CEU Romani Studies Program

09/23-25.Konferencia: A holokauszt emlékezete Magyarországon nyolcvan évvel a Soá és a Pharrajimos után A Magyarországi Autonóm Orthodox Izraelita Hitközség, az ELTE Társadalomtudományi Kar és az RSP szervezésében. Az Emlékezetpolitika beszélgetésben, Angela Kocze moderálásával, Agnes Barsony-Daroczi, János Bársony, Zombory Máté,
Majtényi György, és Mikó Zsuzsanna a Roma Holocaust, Pharrajimos, Kali Trash, Samudaripen emlékezetpolitikai stratégiáit vitatja meg. https://events.ceu.edu/2024-09-23/conference-holokauszt-emlekezete-magyarorszagon-nyolcvan-evvel-soa-es-pharrajimos-utan

Big news! Demiran and Tomáš, two RGPP alumni, are starting their PhDs! Their reflections on the role their tutors and RSP played in their success are humbling. Please join us in congratulating them!🥰
"-I am so grateful to RGPP for helping me better understand the world and take a step toward realizing my full academic potential"- said Demiran Asim, RGPP 2014/2015
"-Without the thorough preparation in the RGPP program, where I was taught mathematics by Hulia Duyan, public policy by Simona Torotcoi, and English by Viktoria Vajnai, along with other great professors, I would have had no idea what I am intellectually capable of."- said Tomáš Strattera Šarközi, RGPP 2021/2022
https://romanistudies.ceu.edu/RGPPs%20in%20PhDs

Congratulations to Stelina, our RGPP and Advanced Certificate in Romani Studies Program alumna, on starting her new journey with ERGO Network! We are humbled by her reference to our ADVANCED CERTIFICATE program🥰: "Completing my MA in Sociology and Social Anthropology at CEU, obtaining an Advanced Certificate in Romani Studies, and engaging with various Roma have equipped me with extensive knowledge of Roma and the immediate issues that need to be addressed, particularly through research, policy making and advocacy. These experiences have only fuelled my enthusiasm for observing and analysing the Roma situation within European institutions"

Welcome Stelina!
The ERGO Network Secretariat team is growing! Our European Solidarity Corps volunteer Stelina Dungaj from Albania joined us in Brussels this week!

She will stay with us until the end of June 2025 to learn more about how we work and support all our work areas, especially communication.

Here is more about Stelina Dungaj in her own words:
https://ergonetwork.org/2024/09/new-european-solidarity-corps-volunteer-in-ergo-network-3/

Congratulations to Anna Daróczi, our alumna, on her nomination for the "SZABAD" award!

We are proud to see RGPP alumni addressing a variety of issues. Congratulations, Nadire Redjepi!

Two years ago, we organized a conference to celebrate Zsigó Jenő's birthday and achievements. We wish Zsigó Jenő good health and thank him for his lifelong work in advancing Roma rights! Watch the recording here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3_tGHVk3yDHi2jVBgSSAGd4qrzIBxjeP

"- This meeting meant so much to me. Years from now, I will use this story to inspire my future students and children, proudly saying that as an RGPP student, I was fortunate enough to have met with Kinga Göncz." - said Jozsef Bader, one of our RGPP students, about the meeting we organized before the end of the academic year for RGPP students to meet with Kinga Göncz, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary and CEU visiting professor. Learn more: https://romanistudies.ceu.edu/article/2024-08-16/rgpp-students-goncz-kinga

We wish good health to George Soros, philanthropist and long-term supporter of Roma rights all over Europe. Happy 94th birthday!

Budapest Aug.14- Kollektív kurátori tárlatvezetés Angela Kocze-val és Hanzli Péterrel a Blinken OSA Archivum -ban! Don't miss this event! To learn more about the exhibition, read Tyler Stephens', Advanced Certificate Program student's recap : https://romanistudies.ceu.edu/article/2024-07-15/visit-osa-budapest-and-see-forgotten-archive-dedicated-roma-history-until-august

The 2024 Pre-RGPP online summer course just ended! We had 23 participants from 11 countries. Two participants, Veronika and Janette, shared their experiences! A big thank you to our English teachers and tutors for their work! Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and sign up for our newsletter to receive updates about calls and opportunities like the Pre-RGPP Online Course offered by RSP. https://romanistudies.ceu.edu/pre-rgpp-online-summer-course

Ma van a roma holokauszt emléknapja.

📚 A Tények és Tanúk sorozat két kötete mutatja be az elmúlt fél évszázad két fontos személyiségének történetet, a hazai és nemzetközi roma mozgalom történetét.

📖 Zsigó Jenő: Vezetőszáron
Zsigó Jenő a hazai független roma mozgalom egyik legmeghatározóbb személyisége, az alapítók egyike. Életútját és szellemi fejlődését e sok részletre kiterjedő, az élő beszéd drámaiságával, a nemegyszer kíméletlen szembesítés erejével ható visszatekintésben összegzi. A Neményi Máriával folytatott beszélgetései alapján készült szöveg az életút kronológiája mentén halad a családi indíttatástól a reményekkel, sikerekkel és kudarcokkal teljes szakmai tevékenység bemutatásával napjainkig. A kötet végén számos dokumentumot közlünk, továbbá intézménylista és annotált névmutató segíti az olvasót a tájékozódásban.

📖 Daróczi Ágnes: Hosszú az út előttem
Daróczi Ágnes személyes története összefonódik a roma politikai követelések mozgalmával. Versmondó, népművelő, kultúraszervező, aktivista, újságíró-szerkesztő, kisebbségkutató és legfőképpen emberjogi harcos, aki gyengeségeivel és tévedéseivel együtt a különböző ideológiai rezsimeken keresztül következetesen küzdött a romák „nemzetiségi elnyomása” ellen. A könyv Kóczé Angéla interjúsorozatára támaszkodva, fényképekkel és a korszak néhány markáns, ritkán látott szöveges dokumentumával illusztrálva jelent meg.

A két kötet a CEU Romani Studies Program és a Magvető együttműködésében valósult meg.

We are remembering the Holocaust's Roma and Sinti victims and survivors. We amplify their stories and the advocacy efforts behind making Romani history visible in the collective memory. If you can, visit these local events. If you can't, explore the online resources:

Read: Critical Romani Studies Journal - Roma Holocaust, Memory, and Representation: Download for free: https://crs.ceu.edu/index.php/crs
Read:"Hosszú az Út Előttem": Life history of Agnes Barsony-Daroczi book from Magvető and REVDEM podcast with Angela Kocze https://revdem.ceu.edu/2024/04/15/the-movement-for-roma-emancipation-in-hungary-angela-kocze-discusses-the-life-and-times-of-agnes-daroczi/
Visit: "The Forgotten Archive" https://www.facebook.com/events/3823866287847205/?ref=newsfeed
Join: Uccu Roma Informális Oktatási Alapítvány - "Elvitték a cigányokat" - az Emlékezés Menete Learn from:
Dikh He Na Bister - Roma Genocide Remembrance Join Chiricli 's events, and visit European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture - ERIAC's CARGO—of Dust and Ashes exhibition.

So much has happened to us in the past 20 years. We have collected the key milestones of the Romani Studies Program into 9 bites! Learn more:
https://romanistudies.ceu.edu/milestones-romani-studies-program

Over the past 20 years, we graduated 25 cohorts of brilliant people. We have gathered 20 years of class photos in our 2004-2024 yearbook! Check out the photos & learn more about how the alumni community, teachers, tutors, and RSP challenge the reproduction of inequality through higher education: https://romanistudies.ceu.edu/alumni-community-20-years

The RSP's 2023/2024 graduating cohorts!

Visit the OSA in Budapest and see the "The Forgotten Achive" dedicated to Roma history until August 25

Visit the OSA in Budapest and see the "The Forgotten Achive" dedicated to Roma history until August 25 | Romani Studies Program On June 21, 2024, the Blinken OSA Archivum in Budapest unveiled their newest exhibition, which is titled “Facts for Real – Collections and Communities.”

This article is a great example of many things: alumni achievements, alumni peer support, and reclaiming narratives! Congratulations to two of our former students, Judit Ignacz and Vivien Brassoi!
https://www.glamour.hu/eletmod/brassoi-vivien-roma-szarmazasu-szakjogasz/rx0nrxq?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1wSFs6nJ_psKASl1g3J52AVWJN1KcPI0qSx0DsB0CwgllHU2GVItwZCag_aem_7mJ_AO7DvcvoGXze9eTU9A

Hogyan lesz egy roma kislányból egy szervezet jogi igazgatója? Ő maga meséli el Brassói Vivien Kalocsán született és élt egészen tizenkilenc éves koráig. „Idejártam oviba, általános iskolába és gimibe is," - meséli Vivien, aki ma már elismert roma származású, emberi jogi szakjogász. Szülei a kalocsai paprikamalomban dolgoztak gyári munkásként.

Congratulations to our graduating RGPP students, MA students, and Advanced Certificate in Romani Studies students! We wish you the best of luck! Please join us in congratulating and welcoming them in our alumni community!

RGPP final presentations - June 17! Follow the students' presentations via Zoom: 👏👏https://events.ceu.edu/2024-06-17/rgpp-final-paper-presentations-2023-24

Apply to our Pre-RGPP Online Summer Course by June 15! Send your CV! Learn more: romanistudies.ceu.edu

June is Pride Month! In the Critical Romani Studies' 2021 issue titled "Roma LGBTI, Feminist Movement and Scholarship” Dezső Máté, Laura Corradi, Arman Heljic, Justyna Matkowska, David Tiser, and Isaac Blake, and other scholars explore the experiences of Roma communities through gendered lens. Download the journal for free: https://crs.ceu.edu/index.php/crs/issue/view/7

The RGPP-preparatory online summer course's application is open! Apply if you are Roma and interested in improving your English and academic skills! Deadline: June 15! Details: https://romanistudies.ceu.edu/article/2024-05-26/apply-pre-rgpp-2024

🎉 Exciting News! 🎉
Critical Romani Studies is delighted to launch two new issues simultaneously! After much anticipation, we're proud to present Volume 5 Issue 2 and Volume 6 Issue 1. 📚✨

Discover the latest research, thought-provoking articles and insightful works that advance the field of Critical Romani Studies. All articles are openly accessible! 📖💡

🎨Keeping with our tradition, we proudly feature the works of two extraordinary contemporary Romani artists on our covers:
Emília Rigová (v5n2) and Małgorzata Mirga-Tas (v6n1).

🧏‍♀️Check out the brilliant authors and their contributions below:

Volume 5 Issue 2:
ARTICLES:
• Joey Rauschenberger: Niches of Agency: Romani Voices and Romani Allies in Compensation Procedures after 1945
• Petre Breazu: Decontextualizing a Ban on Begging: A Multimodal Critical Analysis of Media and Political Discourse in Sweden
BOOK REVIEW:
• Maria Yordanova Atanasova: Ari Joskowicz. 2023. Rain of Ash: Roma, Jews, and the Holocaust. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.
ARTS AND CULTURE:
• Blanka Szilasi and Lavinia Laluna Lucie Seidel: Their Skin Was their Only Sin: Anti-Roma Murders in Hungary and Austria

🔗v5n2: https://crs.ceu.edu/index.php/crs/issue/view/10

Volume 6 Issue 1:
ARTICLES:
• Emma Várnagy: ‘Purely Gypsy Behaviour’: Interpreting Negative Stereotypes in Racist Police Violence Cases at the European Court of Human Rights
• Delia Popescu: The Text beyond Itself: Romani Social Construction in Romanian Secret Police Files
BOOK REVIEWS:
• Aidan McGarry: Anna Mirga-Kruszelnicka. 2022. Mobilizing Romani Ethnicity: Romani Political Activism in Argentina, Colombia, and Spain. Budapest: CEU Press.
• Burak Akın: Ernő Kállai, György Majtényi, Zsuzsanna Mikó, and Péter Tóth. 2022. The Hungarian Gypsies/Roma I–II. Budapest: National Archives of Hungary.
ARTS AND CULTURE:
• Miguel Ángel Vargas: On Romani Contemporaneity: Rethinking the Małgorzata Mirga-Tas Exhibition in Seville

🔗v6n1: https://crs.ceu.edu/index.php/crs/issue/view/12

At 2pm today, in the closing panel of the Challenging the Reproduction of Inequality Through Higher Education Angela Kocze discusses access with 5 of our tutors! Petra Bakos - who since 2016, tutored 8-10 students, supports creative writing, and teaches in the summer Pre-RGPP course.
Andreea Nicutar - who tutored 17 students over the past 8 years
Lucija Balikic - who tutored 4 students over the past 4 years
Simona Torotcoi - who tutored 20 students since 2015 and is also an alumna
Judit Veres - who tutored 14 students since 2017.

This year's Critical Romani Studies Conference celebrates the 20th anniversary of Roma Access Programs at Central European University! You will find 10+ alumni among the participants and presenters, and speakers! If you have not registered to the Challenging the Reproduction of Inequality Through Higher Education yet: https://forms.office.com/e/uJmhz0rbxf

Magda Matache director of the Roma Program at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University, became more closely involved with RSP in 2015. 9 years ago, at the annual end-of-year student seminar, she delivered a keynote speech on historical injustices, reparations, biased policies and research. Since then, she has been a regular lecturer at the Summer School, a guest speaker at events, and a key figure in building the partnership between the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights and our unit. In the moderated roundtable "The Rationale, Significance, and Challenges of Access Programs," Magda Matache, along with Angela Kocze, Prem Kumar Rajaram, Michael Kozakowski, Jan Selling, and David Ridout, will reflect on equity in education for Roma. Register by May 12 https://forms.office.com/e/uJmhz0rbxf for the Challenging the Reproduction of Inequality Through Higher Education conference!

On May 17, the panel "Access to Higher Education and Anti-Roma Racism" introduces 4 papers that discuss structural barriers, antigypsyism, and marginalization faced by Roma and Sinti communities in different contexts. The panel starts with a presentation by Justyna Matkowska, former RSP applied research fellow, and Simona Torotcoi, RGPP tutor, and one of the first RGPP alumni to earn a PhD. Register the Challenging the Reproduction of Inequality Through Higher Education conference and hear presentations in this panel from Justyna Matkowska, Simona Torotcoi, Martina Drobenova, Sylva Reznikova, and Natascha Hofmann. Register by May 12: https://forms.office.com/e/uJmhz0rbxf

"The legacy of the Romani Studies Program is its BRILLIANT students who have made a real impact on the public sphere, addressing social, political and economic issues of concern to Romani communities"- said Prem Kumar Rajaram, former RGPP Academic Director, and Sociology and Social Anthropology professor at CEU. On May 16, join the moderated discussion "The Rationale, Significance, and Challenges of Access Programs," that features Margareta Matache, Angela Kocze, Prem Kumar Rajaram, Michael Kozakowski, Jan Selling, and David Ridout. Register to the conference Challenging the Reproduction of Inequality Through Higher Education by May 12 via: https://forms.office.com/e/uJmhz0rbxf

TIME TO REGISTER! The Annual Critical Romani Studies Conference is held on May 16-17, 2024 in a hybrid format, in Vienna (Austria) and online. The Challenging the Reproduction of Inequality Through Higher Education celebrates the 20th anniversary of CEU’s Roma Graduate Preparation Program (RGPP, formerly Roma Access Program). Register until May 12: https://forms.office.com/e/uJmhz0rbxf

Partners: Roma Program at the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights , Yehuda Elkana Center for Teaching, Learning, and Higher Education Research, Critical Romani Studies, Södertörn University , CEU Romani Studies Program