Map 3.1. The locations of the events described in the chapter
ABBREVIATIONS
| ACDR | The Civic Democratic Alliance of the Roma (Romania) |
| AKP | Justice and Development Party (Turkey) |
| ANR | Romanian National Agency for the Roma |
| CBO | Community-Based Organization |
| CEE | Central and Eastern Europe |
| CHP | Republican Peoples’ Party (Turkey) |
| CoE | Council of Europe |
| CSO | Civil Society Organization |
| DAHR | Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania |
| EANRS | European Academic Network of Romani Studies |
| EC | European Commission |
| ECtHR | European Court of Human Rights |
| EdRom | Edirne Roman Association |
| ERGO | European Roma Grassroots Organizations (Network) |
| ERIAC | European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture |
| ERPC | European Roma Policy Coalition |
| ERRC | European Roma Rights Centre |
| ERTF | European Roma and Travellers Forum |
| ESF | European Social Funds |
| EU | European Union |
| EUJS | European Union of Jewish Students |
| EVS | European Voluntary Service |
| FBO | Faith-Based Organization |
| FER | Ethnic Roma Federation |
| FLAS | Foreign Language and Area Studies |
| FSG | Fundación Secretariado Gitano |
| GLS | Gypsy Lore Society |
| FERYP | Forum of European Roma Young People |
| GRO | Grassroots Organization |
| HDP | Peoples’ Democratic Party (Turkey) |
| HVIM | Hungarian Sixty-Four Counties Youth Movement |
| IDP | Internally Displaced Persons |
| IGO | International Governing Organization |
| IPA | Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance |
| IREX | International Research and Exchanges Board |
| IRU | International Romani Union |
| IST | Institute of Turkish Studies |
| LGBTQ | Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer |
| MHP | Nationalist Movement Party (Turkey) |
| MS | Member State(s) |
| NCCD | National Council for Combating Discrimination (Romania) |
| NGO | Non-Governmental Organization |
| NISR | Netherlands Institute for Sinti and Roma |
| NRIS | National Roma Integration Strategies |
| ODIHR | Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights |
| OMC | Open Method of Coordination |
| OSCE | Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe |
| OSI | Open Society Institute |
| PKK | Kurdistan Worker’s Party |
| QUANGO | Quasi-autonomous Non-Governmental Organization |
| REF | Roma Education Fund |
| RIRNM | Romanian Institute for Research on National Minorities |
| TOKI | Turkey’s Housing Administration |
| UK | United Kingdom |
| UN | United Nations |
| UNDP | United Nations Development Program |
PREFACE
Sam Beck
This book was imagined in Bucharest, when I was invited to participate in a conference organized by the Roma Cultural Museum in Bucharest in 2014, “Roma Policies in Romania: Between Ethnicity and Social Vulnerability; The Perspectives of Nicolae Gheorghe.” This is where I met Ana Ivasiuc, and where we discussed the importance of Roma activism and scholarship in light of controversies regarding the viability of Roma as scholars, and of activism in scholarship. We held strong views about the importance of demonstrating that the Roma were actively engaged in their struggle for recognition as scholars and in their leadership and participation in Roma liberation, resisting the powerful pressures to give up their identities no matter how they are manifested, and fighting for their dignity.
Among the individuals who come to mind who entered this struggle, Nicolae Gheorghe managed to play important roles, mediating between the political controls of Romanian communism and those of Roma groups he sought to embolden, and daring to explore their unification in the 1970s, when I was carrying out field research in Transylvania. My relationship with Romania was limited as my ability to enter the country ended (Beck 1992b), my academic career choices narrowed, and I adapted to the changing environment.
I met Nicolae Gheorghe during my first two years of doctoral research on the history and political economy of an upland Romanian community (1974–76),