andaluz de Documentación del Flamenco in Jerez or of Hungarian Roma dances from the Hungarian Academy of Science. But above all, the curators have managed to gain trust and acquire many materials from private collections which have not been accessible before. „I am very glad that RomArchive allows us to raise awareness of our minority’s important contributions to the cultures and histories of their respective home countries. We live in a democratic Europe, and this gives us the chance to voice grievances and at the same time to refer to and reassess our long history and our culture.“ (Romani Rose, Chair of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma) RomArchive went online in January 2019. The richness of a centuries-old and, to the present day, extremely lively and varied artistic and cultural production is publicly visible on RomArchive for the first time on this scale. It was awarded with the Grand Prix of the European Heritage Award/Europa Nostra Award 2019. Since RomArchive has been online, we have received further offers, mostly from private individuals, artists, activists have come from all over Europe who wish to make their archives available. This development exceeds our expectations and fulfils our wishes for active participation of the Roma communities and further development of RomArchive. Speaking of the future: After the launch RomArchive was handed over to the Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma, which will be responsible for the further development of RomArchive in the future. A follow-up funding by the Federal Agency for Civi Education is secured for another 5 years. The collections can continue to grow. This is only the beginning! www.romarchive.eu

 

Image credits: Damian Le Bas / Back To The Future! Safe European Home 1938, 2013 (Detail), RomArchive: vis_10000, © Galerie Kai Dikhas & Diego Esteban Castellano Cano

European Dimension

12 million Roma live in Europe, Roma are Europe’s largest minority. This alone makes RomArchive a true European project. The project promotes the European Roma network by bringing together about 150 people from all over Europe participating in the development of RomArchive. At the same time it raises awarness for the impact of Roma on national cultures and shows theirs cultural achievements as integral part of the European cultural history. The European Identity is based in it's diversity coming with a shared consensus of values and a sense of belonging. Roma can be seen as avant-garde and role models in this respect. With many national characteristics and differences, they still feel like a large community.