Paper short abstract:

As of 2002, field researches of the Roma, Ashkali and Bayash communities have been conducted in different areas of Serbia, both in urban and rural areas. For this occasion I will present the work of the research team of the Institute for Balkan Studies as well as mine, researched areas in Serbia, methodology the team uses, and some of the photos from the field.

Paper long abstract:

The Institute for Balkan Studies of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SASA) has been working on establishing a Digital Archive since 1998. Field research studies are focused on researching the linguistic situation under the conditions of multiethnicity and multilingualism, multiconfessionality and multiculturalism. As of 2002, field researches of the Roma, Ashkali and Bayash communities have been conducted in different areas of Serbia, both in urban and rural areas. The result of these studies is an extensive corpus of interviews about the Roma and with the Roma in the Digital Archive of the Institute for Balkan Studies of SASA, therefore different interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary qualitative studies of the Roma and Roma communities are possible today.

The Digital Archive of the Institute for Balkan Studies of SASA contains interviews conducted with Roma of different social status, different generations, confessional and religious affiliation, as well as with members of various Roma groups. In our corpus the interviews conducted with Roma have different topics, such as: traditional culture, biographical and autobiographical stories, current and general problems of the community and the like. Besides the interviews archived, the Digital Archive contains films, recorded on occasional Roma feasts - weddings, funeral customs, celebrating St. George day and the ritual of animal sacrifice. There is a great number of photos, taken during the field researches in Roma settlements.

For this occasion I will present the work of the research team of the Institute for Balkan Studies as well as mine, researched areas in Serbia, methodology the team uses, and some of the photos from the field.