Conveners: Lorely French (Pacific University, USA), Marina Ortrud M. Hertrampf (Regensburg University, Germany), Sofiya Zahova (University of Iceland / University of St Andrews, UK)

Romani literature has experienced remarkable developments during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. As of today, in almost all countries where Roma live, authors of Romani background have been producing books and other publications in various languages, including Romany. In the decades since 1989 the number of books that authors of Romani background have published has increased. Likewise, the usage of Romani in books, translations, and periodical publications by and for Roma has also risen. Romani literary pieces share features that go beyond the borders of any one country or region. These circumstances allow us to speak of Romani literature, and even of Romani literatures, as a heterogeneous and multifaceted, yet still a collective phenomenon.

The remarkably developing Romani literature scene has provoked a considerable interest among researchers, and increasing scholarship on Romani literature has assumed at least three distinct approaches. First, there are those studies that adopt a historical approach and are based on providing accounts of Romani literature production and authors’ life paths, along with outlines of socio-political factors (socio-biographical approach). Second, there are those studies that adopt the methods of the field of literary theory and comparative literature and focus on case studies of authors and theoretical interpretations of literary works. Third, there are studies analysing Romani literary production in terms of methods and theories developed in the field of cultural studies.

This panel proposal comes as one of the follow-ups to the multi-session panel Narratives by and about Roma organized as part of the 2019 GLS Annual Meeting and Conference on Romani Studies, 15-17 August 2019, at the University of Iceland. The panel participants have identified the need to further maintain a forum for discussion of Romani literature from various disciplinary angles and within the field of Romani Studies. We recognize that despite the dynamic development of Romani literary scholarship in recent decades, such scholarship has been somehow underrepresented within Romani Studies, both at forums and in academic publications.

The overall aim of the panel is to provide an interdisciplinary forum for discussion of Romani literature from historical and contemporary perspectives, bringing together researchers and practitioners from various backgrounds. We invite participants who address in their papers issues such as:

Theoretical approaches to Romani literature;
Developments of Romani literature as a field nationally and/or internationally;
Analysis and comparison of narratives and motifs in Romani literature;
Case studies of Romani authors and literary works;
Romani language production, publishing and translation;
Authenticity, representation and cultural appropriation in literature (co-written) by Roma;
Interfacing between Romani literature research and other fields (for instance history, migrations, antiziganism, ethnic studies, nationalism, etc.).

Paper proposals should contain:

· Name(s), email address(es) and affiliation of the author(s)

· Title of the paper and an abstract of the paper not shorter than 200 words and not longer than 400 words (excluding references).

· Your proposal should also indicate whether it is an individual paper, or a paper submitted for an open/pre-arranged panel (in this case please indicate also the name of the panel). For the list of accepted open/pre-arranged panels see below.

All paper proposals should be submitted in doc, docx or rtf format to GLS2020Prague@ff.cuni.cz.

The deadline for submission of paper abstracts is 20 March 2020. The Conference committee will assess the paper submissions by the end of March 2020. Authors will be notified whether their papers have been accepted by 31 March 2020.