The Roma: A Traveling History
The heart of an empath beats behind every page of The Roma: A Traveling History ... A useful overview of the political and legal mechanisms behind institutionalized racism and ethnocentrism against the Roma in Europe. But at its core, this book is an ode to Madeline Potter’s people and culture. Her upbringing in a Romani family during a time of upheaval—as nomadic traditions are eroding rapidly in the face of globalization and technological advancements—lends an important authenticity and lived experience to her writing. The book rests on a foundation of her nostalgia for those years and her desire to celebrate and revivify her heritage ... Potter repeatedly applauds the humanity, beauty, and resilience of the Romani, and while this core message remains tremendously valuable and worth emphasizing, it began to feel well-worn by the halfway mark. Ironically, Potter uses a broad brush to paint the entire diaspora in uniformly warm, approving sepia tones, rather than bringing out the messy humanity in their individual stories. Her similar approach to each anecdote gave the narrative a flat, predictable quality when a closer look at each Traveler, perhaps even an acknowledgment of each person’s faults or foibles, would have served to complicate and enrich Potter’s argument overall ... Potter’s dedication to oral history is admirable ... I was disappointed by Potter’s decision not to widen her lens or diversify her approach to the topic. The book is heavily researched and bristles with citations, but shies away from explicit dialogue with other scholars or prevailing views among historians. Such context would have helped me, a relative neophyte regarding European history, to better understand how ... I was genuinely moved by stories like that of Johann Trollman, the Romani, or 'Sinto,' boxer who fought bravely in the ring against Nazi favorites in the 1930s ... I also enjoyed learning new things about my own country, like the fact that there are one million Roma living in the United States today ... These insights, based on Potter’s lived experience, were refreshing, and I would recommend her perspective for its authenticity and compassion. I wonder, however, if The Roma could have fulfilled a more unique vision if it had engaged directly in conversation with other thinkers and historians on the topic or if it had addressed the clear and present dangers of the moment rather than reiterating abstract praise for the inherent resilience of its characters. Instead of invoking the Romani 'strong spirit,' could the book have more aggressively explored the systemic forces contributing to the modern assimilation of the Roma, especially given the author’s warning that her people are currently undergoing one of the most profound lifestyle shifts—the shift to sedentary living in mainstream residential housing—in their entire documented history?
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Britain’s record of prejudice and persecution is evident in every country where Roma have settled across Europe, and Madeline Potter does an admirable job of assembling this neglected and shameful history ... Alongside her quiet fury, Potter has a deep pride and affection for the remarkable tenacity and resilience of Roma communities underpinned by the passionate cultural vitality of song and story ... She has unearthed the remarkable stories of the Roma who fought for their rights, and their non-Roma allies ... Potter has achieved a difficult task writing a book that, to do justice to its subject, must convey anger and grief, and yet which is also an exhilarating history of resistance and survival of a people who have refused to be defined by their persecutors.
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The book is at its strongest when it compares the experiences of...various national groups, and, of course, it’s the specificities that hit home ...
To a certain extent, The Roma presents a digest of this marginalisation, persecution and the erasure of history, all reflected in Potter’s own experience as she moves around as an observer ... Potter is a clear-headed witness to racism and abuse. And yet I would have liked more on why the endemic hatred and prejudice first took root, and went so deep. Beyond slightly vague talk of fear of the Other, and the information that a negative status clung to Roma from almost the minute they led their horses out of Asia, Potter doesn’t tackle the issue. It’s a mightily complex subject. But The Roma begs the question ... Potter’s prose, however, often deployed in the narrative present tense, tends to be flat...and at times one senses the dead hand of the academic ... She wants to celebrate, as well as memorialise, but...not many pages really sing.
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