Psychosocial Notebook - IOM Publications - International ...

Psychosocial Notebook, Volume 2, October 2001
they forced me to escape, the Albanians I mean… They were my friends,
we have eaten together, we have worked together… they have killed my
brother, my wife, I have been wounded [he shows his ear]… and it is
clear that I had to escape and now I feel bad because of it… I am happy
to talk, it is important that everyone knows what shameful action has
been done… Albanians have killed their Albanian brothers… You are
Albanian, I am Albanian, it is not right that we kill each other… They
asked me to call my sons from Germany to come to fight when they
knew that I couldn’t do that… no, I cannot, I feel bad, I feel bad… I apologize…
I say goodbye… I cannot talk now… [Majkell]
Arta: We didn’t talk about tradition, we worked and no more…
Question: What language do you talk in your family?
Arta: Albanian.
Question: Do you know Romane?
Arta: Just a little because we used to stay with Albanians, we
know their language… we are Roma but we always lived
with Albanians… this is why I cannot speak my language
properly, at school we have always studied Albanian…
I know that we liked the Albanians, instead they didn’t treat us well… I
am 25, I have to say that I had a good relationship with them but for the
last two years relations with Albanians have started to go badly… I don’t
know why the Albanians did it… I know that they wanted us to declare
ourselves Albanian but I cannot write on my document that I am
Albanian when I am the son of a Rom… I cannot understand it… they
wanted to force us to declare we are Albanian… [Lyfti]
I talk with my relatives, with my friends in my language… But there are
no schools in Romane… some books, very rarely, not really written in
Romane… [Lytfi]
This is how Romany have represented themselves and their relationship
with “the others”, namely the Albanians. Of course, their portrayal as victims
might lead us to forget the responsibility that some Romany held in
the conflict. As has been stated, however, in our work we are not interested
in taking a position for or against any individual or group, beyond our
legitimate empathy. What is important, rather, in the previous quotations,
is the Roma ability to be close to the other culture, and to use aspects (language)
belonging to the Albanian culture, apparently without losing their
own sense of belonging to the Roma group. What seems a great resource,
however, can also be a source of great weakness, in a world where the
dominant values are exclusive identities and strong boundaries.
The gaze that the Albanian interviewees turn on the Romany clearly
reveals the elements that have complicated the relations between the
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