The Effects of the Pandemics on Ethnic Roma

Abstract

This article shows aspects captured in the research conducted at the beginning of 2021 with Roma ethnics from Iasi County and refers to the effects of the pandemic on Roma ethnics.

For a start, the paper presents a short history of the Roma, their origins, their migrations around the world, the way they arrived on Romanian territory. The period of slavery of the Roma, their liberation, carried out by the ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza around 1860, the period of the Holocaust in the Second World War, when due to a racist doctrine adopted by the Romanian State, the Roma were deported and subjected an extermination program, overcoming these unfortunate periods.

The article also includes a brief description of the Roma from Iasi County and from the city of Iasi, continuing with the representation of the disease in the Roma; what does the disease mean for the Roma, how can they avoid it, what measures do they take to defend themselves against the disease, what kind of practical medicine. The article presents the research method used, the most suitable for the research group, this being the focus group. The subjects that were chosen for research are described and then the effects of the pandemic on Roma ethnics are presented, on a social, personal and psychological level. What they experienced from a social point of view during the pandemic, how social events unfolded for them, how they related socially; personally, how they managed this challenge from a personal point of view, what changes or improvements caused the pandemic; psychologically the feelings they had, the feelings they tried, the psychological struggle that took place inside them. The conclusions conclude this article by showing what the pandemic meant for the Roma ethnics and how they overcame it.