Do French ‘Nomads’ Have a War History? A Review of Seventy-five Years of Historiography
Main Article Content
Article Sidebar
Published
Oct 25, 2022
Lise Foisneau
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5158-0373
Abstract
Through a study of the historiography of the persecution of “Nomads” in France from 1939 to 1946, this article offers a critical analysis of methodological and thematic biases present in much historical research on the topic. Historical studies on “Nomads” have significant practical implications today: this article examines how the history of French Roma and Travellers during the Second World War was written. It shows how French institutions have relied on historical work to deny the racial character of the persecution of the so-called“Nomads”. The paper emphasizes that internment and enforced residence were not so much an absolute break but rather part of a particularly virulent moment in the long history of persecution of “Nomads” in the twentieth century in France.
How to Cite
Foisneau, L. (2022). Do French ‘Nomads’ Have a War History? A Review of Seventy-five Years of Historiography. Critical Romani Studies, 4(2), 34–54. https://doi.org/10.29098/crs.v4i2.54
Article Details
Keywords
Genocide, Resistance, France, Historiography, Internment, Nomad, Roma
Section
Articles
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication. The work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.