«I use the word “gypsy” because it is the operative term used in the children’s literature to be discussed. Also to stress that it concerns an idea, a construction pretending to represent ‘real’ people. Therefore this fiction contributed to attitudes that really affected (and often disfigured) the lives of people.»

With this powerful statement our colleague Jean Kommers opens a lecture about the role of the «gypsies» in children´s literature at the Jewish Historical Museum of Amsterdam (April 21, 2018). His lecture offers a dialogue with the study about Jews in Children’s books by Ewout Sanders (Levi’s eerste kerstfeest. Jeugdverhalen over Jodenbekering, 1792-2015 [Levi’s first Christmas, Juveniles about the conversion of Jews). PENDARIPEN provides a summary of this interesting activity, that will take place on April 21 (2018).The lecture is mainly about an idea which in juveniles is related in particular with “gypsies”: the stealing of children. A booklet edited in 1993 (and re-issued in Spanish in 2016) was called “Stealing of Children, or Stealing of Gypsies?”. Main thesis was that rather than “gypsies” are stealing children, the various authors are ‘stealing’ “gypsies” to (mis)use them for a range of goals. The stories – often openly about didactic ideas – in fact are about power and inequality.

El pasado día 22 de febrero tuvo lugar el segundo taller de trabajo del Proyecto Pendaripen, celebrado en la Universidad de Sevilla. En esta ocasión, el seminario consistió en un debate a partir del texto presentado por nuestra compañera Carolina García Sanz, titulado «Presuntos culpables». Construcciones sociales del gitano y dinámicas de incriminación para-penal.

«Why we need Romani history. Endeavours to conduct collaborative research» was the title of the lecture given by María Sierra on January 30 in the Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery of the University of Leeds. With this disturbing sentence, she introduced several reflections in relation to our research project, beginning with the question of why it is often said that Roma people have no history. As María Sierra explained, this affirmation –coined by the English writer George Borrow– reflects how modern societies have understood Roma as nomadic and illiterate people without historical consciousness; people who didn’t (and still don’t) fit in a concept of History made from the colonialist and excluding western perception.

The acronym HEIM stands for Higher Education Internationalisation and Mobility: Inclusion, Equalities and Innovations, which is the name of one of the research projects funded by European Horizon 2020 (Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, H2020-643739), in which several colleagues at the University of Seville, directed by Mayte Padilla, are currently participating. Mayte represents the Andalusian Spanish arm of a powerful research partnership, which includes the coordinating university, the University of Sussex in the UK, where the Project Director, Professor Louise Morley, is based, the University of Umeá in Sweden and the Roma Education Fund in Budapest, Hungary. This website provides more detailed information about the Heim project. The main objective of HEIM is to assess the international situation of the Roma communities in the area of higher education and to promote general and academic policies to encourage access and mobility among Gypsy students, both male and female.