Romanies, our Neighbours
Romanies, our Neighbours

Summary/Abstract: The Romanies of Niš share the common fate of the Serbian Romanies. Niš is - and this is one of its peculiarities - "a Gypsy town" since it has about 30 thousand "dark boys." They have been living for centuries on the banks of the river Nišava, namely in the distant villages, in the suburban settlements, at the city fringes, in their separate city quarters or deeply hidden in the city center; they are ethnically and culturally different, Orthodox or Muslim by confession, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, known and anonymous, excellent musicians or common old paper collectors, employed in industries or hired workers, workers at the conveyer belt or small-scale sellers, quiet citizens or noisy city hoodlums. The people of Niš meet them at every step; they have little or no immediate contacts. Still, the citizen of Niš does not know them; he is ignorant of where they are from and when they settled here, where and how they live, how and what god they are praying to, where they hurry and what they do, why they are like "that" and not like "this"... From ignorance to prejudice - there is only one step. Many citizens of Niš have not made such a step, but, on the other hand, many of them have accepted the stereotypes about the Romanies.

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