«They give a history of wandering over the world». A Romani clan's transnational movement in the early 20th century

Abstract

This article looks at the transnational movement at the beginning ot he 20th century of a gypsy kinship of coppersmiths called Tshoron, which appears in the documents thanks to a a specific way of self-presentation. This research draws upon numerous sources such as: U.S. and Canadian immigration national archives; papers of gypsiologists around the world belonging to the Gypsy Lore Society based in Liverpool; newspaper archives; a huge iconographic collection. These sources are analysed with the methods of micro-history applied on a global scale. The aim is to think gypsy mobility differently: it is, in fact, not only linked to economical and social practices but is also a way in which these groups maintain themselves in an anthropological way. Thhis also gives the opportunity to question the notion of cosmopolitanism and its relation to gypsy mobility.