If we didn't have this story, we would not have this day: Roma “Gypsy” Stories as Sustenance in Difficult Life Stages

Roma “Gypsies” have been sustained through centuries of persecution and ostracism by a long history of oral storytelling practices. Stories by Roma in the German-speaking countries use the themes of food, gender relations, trickery, sexuality, and interactions with non-Roma to debunk stereotypes and envision social change. Ambiguities in their tales demonstrate the continual contradictions that the Roma have encountered in their everyday lives and reveal the varying outcomes and interpretations that every situation potentially encompasses. The mixture of fantasy with reality and of humor with seriousness in many stories presents a venue to maintain traditions while imagining cultural transformations.