The Roma in the European History of Magic: Transnational Entanglements of Race, Class, Gender, and the Occult, c. 1417 to 1900

This is the first critical and systematic historical study of the Roma’s engagement with “magic” in Europe.

Associations of Roma with magic have been a central feature in antiziganist stereotypes since the 1400s, but magic practice has also provided an important economic niche, especially for Romani women.

The project addresses both these aspects: First, it traces the construction of the “magical Gypsy” stereotype from 19th-century scholarship through romantic and occultist literature back to early-modern theological, juridical, and folk-magical discourses, analysing how aspects of race, class, and gender were mobilized in representations of Romani magic.

Second, it seeks to replace the stereotypes with a new critical understanding of the Romani practices that were labelled magic by recovering the voices and agency of Romani women practitioners.

This is achieved by analysing new evidence collected from Swedish trial records of the 1700s where Romani women speak openly about their practices, and using this to reinterpret known indirect evidence of Romani magic from ca. 1417-1900.

The project will be conducted by the PI over 3-years (70%), with additional data collection in British and Swedish archives scheduled for years 1 and 2.

The research promises to deliver ground-breaking new knowledge about Romani religious and social history, and novel insights about the occult economic sphere’s importance for interactions between marginalized groups and majority populations in Europe.