Wednesday, June 26, 2013
2.04 (Binnengasthuis)
This contribution addresses a sensitive topic that has emerged in recent years in human rights discourse about Gypsies in general and East European Roma in particular. A growing number of reports commissioned by reputable international organizations have identified early marriage as a ‘harmful cultural practice’ that violates common European norms and undermines the ability of Romani girls to live fulfilling lives. Yet the data on which these condemnations are based are shallow and limited to a few groups of Roma living mostly in Romania. Anthropologists have commented widely on the prevalence of early marriage in a multitude of Gypsy communities, but its causes and consequences remain unexplored. This paper summarizes the findings of an ongoing study of this phenomenon in eastern Slovakia. It is based on interviews with a large number of Romani women and men who began cohabitation at the age of fourteen and fifteen. The results indicate that unlike in Romania where ‘patriarchal oppression’ may be an important factor in early marriage, young Slovak Roma seem to enter early cohabitation voluntarily and happily. This state of affairs has been disrupted by the increasing criminalization of this tradition, associated with the Europeanization of Slovak society, which has led to new forms of resistance by juvenile grooms and brides alike.
