[URBANTH-L] QUERY: Panel Match Needed for AAA Paper on Macedonian Muslim Romani Refugees (Carol Silverman)

[Angela Jancius]

Dear Colleagues,

Carol Silverman is looking for panel that would be a good match for her
paper, as described in the abstract below.
Please contact her directly at <csilverm at uoregon.edu>.

Angela Jancius


SILVERMAN, Carol (University of Oregon) MACEDONIAN MUSLIM ROMANI REFUGEES IN
NEW YORK: TRANSNATIONAL FAMILIES, CULTURAL RESOURSES

This paper explores Muslim Balkan Romani (Gypsy) refugees from Macedonia who
currently reside in the Bronx, New York in terms of how and why they
mobilize economic, legal, social, religious, and cultural resources. Roma
activate kin networks and negotiate multiple identities and multiple
occupations in response to discrimination, stigma and changing economic
possibilities. Several family case studies illuminate trajectories of
emigration spanning numerous countries. In the Balkans, Roma face severe
discrimination, prejudice, and physical danger such as police brutality and
skinhead attacks; in the United States Roma face more covert discrimination.
Unlike European Roma, American Roma can often pass as other ethnicities. I
will summarize the problems with the American legal framework, noting the
infrequency that the INS awards political asylum, and the prevalence of
lawyer fraud. I will explore the economic adaptations of Balkan Roma,
including gendered domains of unskilled and blue-collar labor, and how these
are changing with the second generation who are more educated (especially
females). I will explore the transnational networking of families from
Macedonia, Western Europe, Canada, Australia, and New York via telephone,
video, and, mostly importantly, the migration of people. I will discuss the
flow of new spouses (both male and female) to New York, swelling the youth
population, and altering traditional patrilocal residence. Finally I will
explore the notion of community, discussing the locality in which they live,
the social occasions of gathering, the calendrical and life-cycle rituals,
and significant role of music and dance.

Carol Silverman
Assoc. Prof.
Department of Anthropology
University of Oregon
Eugene OR 97403- 1218
tel: 541-346-5114
fax: 541-346-0668
email: csilverm at uoregon.edu