CALL FOR PAPERS: THE ROMANI ATLANTIC

The Atlantic World paradigm has been applied by scholars in multiple ways. Emerging from the work of early modern historians, its expansiveness has much to contribute to other eras and methodological approaches. Although a geographic space, the Atlantic world is even more helpfully conceived as a sphere of circulations, interactions, connections, and exchanges. The flow of people, ideas, and structures undergird all Atlantic scholarship. At its best, the trans-border considerations of Atlantic history/studies can counter the limitations of the nation-state as a frame for scholarly inquiry and enable a more accurate understanding of the most significant, and even defining, features in individuals’ lives. The Atlantic world has proven helpful in understanding a diverse array of people, regions, eras, and phenomena. The Atlantic world as a system of analysis has opened up new dimensions in the history of colonization, immigration, empire, and slavery.

This volume will allow for transformations of Atlantic scholarship once inflected with the considerations of Romani people. It will also allow for unexpected considerations within Romani studies; to date there has not been sufficient attention given to the historicity of the Atlantic as a space of circulation and transformation of the Romani diaspora. The place of the Atlantic in the story of Romanies, and its role in the constitution and transformation of Romani subjectivities and collectivities, has not been adequately problematized. Romani-related scholarship has yet to fully engage in important debates on colonialism, ethnogenesis, cultural (ex)change, and post coloniality. Due to disciplinary traditions, distance exists between the literature on Romani peoples and literatures related to other subaltern communities. 

Submissions will guide the collection’s structure. However, the editors imagine a collection that includes diverse time periods, regions, topics, scales, and approaches. We especially welcome scholarship that: centers the experiences of Romani people; sheds light on conceptions of race, gender, empire; is related to the movement of ideas or people; considers how Romani experiences, identifications, or social positions in Europe have been shaped by circum-Atlantic considerations; presents a strong historical grounding. Submissions may be reflective of new research; however, we are equally as interested in summative pieces drawn from the submitter’s own prior scholarship. Scholars in all stages of their career are encouraged to apply.

Abstracts (300 words) are requested by February 1, 2023, with full chapter invitations extended by March 1, 2023. Final papers (6000-8000 words) will be due in the Fall of 2023. Acceptance in this edited collection will depend on the publisher and the peer review process.

Illustration: Jean-Baptiste Debret: Intérieur d’une habitation de cigannos (1835)