Country of residence

Belarus

Brief introduction

Education

PhD in History, 2010, The K. Krapiva Institute of Arts, Ethnography and Folklore of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus

Academic profile

Since 2002 I have been involved in studies of culture and history of Roma. The materials gathered during my ethnographic field studies yielded a first detailed ethnographic description of Romani groups in Belarus in my diploma thesis “Traditional Culture of the Roma in Belarus” (2007). I continued to work within Romani studies during my doctoral project at the Belarusian State University, Minsk. The main focus of my dissertation was made on the long-term consequences of transition to sedentary life (the middle of the 20th cent.) for social structures of Roma including family, kin groups and subgroups. The study of nine Romani settlements in different parts of Belarus has elucidated serious changes in identity of Roma when importance of membership in territorial community begins to prevail over belonging to a kin group. At the same time institutions of self-government and traditional law (Romani Court) preserve their usual functions, furthering social isolation of Roma. I am currently engaged in the research project “Culture of Ethnic Minorities in Belarus: History, Modern Status, Perspectives of Development” at the K. Krapiva Institute of Arts, Ethnography and Folklore and work on the volume about history and culture of the Roma in Belarus.

Publications

• (2010) Marital Rites of Roma in Belarus (in Belarusian). In: A. Lakotka (ed.), Pytanni Mastactwasnaustwa, Etnalogii i Falklarysryki [Issues of Art History, Ethnology and Folklore], Vol. 8, 280-288.
• (2009) The Roma in Belarus: in the Light of Transformation. Interstitio. East European Review of Historical Anthropology, Vol. 2, 17-29.
• (2009) Public Traditions of Roma in Belarus (in Belarusian). Vesnik Belaruskaga Dzjarzhaunaga Universiteta [Journal of the Belarusian State University], Vol. 3, 20-24.

Keywords

Ethnic identities of Roma in Eastern Europe; Institutions of traditional law and self-government; Modern mobility patterns; Post-Holocaust identities

Contact

volha.bartash@tut.by browse members list