Romani people in France

Not to be confused with Romanians in France.

Romani people in France (French: Roms en France), generally known in spoken French as gitans, tsiganes or manouches, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group in France.^[3]

Romani People in France

Total population
est. 500,000 – 1,200,000[1]
Regions with significant populations
Alsace, Aquitaine, Île-de-France, Languedoc-Roussillon, Lorraine, Midi-Pyrénées, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Rhône-Alpes, Bretagne
Languages
Romani languages (Sinti-Manouche, Erromintxela, Kaló) French,[2] Spanish
Religion
Christianity (Evangelicalism and Roman Catholicism), Romani mythology
Related ethnic groups
Primarily other Roma Manouches: Sinti Gitans/French Caló: Spanish Caló, Portuguese Caló, Brazilian Caló Roms: Balkan Roma Erromintxela: Kalderash, Basques, Cascarots Cascarots: Spanish Roma, Erromintxela, Basques

History

The first Roma came to France in 1418, to the town of Colmar. In 1419 more Romani arrived in Provence and Savoy. Nine years later the first Roma were recorded in Paris. In 1802, a concerted campaign was launched to remove Roma from the French Basque provinces. Over 500 Roma were captured and imprisoned, awaiting their planned deportation to the French colony of Louisiana. However, the colony was sold to the United States in 1803.^[4]

In 1962, the Roma population in France increased due to an influx of refugees from Algeria.^[5]

Culture

Every year in late May, Romani people travel to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer for Saint Sarah.^[6]

Gypsy Jazz and flamenco are popular Romani genres in France. Gipsy Kings are a popular flamenco band from Spain. There are two important Romani music festivals in France. There is a gathering at Saintes Maries de la Mer where Romani people from France and Spain congregate to celebrate the feast day of the Romani patron saint, Saint Sarah, on May 24th and May 25th in the Camargue. The music at this festival is predominantly flamenco with a large population of musicians making the pilgrimage from Andalusia. Another festival, Mosaïque Gitane takes place each July every year in Arles.^[7]

Origin

Studies reveal that the Romani people originated in South Asia,^[8][9] presumably from the regions of present-day Punjab, Rajasthan and Sindh.^{[10][11][12][13]}

Linguistic, historical and genetic evidence suggests that the Romani people initially migrated from the north of present-day India or the east of modern Pakistan in the second half of the first millennium.^[14] They then spent a period of time in the Byzantine Empire before migrating across Europe, with various groups diverging from an initially unified proto-Romani-speaking community based in the Balkans.^[14]

The linguistic evidence has indisputably shown that roots of Romani language lie in South Asia: the language has grammatical characteristics of South Asian languages and shares with them a large part of the basic lexicon, for example, body parts and daily routines.^[15] However, their exact point of departure within the subcontinent has not been established with certainty..^[14] Romani's origins lie in the Central Indo-Aryan group of languages, such as Hindistani and Haryanvi, from present-day northern central India.^[14] However, the Romani languages also share some linguistic innovations found in the Northwestern Indo-Aryan group of languages, like Panjabi and Sindhi. Therefore it is possible either that their dialect was a transitional form between Central and Northwestern Indo-Aryan, or that they migrated from the central region to modern-day northwestern India and western Pakistan, residing there for a period of time before migrating further west.^[14]

Genetic findings in 2012 suggest the Romani migrated from South Asia as a single group.^[16] According to a genetic study in 2012, the ancestors of present scheduled tribes and scheduled caste populations of northern India, traditionally referred to collectively as the Ḍoma, are the likely ancestral populations of modern European Roma.^[17]

Population

In France the Romani people are typically classified into three groups:

• "Manouches", also known as "Sinté" (in Germany and Holland: Sinti), who often have familial ties in Germany and Italy, who form the majority of Romani groups
• "Gitans", who trace their familial ties to Romani people in Spain^[18]
• "Roms", who come from territories in eastern Europe

The term "Romanichel" is considered pejorative in France,^[19] and "Bohémien" is outdated. Members of the Romani minority often call themselves Voyageurs (Travellers).^[2] The French National Gendarmerie referred to them in an ethnic database by the acronym "MENS" ("Minorités Ethniques Non-Sédentarisées"), an administrative term meaning "Travelling Ethnic Minorities". However this usage is not widely used, since this ethnic database was secret as creating ethnic data is illegal in France.^[20]

The exact numbers of Romani people in France are not known, with estimates varying from 20,000 to 400,000,^[21] depending whether they include or not sedentary Roma, Manouches and cognate groups who intermingled with non-Roma Travellers (including Yenish people). The vast majority of this population uses a variety of French, usually called Voyageur, as their native language.^[2]

The French Romani rights group FNASAT reports that at least 12,000 Balkan Romani, who have immigrated from Romania and Bulgaria, live in unofficial urban camps throughout the country. French authorities often attempt to close down these encampments. In 2009, the government sent more than 10,000 Romani back to Romania and Bulgaria.^[22]

In 2009, the European Committee of Social Rights found France had violated the European Social Charter (rights to housing, right to protection against poverty and social exclusion, right of the family to protection) in respect to Romani population from foreign countries.^[23]

• 
  Guitar player Django Reinhardt.
• 
  Painting of two Romani girls in France by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, c. 1902
• 
  Painting of a Romani woman at a fountain in France, by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, c. 1865-1870
• 
  Ritual bath in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, a shrine associated with Romani people.
• 
  Painting of a Romani girl in France by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1879
• 
  The Gypsies, an 1862 print by Édouard Manet
• 
  The Gypsy Princesses, a painting by Narcisse Virgilio Díaz, c. 1865-1870
• 
  A seal on a document on the Montreuil-Bellay "nomad concentration camp" (1943).

Repatriations

Main article: Deportation of Roma migrants from France

In 2010 and 2011, the French government organized repatriation flights to send Romanian Romanis to Romania. On 12 April, a chartered flight carrying 160 Romani left northern France for Timișoara. As in the 2010 deportations, the French government gave those Romani leaving France €300 each, with €100 for each child. The Romani on the 12 April flight were forced to sign declarations that they would never return to France.^[24]

On 9 August, the city of Marseille in southern France forcibly evicted 100 Romani people from a makeshift camp near Porte d'Aix, giving them 24 hours to leave.^[25] A chartered flight carrying approximately 150 Romani to Romania left the Lyon area on 20 September.^[26] France's goal for 2011 was to deport 30,000 Romani to Romania.^[27] As of 2012, France sent about 8,000 Romani to Romania and Bulgaria in 2011, after dismantling camps where they were living on the outskirts of cities. The actions prompted controversy and calls for greater inclusion of Romani people.^[28]

Racism

Prejudiced views of Romani are widespread in France, with a 2014 Pew Research poll indicating that two-thirds of French people have unfavorable views of Romani.^[29] In 2016, more than 10,000 Roma were evicted by French authorities. According to a report published by the Human Rights League of France and the European Roma Rights Centre, 60 percent of all Romani living in France were forcibly evicted from their homes in 2016, many in cold winter months.^[30]

Rumors and fake news stories of a white van occupied by Romani attempting to abduct children or young women have spread across the French internet on multiple occasions. A number of violent incidents against Romani occurred in March 2019 after rumors of Romani kidnapping children spread on Facebook and Snapchat. Two people in a white van were attacked by 20 youths in Colombes on 16 March. On 25 March, 50 people attacked a Roma camp in Bobigny with sticks and knives, burning several vans, and a separate group of Romani were chased and attacked in Clichy-sous-Bois.^[31] Similar incidents occurred in Aubervilliers, Bondy and Noisy-le-Sec.^[32]

Notable individuals

Further information: Category:French people of Romani descent

See also

• Cascarots, a group of Romani in the Basque Country
• Erromintxela, a group of Romani in the Basque Country with their own language
• Gypsy jazz § France
• Romani people in Algeria