The Way of the Land

Why we’re telling the story of slavery

A manifesto for telling the truth about the enslavement of the Roma in Romanian territories for nearly five centuries.


Translated by Monica Cure
Illustration by Renata Mihaly
Timp de citire: 3 minute
16 decembrie 2021
The Way of the Land

Roma Slavery: from Recognition to Reconciliation

Reconciliation between Roma and non-Roma can only be achieved once both parties have admitted to and acknowledged a painful past.


Translated by Anca Bărbulescu
Illustration by Renata Mihaly
Timp de citire: 7 minute
16 decembrie 2021
The Way of the Land

Romanian Historians Owe Us a Different Telling of the Past

It takes political will, books on slave-owning societies and exhibitions to heal the wounds still traumatizing the present.


Translated by Anca Bărbulescu
Illustration by Renata Mihaly
Timp de citire: 5 minute
16 decembrie 2021
The Way of the Land

What Stones and Walls Tell Us

A researcher identifies “places of memory”, where slavery left traces not only on the Roma community, but on society in general.


Translated by Anca Bărbulescu
Illustration by Renata Mihaly
Timp de citire: 5 minute
16 decembrie 2021
The Way of the Land

“Slavery may have ended 166 years ago, but I can still see the hatred today.”

A young Roma woman wrote a play about slavery to show her peers their history because if you hear your own story, you feel it.


Translated by Oana Gavrilă
Illustration by Renata Mihaly
Timp de citire: 5 minute
16 decembrie 2021
The Way of the Land

Ristina, the enslaved singer

The history of my family isn’t complete without a past that includes slavery and the Holocaust, but also stories of resistance and survival.


Illustration by Renata Mihaly
Timp de citire: 6 minute
16 decembrie 2021
The Way of the Land

The Hidden History of Our Roma Ancestors

The mechanisms of anti-Roma racism have silenced our families’ stories. To publicly acknowledge this moral rupture, reparations are essential.


Translated by Monica Cure
Illustration by Renata Mihaly
Timp de citire: 9 minute
16 decembrie 2021
The Way of the Land

The Techno-Witch. A Poem for the Future.

The actress Mihaela Drăgan explores a future in which Roma women are free.


Illustration by Renata Mihaly
Timp de citire: 3 minute
16 decembrie 2021
The Way of the Land

The Great Shame. A Play about Roma Slavery

A young Roma confronts her brother, a priest, with the truth that the Romanian Orthodox church were enslavers for hundreds of years.


Illustration by Renata Mihaly
Timp de citire: 6 minute
16 decembrie 2021
The Way of the Land

Teaching of Roma History is Distorted and Racist

Despite warnings of grave errors, the Ministry of Education continues to approve textbooks that minimize Roma slavery.


Translated by Oana Gavrilă
Illustration by Renata Mihaly
Timp de citire: 5 minute
16 decembrie 2021
The Way of the Land

Copper. An Anti-Racist Poem

Writing about slavery is like giving up on life. You have to feel the pain in order to be able to put it into words.


Translated by Tara Skurtu
Illustration by Renata Mihaly
Timp de citire: 3 minute
15 decembrie 2021
English, Eseuri, The Way of the Land

The power of racism, its trauma, and the road to healing

To heal on a societal level is to recognize and repent, so that we can begin to imagine a future in which no one has to feel the painful effects of racism.


Ilustrație de Tuan Nini
Timp de citire: 11 minute
11 mai 2020