A Second Look 4
How We Live(d)
Research on life of Romani women conducted 2000 in area of Zenica, Kakanj, Zepce and Visoko (municipalities of Zeica-Doboj Cnton; FBiH, Bosnia and Herzegovina) – first of that kind in BH.
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This project was created in order to hear from Romani women in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We wanted to learn about the Romani culture and whether there are clear connections between race, class, gender, and domestic violence. Thus, we created a project that would have both quantitative and qualitative aspects. We now present you with statistics about Romani women in the Zenica municipality as well as voices from Romani women themselves.
The first section of this book presents you the findings from the original research conducted by Medica Zenica Infoteka in 2000 about the situation of Romani women in the Zenica municipality of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is a follow-up to the research conducted in 1998 by Medica Zenica on the prevalence of domestic violence in the non-Romani population. This section of the book, “Race, class, gender, and Violence: the situation of Romani women in the Zenica municipality of Bosnia and Herzegovina” contains information from a study designed for Romani women in the Zenica municipality based on the abovementioned study, about the socio-demographic status of Roma, prevalence of domestic violence that Romani women reported, thoughts about gender and domestic violence, and comparison of the above information with non-Romani women in the Zenica municipality.
The second section of this publication includes an introduction to what oral history means, six of the 24 interviews we conducted with Romani women, and a commentary from two of the interviewers summarizing the narrators’ stories and common themes in many of the interviews.
The third part contains an article by Ian Hancock, a professor at the University of Texas, Austin, about the history of Roma and different forms of discrimination about Roma throughout history brief essays from members of Medica Zenica about their professional experiences with Roma. At the end, you will find a translation of the original survey used for the quantitative part of our research.
This book has been published in the English, Bosnian, and Romani languages. The English title “How we live(d)” comes from one of our narrators in the in-depth interview part of our research. The full sentence and title of the Bosnian version of this publication is “Nismo naučile(i), tako smo živjele(i)”—”That’s not what we learned, that’s how we lived.” We urge you read this publication and hope that you enjoy it.
The Infoteka Team
