Charting New Frontiers in Democracy: A Romani Voice in Parliament

Abstract

This interview features insights from Ismael Cortés, a scholar who spoke during the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Summer Abroad Program in Spain, which Carmen Cañete has directed for a decade. In Madrid on 7 July 2022, Cortés delivered a lecture on the portrayal of criminalised Spanish Roma (Gitanos) in the “New Spanish Cinema” of the 1960s, focusing on Mario Camus’ Con el viento solano(1965).[1] The talk sparked discussions on ethnicity, identity, and marginalisation, and the original Spanish version of this exchange was published in O Tchatchipen, a journal from the Romani Institute for Social and Cultural Affairs (IRASC). IRASC, founded by Romani activist Juan de Dios Ramírez Heredia,[2] has long worked for Romani rights in Spain. Cortés returned on 22 July 2024, to discuss the Gitano subaltern figure in Cine Quinqui[3] and further addressed the CEU Romani Studies Program, EU elections, and his ongoing projects, culminating in this bilingual interview.