Part of a series discussing Romani Chronicles of Covid-19: Testimonies of Harm and Resilience, edited by Paloma Gay y Blasco and Martin Fotta (Berghahn: New York and Oxford, 2023).
As I sit down to write these words in Glasgow, Scotland, in July 2024, the news is still dominated by the enduring spectre of COVID-19. The UK COVID-19 Inquiry has just reported that both Westminster and Scottish governments “failed their citizens” due to failures in the preparation, planning, and implementation of policies designed to protect the population throughout the pandemic. In other recent news, it has been noted that COVID-19 deaths are on the rise again in Scotland due to a sharp decline in people accessing the required booster vaccine injections, especially those over the age of 75. Despite these concerning news items, a recurrent local and global narrative appears to be that COVID-19, as the World Health Organization itself recently stated, is no longer a “global health emergency”. But is this really the case? It seems not from ongoing accounts of Roma experiences of the pandemic.
Indeed, it is against this contemporary socio-political and public health backdrop that I offer some brief thoughts and reflections on the timely, inspiring, and harrowing edited collection, Romani Chronicles of COVID-19: Testimonies of Harm and Resilience (Berghahn, 2023). This collection of papers, spanning some 300 pages in total, has been very skilfully and deftly weaved together by the editorial talents of Dr Paloma Gay Blasco (St Andrews University, Scotland) and Dr Martin Fotta (Czech Academy of Sciences, The Czech Republic). Both editors are experienced and expert voices in the contemporary field of critical Romani Studies and have done a remarkable job in pulling together this collection of papers.
What strikes you immediately, when scanning the contents page, the introduction, the titles of chapters, the names of authors, is the sheer scale of the task that both editors and contributors stepped into here. This must have been a hugely challenging project to plan, take forward, and see through to publication, bearing in mind this was all being done during the actual COVID-19 pandemic that is being discussed on the pages of the book. To be sure, this was no mere abstract academic enterprise or intellectual hobby or pursuit, but a solid attempt to capture the “harm and resilience” being displayed in real time across many parts of the world. When viewed from this perspective, the editors and contributing authors deserve a huge amount of respect and acknowledgement.
In fact, on this point of the global reach of the text, it must be mentioned that the local, national, and international geography of the book is seriously impressive. Crucially, the 25 substantive chapters, bringing together, in total, the voices of some 37 Roma and non-Roma authors, or “chroniclers” as the title would suggest, is usefully structured by territories, states, and borders. We have before us five distinct parts to the book, with chapters grouped, in order: Spain (6 chapters), Brazil (6 chapters), Slovakia (6 chapters), Poland (3 chapters), and the Czech Republic (4 chapters). There is also a fascinating and detailed contextual introduction from Dr. Gay Blasco and Dr. Fotta, as editors, as well as a deeply penetrating, powerful, and emotional foreword from postdoctoral researcher Dr. IIiana Sarafian. The concluding reflections, to be fair, are rather brief and fleeting, unfortunately – just four pages are dedicated to try and summarise and synthesise some of the similarities and differences across all of the chronicles captured in the book – but, by this point in the story, you can almost forgive the editors and understand the need for conciseness and brevity – it has been a very moving and demanding journey to absorb the stories being shared and the experiences endured under conditions of a pandemic that, we should remember, has so far killed over 7 million people (and this number continues to rise).
In terms of what specific parts and chapters to highlight from the text, as is the norm with such reviews of edited collections, I have always found this to be a challenging and rather invidious process. How do you justify discussing one part, or one chapter, over another? Whilst it is true that I found some parts and chapters from the book more, or less, interesting and insightful than others, what is perhaps more telling and useful to discuss is the overarching geographies, themes, and concerns that arise from the collective endeavour. I will illustrate what I mean here. As an example, I found it fascinating, and inspiring, that across the world – from Slovakia to Brazil, and from Poland and Spain – Roma communities responded to the very real challenges of quarantine, segregation, and lockdown with creativity, humour, spirit, and a tenacity that turned racialised stereotypes on their head. Equally, though, it was upsetting and harrowing to read of the far-too-common shared experiences of death, loss, grief, and mourning in different Roma communities, whether located in settlements, housing projects, or camps. Such testimonies were stark and brutal, illuminating that even in illness and death racism comes to gloat.
Indeed, the core experience of the pandemic that stands out for me, highlighted across this essential collection, is the nature, scale, and racialised social, economic, and political inequalities experienced by Roma minorities, irrespective of what country they happened to be in when COVID-19 started to take its toll. In many ways, the pandemic, as illustrated via most of the chronicles published in this text, shone a bright spotlight on already existing inequalities caused by prejudice, discrimination, and stereotypes – and these inequalities were not instigated by COVID-19, but via another virus – racism. Whilst some chapters highlighted the impactful role of mediation, activism, religion and faith, collective action and self-help, other contributions spoke of the damage caused by disinformation and ‘fake news’ regarding the pandemic, as well as how poverty and social exclusion were accentuated by lockdown.
Overall, what Dr. Paloma Gay Blasco and Dr. Martin Fotta have achieved via this book, working in alliance and solidarity with Roma and non-Roma colleagues from across the world, is something quite remarkable that offers testimonies of lived experience, in terms of both harm and resistance. I would prefer a focus on resistance, and query the use of the term resilience, as for me, and others, this is an ideologically contaminated and unhelpful concept that has a ‘dark side’ to it. This minor theoretical point aside, I am left with a deep sense of genuine respect, admiration, and love for all the individuals involved in this challenging project. In future years, when the general history of the COVID-19 pandemic comes to be written, we cannot ignore or minimise the experiences of Roma by using the excuse that such stories and chronicles were not written down – they are, they exist, and they are real.
References
Mahdiani, H., & Ungar, M. (2021). The Dark Side of Resilience. Adversity and Resilience Science, 2(3), 147–155. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42844-021-00031-z
Mundasad, S., & Roxby, P. (2023, May 5). Covid global health emergency is over, WHO says. BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-65499929
Picken, A. (2024, July 18). Scotland not properly prepared for pandemic – Covid inquiry. BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cne4d03vm7jo
Slater, T. (2014). The resilience of neoliberal urbanism. OpenDemocracy (London). https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opensecurity/resilience-of-neoliberal-urbanism/
Stanton, Aimee. (2024, July 11). Covid deaths rise as booster vaccine take-up falls. BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c720rww63lko
World Health Organization (WHO). (2024, January 19). COVID-19 epidemiological update: Edition 163. https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/covid-19-epidemiological-update—19-january-2024
