{"id":25537,"date":"2024-11-13T18:50:57","date_gmt":"2024-11-13T18:50:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/?p=25537"},"modified":"2024-11-18T18:18:44","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T18:18:44","slug":"reparative-description-of-the-term-gypsy-in-scarc-collections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/2024\/11\/13\/reparative-description-of-the-term-gypsy-in-scarc-collections\/","title":{"rendered":"Reparative Description of the Term \u201cGypsy\u201d in SCARC Collections"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Roma are an ethnic group that originated in Northern India<\/a> and migrated to Europe between the eighth and tenth centuries. The majority of Roma, also known as Romani, live across Europe, where they have faced persecution and segregation. During World War II, Romani were subjected to deportation, forced labor, and medical experimentation, and hundreds of thousands were executed<\/a> in killing centers across Europe. This genocide decimated Roma populations and social networks, and they continued to face persecution after the war. Roma women were sterilized<\/a> across Eastern Europe until the 1990s. Today, 90%<\/a> of Romani in Europe live below the poverty line and face violence from other citizens and police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approximately one million Romani live in America. According to a 2020 Harvard study<\/a>, discrimination is widespread even though many Americans know little about Roma. Many study participants described hiding their ethnic identity to avoid stereotyping or discrimination. Across the U.S., including in Oregon, Romani people have historically been harassed by police, subject to discriminatory housing and employment laws, and smeared as criminals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The term \u201cgypsy\u201d is considered derogatory by many Roma people. It comes from the word \u201cEgyptian,\u201d where many Europeans mistakenly believed the Romani came from. In 1971, at the First World Roma Congress<\/a>, a majority of attendees voted to reject the use of the term \u201cgypsy.\u201d However, some still use it to self-identify. In the U.S., it has also come to signify a free-spirited person, or someone who moves from one place to another without settling down. In industries like logging or trucking, it can refer to independent contractors. These uses reference the traditional migratory lifestyle historically practiced by Roma. There is greater debate about whether these uses of \u201cgypsy\u201d are offensive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our collections, \u201cgypsy\u201d is used as a descriptor of Romani people themselves, costumes and student events themed around Roma stereotypes, an adjective (as described above), and a logging term. Primarily, however, it refers to the \u201cAsian gypsy moth\u201d or \u201cgypsy moth,\u201d a group of invasive moth species that includes Lymantria dispar dispar, Lymantria dispar asiatica, L. d. japonica, L. albescens, L. umbrosa, and L. postalba. <\/em>In 2021, the Entomological Society of America (ESA) voted to change<\/a> the common names, and in 2022, the USDA\u2019s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced<\/a> new names for these species. Lymantria dispar dispar <\/em>is now known as the \u201cspongy moth,\u201d and the rest are now the \u201cflighted spongy moth complex.\u201d According to APHIS, the name refers to the moths\u2019 eggs, which have a \u201cspongy\u201d texture. This change avoids equating Roma with a pest insect, and is part of the ESA\u2019s Better Common Names Project<\/a>, which seeks to update names that refer to ethnic or racial groups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around half of the uses of \u201cgypsy\u201d are mentioned in the collection finding aid or preliminary collection inventory. The rest appear in Oregon Digital scans of SCARC materials. SCARC describes the contents of its collections using the language and terminology of the collections themselves. In order to provide historical context and to enable standardized searching and access across our collections, we have retained the original wording in the collection descriptions. However, we have also added a note to each affected collection to inform users of its context, along with a link to the SCARC Special Collections and Archives Research Center Anti-Racist Actions<\/a> website and this blog post. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We acknowledge the racism represented by the term \u201cgypsy\u201d and the continued persecution that Roma face. Providing access to these historical materials does not endorse any attitudes or behavior depicted therein. For more information about Roma in Oregon, we recommend Carol Silverman\u2019s report<\/a> for the Oregon Historical Society. Another great resource is the RomArchive<\/a>, a digital archive for Roma art and culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Affected Collections<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John D. Lattin Papers, 1941-2004<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas Kraemer Papers, 1908-2018<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gerald W. Williams Electronic Records, 1985-2008<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liz VanLeeuwen Spotted Owl Collection, 1973-2004<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gerald W. Williams Papers, 1854-2016<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gerald W. Williams Slides, 1961-2003<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research Accounting Office Records, 1935-2010<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entomology Department Records, 1887-2003<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extension and Experiment Station Communications Moving Images, 1937-2007<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beaver Yearbook Photographs, 1938-2005<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hans Plambeck Papers, 1900-1995<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barometer Campus Newspaper, 1896-2014<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oregon’s Agricultural Progress Magazine, 1953-2016<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

William L. Finley Papers, 1899-1946 (MSS Finley)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staff Newsletter, 1961-2009<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Annual Cruise, 1921-2000<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lamplighter Literary Magazine, 1936-1945<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Manuscript, 1927-1932<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oregon State University Memorabilia Collection, ca. 1860-present<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

College of Science Records, 1880-2015<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Siletz News, 2007-2017<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Underground Newspapers, circa 1965 – 2002<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Urban League of Portland Records, 1910-2014<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

College Bulletins, 1902-1932<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hop Press Newsletters, 1948-1955<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oregon Countryman, 1908-1922<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oregon State University Sesquicentennial Oral History Collection, 2013-2017<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oregon State Yank Newsletters, 1943-1945<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prism Literary Magazine, 1972-2019<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voices of Oregon State University Oral History Collection, 1995-2024<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oregon State College Preview and Promotional Booklets, 1938-1960<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oregon Pioneers Oral History Collection, 1975-1978<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This work was completed in large part due to the initiative of Margot Pullen (Student Archivist) and the support of the Anti-Racist Description Team.<\/em> Margot wrote this post and completed updates to collection finding aids.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Roma are an ethnic group that originated in Northern India and migrated to Europe between the eighth and tenth centuries. The majority of Roma, also known as Romani, live across Europe, where they have faced persecution and segregation. During World War II, Romani were subjected to deportation, forced labor, and medical experimentation, and hundreds of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9435,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1345951],"tags":[1345957],"class_list":["post-25537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-finding-aids","tag-reparative-description"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9435"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25537"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25541,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25537\/revisions\/25541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}