The necessary recognition of the plurality of worlds

The Roma and Sinti are often spoken referred to as though they were one and the same people, but in actual fact they are not. They have different nationalities, religious beliefs and habits; the history of their migrations and their relationships with the land are completely different.

Some families live in subsidized housing projects, others in private homes or villas, others in camps with regular power and gas supplies, others still in third-world-style shanty towns, or even on the gravelly river beds or in caves.

There are no uniform criteria to classify them anthropologically.

“A world of worlds” describes the large variety of Roma and Sinti groups in the world (Piasere L., “Un mondo di mondi. Antropologia delle culture rom” [“A world of worlds. Anthropology of the cultures”], L’Ancora publishers, Naples 1999).

Acknowledging this variety is essential in order to design successful social policies.