Brazilian Gypsiology A view from anthropology

Ciganologia Brasileira (Brazilian Gypsiology) started early, at the end of the nineteenth century. The first anthropological studies of Gypsies (Ciganos) appeared in the early 1980s – almost in parallel with similar studies elsewhere in the world. We argue that Romani studies could benefit both from assimilating the history of Ciganologia Brasileira and from studying Ciganos (Calon, Roma, Sinti and possibly others) in Brazil. Besides providing a picture of Gypsy populations from another country, such a focus can, among other things, help reconceptualise Gypsies as a historical transatlantic diaspora and challenge established understandings of Gypsies’ social position. We suggest that the anthropology of Gypsies would gain from exploiting the potential of ethnographic theory, that is, from focusing on the Gypsies’ own conceptualisations of their world.