The Romani–Indian Diaspora: Migration, Persecution and Statelessness

A constant sense of othering constitutes the core of the Romani diasporic experience. This otherness was not a transient phenomenon in the Romani diasporic history. Its constancy was seemingly unending. It began with their unfortunate exit from India under the historical imperatives characterised by foreign invasion and forced slavery. What followed thereafter embodies the history of the Roma diasporic experience. A deep sense of being othered unequivocally acquired constancy as they moved on under different historical compulsions and forces from Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey to Europe. In Europe, they experienced, contrary to their perception of finding a better ground for an assumed difference, othering in its sinister form. Their movement in Europe and to America subsequently was underlined with servitude, subjection and a deep sense of humiliation. Therefore, this article divides the Roma diasporic experience into three distinct categories—migration, persecution and statelessness—to present the nature of this experience and the acute sense of the othering ingrained therein.