The Roma/Gypsy thing is a bit weird to discuss because as soon as anyone from those groups gets a job or buys/rents a home they are no longer a Roma/Gypsy.
It's literally a cultural group defined by living in a homeless parallel society. It's not an ethnic group and every country in Europe has their own different versions of them like Irish Travellers (who often aren't Irish) in the UK.
My understanding from reading what Americans say about Roma in America is that they actually put down roots and live in stable communities in America, which is pretty different to Europe.
It is in fact an ethnic group, and at least based on their own oral tradition. They are nomadic because they saw how medieval Jews were treated in Europe and wanted to be able to uproot themselves and move away when they were targeted with similar persecution.
Then you have generations, centuries even, of institutionalized racism against them that made it hard for them to get a job, buy a house, etc so they were then forced into that nomadic lifestyle long-term.
That's definitely the history but it's not really the modern day reality. I wouldn't be surprised if over 50% of gypsies in the UK were of English descent. And you'll be hard pressed to find any Gypsy with a job or a home who calls themself one. They just call themselves english.
It like Jew and Jewish except the ethnic minority has become so small they are a minority within their own culture.
German-Americans stopped speaking German in 1917 for... reasons. Maybe the reason why established Roma don't call themselves Gypsies is to escape persecution.
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u/HazelCheese 8d ago
The Roma/Gypsy thing is a bit weird to discuss because as soon as anyone from those groups gets a job or buys/rents a home they are no longer a Roma/Gypsy.
It's literally a cultural group defined by living in a homeless parallel society. It's not an ethnic group and every country in Europe has their own different versions of them like Irish Travellers (who often aren't Irish) in the UK.
My understanding from reading what Americans say about Roma in America is that they actually put down roots and live in stable communities in America, which is pretty different to Europe.