A Romani Women's Anthology

Spectrum of the Blue Water

Hedina Tahirović-Sijerčić, Cynthia Levine-Rasky

• Publisher: Inanna Publications
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781771334013
• eBook ISBN: 9781771334020
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Gender Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

Romani Women in Canada: Spectrum of the Blue Water is grounded upon Romani women's lived experience as writers, essayists, visual artists, and activists. Reflecting the panoply of women's voices, the book links everyday experience and a social critique of the factors that enable and constrain women's lives. Through incisive creativity, pragmatic action, and affective networks, the book is a consolidation of diverse expressions of agency and collectivity. Sharing a will to advance the dignity of women's lives, the contributors are as plural as their subject matter. Canadian Romani women are impressively diverse in their attachments, status, beliefs, and identities. The chapters in this book illustrate this multiplicity by traversing creative practices and writing motifs. Contributors are visual artists, fiction and non-fiction writers, poets, scholars, and essayists. Reflecting the breadth of contributors' creative genres, the book is eclectic in content with multiple forms of writing and images. Photographs of visual art and black-and-white portraits of Canadian Romani women will complement the written textual components.

LIFE STORIES IN POETRY

HEDINA TAHIROVIĆ-SIJERČIĆ

CURRICULA VITAE of Romani people do not often meet the requirements prescribed by people in power. My poems are CVs for life. While not requirements for jobs, they are intended as requirements for a better life. After six CVs and the poem “The Earth,” I call Romani woman to our tradition and culture, to our knowledge and experience, and to protect life and humanity on the earth.

CV 1

Me bijandilem ande Rusija.

Me đelem ande škola ande Poljska.

Me ćerdem bući sar sikadi ande Romania.

Me đelem rromehte ande Serbija.

Me ćerdem bući ande Bosna.

Angluno čhavo bijandem ande Kroacija.

Dujto čhavo ande Francuska, trinto ande Španija,

štarto ande Germanija,

Thaj pandžto ande Belgija.

Me boldinajdem ande Serbija.

Me bijandem šovto čhavo ande Serbija.

Musaj te našavav ande Italija,

thaj kote bijandem mrno eftato čhavo.

Me bijandem kote dujorre čhavore jekhethane.

Seha-man bari tragedija: Mo čhavo mula thaj von phende sar vov tasavda

ande pajeste. Von trade amen, von phabarde amen, thaj von mangen amare

najendar vurma. Thaj e čhavorendar.

Me sem daravni. Von ćerde gova jekhvaratar ando nakhlo vakto. Daravni sem.

Me peklem našipe ande Holandija.

Me bijandem dešto čhavo.

Me bijandem dešojekhtato čhavo ande Švedska.

Me sem saranda berš phuri.

Me vaćarav Rromani (mrni dejaki čhib), Ruski, Slovački, Rumunski, Srpski, Bosnaki, Hrvatski, Talijanski, Francuski, Španski, Germanski, Holandski thaj cira Engleski.

Mrni familija mangel thaj trubuj šajipe pala lačhi edukacija.

Amen phenas pe hamisardine Evropske čhiba. Odole...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright
• Title Page
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• Dedication
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• ROMANI IDENTITY
• LIFE STORIES IN POETRY
• SPEAKING OF SUBJECTIVITIES
• SEEKING JUSTICE FOR ROMA REFUGEES
• ROMA
• ACTIVIST IN HUNGARY / ASYLUM-SEEKER IN TORONTO
• TILLSONBURG
• MY LIFE AS A ROMANI WOMAN
• WHAT IS IN A NAME?
• WE ARE THE ROADS THAT MEET
• A ROMANI WOMAN’S BEAUTIFUL DREAM COMES TRUE
• WOMEN IN ROMARISINGCA
• I STAND AGAINST THE BINARY
• ROMANI ADVOCACY, IDENTITY, AND INTEGRATION
• IT IS IN THE BLOOD
• DJANGO ON THE GUITAR
• THE OLD WEDDING DRESS
• MISERY LOVES LOVE, MISERY LOVES ME
• “THERE IS ONLY ONE GYONGYI”
• WHEN ROMA CAN DISAGREE
• ROMA SISTERS
• CONTRIBUTOR NOTES