The Roma of Europe / reading to the cosmos (workshop)

October 2023 – April 2024
The Roma of Europe, reading to the cosmos
Annual shared reading aloud workshop
curated by Fiorenza Menni and Andrea Mochi Sismondi
led by Fiorenza Menni
project realised with the support of Centro per il libro e la lettura

During this training programme, participants explore the practice of choral reading aloud. Participants work on pronunciation techniques and on processes of emotional and physical organisation for vocal emission, as well as for the enhancement and control of meanings, narration and feelings.
The voice that transcends the animal call, and the words that move beyond the mere need for communication and arrange themselves to narrate, are brought into organic contiguity with the presence of the body on the planet.
The entire workshop revolves around the ensemble reading of the book I rom d’Europa. Una storia moderna [The Roma of Europe. A modern history] by Leonardo Piasere, a work that sharply investigates a set of lucid questions about the contemporary world by tracing the history of relations between Rom, Sinti and Gagé.

I rom d’Europa. Una storia moderna by Leonardo Piasere, Laterza (2004, first edition).
The Roma constitute the largest minority in the European Union, yet their presence in the continent’s history is almost entirely overlooked. Not only that: the anti-Roma persecutions that have bloodied Western Europe are largely censored, as is their enslavement in certain Southeast European countries. Similarly, their resistance in maintaining a distinct and strongly characterised identity is generally unrecognised, and their rootedness in many local contexts is ignored or underestimated. Immersed and dispersed throughout European history and geography, among other populations and within states that have been built and dismantled, the Roma have forged their own identities and their own ‘Europes’. A geo-history entirely inscribed in modernity, yet completely absent from the books that tell that history.

Thanks to the guidance and donations of Leonardo Piasere, the Amilcar Cabral Library has collected, purchased and catalogued numerous volumes on topics such as the histories and cultures of Roma, Sinti and Travellers, works addressing discrimination against Roma and Sinti, and the phenomenon of anti-Gypsyism in Europe. All are available for loan and/or consultation at the library.