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Thank you for doing this, Martha.<br>
<br>
-- Alan<br>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 11/3/2015 7:43 PM, Martha Wild via
Callers wrote:<br>
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All, I have received the following response from a representative
from the Voice of Roma. This seems to be a pretty definitive
response to whether the term is insulting or not to the Roma
people.
<div>Martha</div>
<div><br>
<div><br>
<div>Begin forwarded message:</div>
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<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span
style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;
color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);"><b>From: </b></span><span
style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">Carol
Silverman <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:csilverm@uoregon.edu">csilverm@uoregon.edu</a>><br>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span
style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;
color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);"><b>Subject: </b></span><span
style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;"><b>Re:
Use of the word "gypsy" in various folk dances</b><br>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span
style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;
color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);"><b>Date: </b></span><span
style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">November
3, 2015 7:28:00 PM PST<br>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span
style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;
color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);"><b>To: </b></span><span
style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">Martha
Wild <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:mawild@sbcglobal.net">mawild@sbcglobal.net</a>>,
Voice of Roma <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:voiceofroma@gmail.com">voiceofroma@gmail.com</a>><br>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span
style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;
color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);"><b>Cc: </b></span><span
style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">Petra
Gelbart <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:petragelbart@gmail.com">petragelbart@gmail.com</a>><br>
</span></div>
<br>
<div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space;
-webkit-line-break: after-white-space;">Dear Martha,
<div>Sani Rifati, President of Voice of Roma forwarded you
message to me. Although I am not Romani, I am on the
Board of VOR and we do care deeply about the terms used
for the people we represent.</div>
<div>A large number of Roma (but not all) are offended by
the term Gypsy, especially with a small g. To “gyp"
someone means to steal and swindle; plus the word
connotes a false history— it a short for Egyptian
whereas Roma are from India. Roma have faced centuries
of discrimination, and today are subject to deportations
and racial profiling; this would be an opportunity to
teach your community a little about their history.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>So whatever the history of the dance step, I know
that names can be changed by sensitive callers like you.
I would urge you to change the names and seize and
educational moment!</div>
<div>Sincerely, Carol Silverman</div>
<div>PS Check the VOR webs page fro my information: <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.voiceofroma.com/culture/gyp_vs_rom.html"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.voiceofroma.com/culture/gyp_vs_rom.html">http://www.voiceofroma.com/culture/gyp_vs_rom.html</a></a></div>
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<div class="gmail_quote">From: <b
class="gmail_sendername">Martha Wild</b> <span
dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:mawild@sbcglobal.net">mawild@sbcglobal.net</a>></span><br>
Date: Tue, Oct 27, 2015 at 1:56 AM<br>
Subject: Use of the word "gypsy" in various folk
dances<br>
To: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:voiceofroma@gmail.com">voiceofroma@gmail.com</a><br>
<br>
<br>
Hi,<br>
I am a folk dancer - I do a lot of contra
dancing and English Country dance and I call the
dances as well.<br>
<br>
Recently a newcomer who came to a dance at
another venue brought to our (a group of
caller's that talk about such subjects on a
list) attention that we have been using the word
gypsy for one of the dance moves in both types
of dance. This dancer (not a Roma) came to one
of our dances and was upset that we used the
term "gypsy" for this dance move, as they felt
that the word was insulting to the Roma people.<br>
<br>
I would like to know if this is the case, as we
have never intended to be derogatory to anyone,
but lots of dances have this move, and dance
names even contain the name, like "The Gypsy
Star" and others.<br>
<br>
The move in question is a move where two people
walk around each other and back to place, while
facing each other. There is some confusion about
origin of the term, but the best guess is that
there was an English Country dance called "The
Spanish Gypsy" that was written over a hundred
years ago, and it was the first to include this
move of people walking around each other while
facing (prior to that people generally did a
"back to back, or what is also called
"do-si-do". The move was not called a "gypsy",
but because this dance used it and other dances
copied it, people called it a "gypsy" because it
was the same move that was in that dance.<br>
<br>
I've been calling these dances for over 25 years
and have used this term to indicate this move,
never intending anything by it other than as an
established name for a dance figure. I am hoping
that some of the folks at Voice of Roma could
give me an opinion as to whether you find it
offensive or not for us to continue to use it.
We've been discussing on the web whether we
should try to find a different name, but if you
feel that this use of the word gypsy is not an
issue then we can stop arguing over words like
"eddy" or "swirl" and continue to use it. If you
do find it offensive, however, I will gladly
alter my dance cards to something else so as not
to continue to be offensive.<br>
<br>
Thanks for your input,<br>
Martha Wild</div>
<br>
<br clear="all">
<br>
-- <br>
<div class="gmail_signature">Sani Rifati<br>
707/823-7941 <br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.voiceofroma.com/"
target="_blank">http://www.voiceofroma.com</a><br>
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<div style="word-wrap: break-word;
-webkit-nbsp-mode: space;
-webkit-line-break: after-white-space;">Carol
Silverman<br>
Professor <br>
Department of Anthropology and</div>
<div style="word-wrap: break-word;
-webkit-nbsp-mode: space;
-webkit-line-break: after-white-space;">Folklore
Program<br>
University of Oregon<br>
Eugene OR 97403-1218<br>
Office 541-346-5114<br>
Fax 541-346-0668<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:csilverm@uoregon.edu">csilverm@uoregon.edu</a></div>
</span></div>
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