Research of religiosity, spirituality and irreligiozity among the Roma in Slovakia

Information about the project and its outputs

On October 24, an online meeting of the Reliroma project team took place. Following the initial period of field data collection, we discussed aspects of coding and making field materials accessible with the head of the Institute’s documentation department, Dr. Andrej Gogora. These materials will be stored in the archive of the Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology. Given the scope and nature of the materials collected, it is necessary to introduce a special coding system, distinct from inventory numbers, to enable individual materials to be identified and interlinked (e.g., based on family connections). The project team also discussed other important aspects of processing the field materials – such as addressing the handling of confidential information in interviews beyond the level covered by informed consent signed by respondents, as well as options for transferring and storing collected materials on the Institute’s cloud. Further work with the field material, including coding and creating annotations, will be the focus of an on-site meeting in Krakovany at the end of November.

 

Picture 1: Screenshot from the working meeting, October 24, 2024

 

 

Picture 2: Screenshot from the working meeting, October 24, 2024

 

As part of the RELIROMA project, Juraj Majo, in co-authorship with Barbara Lášticová from the Institute for Research in Social Communication of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, v. v. i., published a scientific study in the journal Sociológia – Slovak Sociological Review in October 2024. The publication is in Open Access format.

 

Majo, J., Lášticová, B. (2024). Deklarovanie druhej národnosti v sčítaní z roku 2021 na Slovensku: nové skúsenosti, nové vedecké výzvy.  Sociológia – Slovak Sociological Review, 56(5), 450-480.    DOI: https://doi.org/10.31577/sociologia.2024.56.5.17

Part of the program of the annual Gypsy Lore Society conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, in September 2024 was a panel created within the RELIROMA project, organized by T. Zachar Podolinská and Magdalena Slavkova from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The panel featured contributions from Tatiana Zachar Podolinská, who presented Unveiling the Unexplored Faces of Religiosity, Spirituality, and Non-religiosity among the Roma in Slovakia; Tomáš Hrustič, who discussed Religion as a Driving Factor of Increased Political Participation of Roma in Slovakia; Juraj Majo, who shared insights on Family and Faith in the Romani Community in Slovakia. A Few Remarks from the 2021 Census; and Magdalena Slavkova, who presented on Social Inclusion and Belonging to the Global Community of God’s Chosen People of Evangelical Roma in Bulgaria and Slovakia, a topic she developed during her 2023 residency at the Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology. 

 

  • Book of Abstracts from the conference is available HERE.
  • The opening speech of the president of GLS, Tatiana Zachar Podolinská, is available in electronic version HERE.
  • The scientific paper by T. Zachar Podolinská in the RELIROMA panel is available in electronic version HERE.
  • The scientific paper by J. Majo in the RELIROMA panel is available in electronic version HERE.
  • The scientific paper by M. Slavkova in the RELIROMA panel is available in electronic version HERE.

Read more about the conference HERE.

On June 6, 2024, the research team of the RELIROMA project held a coordination seminar focused on archiving field records. Andrej Gogora, the head of the Scientific Collections and Information-Documentation Department at the Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, presented various aspects and challenges of archiving field records. The research team was introduced to methods of digital preservation of field data, including aspects of data coding and storage. The team also coordinated the plan for field research and data collection for the year ahead.

 

Photo: RELIROMA project team (Branislava Kolesárová)

 

Tatiana Zachar Podolinská and Juraj Majo participated in the international ISORECEA conference in April 2024, focusing on the theme Religious Diversity and Social Cohesion in Central and Eastern Europe and Beyond. Both colleagues presented a paper titled New Wine in Old Wineskins? Current Aspects of Religious Identities and Diversities of Roma Minority in Slovakia.

 

  • The presentation is available for download HERE.
  • The conference program can be downloaded HERE.
  • The electronic version of the Book of Abstracts is available HERE.

Photo: Juraj Majo

 

Tatiana Zachar Podolinská and Tomáš Hrustič spoke at an international conference in Sibiu focused on the role of religion in the social inclusion of Roma. T. Zachar Podolinská delivered a keynote lecture titled Possibilities of Social Inclusion of Roma via Religious Path: Lessons from the Field. T. Hrustič presented on the topic Roma Converts to Jehovah’s Witnesses in Slovakia.

 

Photo: T. Zachar Podolinská

 

Jana Belišová published a study in the journal Religions as part of the RELIROMA project. The publication is available in Open Access format.

 

Belišová, J. (2024). Sounds, Emotions, and the Body in Pentecostal Romani Communities in Slovakia. Religions, 15(5), 532. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15050532

On April 12, 2024, a professional workshop titled Bridges Out of Poverty took place at the Old Lyceum in Bratislava. The workshop focused on how churches and volunteers could work effectively in marginalized Roma communities. Tatiana Zachar Podolinská, along with Anna Polcková (ECAV, Bratislava), spoke at the event.

 

  • The professional materials for the workshop are available HERE.

Photo: Workshop participants (Tatiana Zachar Podolinská)

 

The Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology Slovak Academy of Sciences (IESA SAS) public research organization and the Vigdís International Centre (VIC) for Multilingualism and Intercultural Understanding as public research university have signed the Framework Agreement on Cooperation to promote the development of science and research, the application of new scientific knowledge in practice, the presentation, popularization and dissemination of scientific knowledge as well as for the benefit of the development of domestic and international scientific cooperation and communication to mutually coordinated approaches in ensuring the common interests in scientific research, organizational, legislative, editorial, presentation-promotional and educational areas, as well as in other spheres of common intentions.

 

The Vigdís International Centre for Multilingualism and Intercultural Understanding (Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Institute) operates under the auspices of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, and is affiliated with the Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Institute for Foreign Languages at the University of Iceland. For more information see: https://vigdiscentre.hi.is/en.

 

The Center’s Important agenda is promoting Romani studies through the special program “Roma in the Centre“. This initiative unites several Romani Studies-related projects under the auspices of the Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Institute of Foreign Languages. The initiative is the expression of a long-term commitment to research, present, and popularise — in Iceland, in Nordic countries, in Europe, and globally — the literature and culture of the Roma/Gypsies.

 

For more information see: https://vigdiscentre.hi.is/en/research/roma-centre

 

The Framework Agreement on Cooperation is an output of the project APVV-22-0389 RELIROMA.

 

The text of the Agreement is available here:

https://www.crz.gov.sk/zmluva/8822994/

The introductory meeting of the project APVV-22-0389 RELIROMA is organized by the Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology, SAV, and will take place on November 10 – 11, 2023, at the Hotel under the Linden Tree in Modra-Harmónia.

 

Please, find the program  HERE and also the presentations by T. Z. Podolinská and J. Majo

 

Pictures from the meeting

 

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The current edition provides an opportunity for the young generation of Slovak and Czech PhD students to present their work to an expert audience and receive targeted feedback from internationally established experts in the field of Roma studies.

 

 

The event is organized in collaboration with the Seminar of Romani Studies at the Faculty of Philosophy of Charles University in Prague and is an outcome of the APVV-22-0389 project RELIROMA.

 

 

You can find the event program here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures from the meeting:

 

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The Principal Investigator of the APVV-22-0389 RELIROMA project, Tatiana Zachar Podolinská, participated in the organization of the world congress of the international Gypsy Lore Society (GLS) in Brazil (November 2-6, 2023, in Saõ Paolo). As part of the conference, she led a thematic panel dedicated to religiosity, spirituality, and non-religiosity among Roma worldwide. Within the panel she made an active contribution in which she presented the intentions and methodology of the RELIROMA project, and the results of research devoted to private apparitions with Christian and spiritual motifs (Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ, Angels, Demons, “magic eyes”, etc.) among the Roma in Slovakia and discursive analysis of their media image in Slovak mass media (print and social media and TV).

 

The program of the conference is HERE.

 

The Book of abstracts is HERE.

 

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Photo 2: Congress Gypsy Lore Society (Elena Marushiakova)

 

 

Photo 3: Religious panel 1 (Tatiana Zachar Podolinská)

 

 

 

Photo 4: Religious panel 2 (Tatiana Zachar Podolinská)

 

 

Photo 5: Religious panel 3 (Tatiana Zachar Podolinská)