MEMOROBIA sluttkonferanse - Slavery in Moldova and Wallachia: Silences, Memory, and Resistance

Dette arrangementet markerer avslutningen på forskningsprosjektet MEMOROBIA: Memorialisation of Romani enslavement in territories of contemporary Romania.

Programmet vil inneholde vitenskapelige presentasjoner om historien, ettervirkningene og minnet om institusjonalisert slaveri i de rumenske fyrstedømmene. I tillegg vil det utforske kunstens rolle i minnemarkering og motstand.

Arrangementet vil bli gjennomført i hybrid format for å legge til rette for dialog mellom deltakere som er fysisk til stede og de som deltar digitalt. Fysisk sted: MF vitenskapelig høyskole for teologi, religion og samfunn; Senter for studier av Holocaust og Livssynsminoriteter (HL-senteret) i Oslo, Norge. Digitalt via Zoom.

Detaljert konferanseprogram på engelsk ligger lenger ned. Det tas forbehold om endringer.

Konferanseprogrammet vil inkludere:

• Panelsamtaler som utforsker historien om romani-slaveri, reflekterer over arven, minnemarkering og tidligere og nåværende former for motstand.
• Lansering av spesialutgaven av Critical Romani Studies: «Racialized Slavery in Moldova and Wallachia: Legacies and Silences».
• Paneler og forestillinger om kunstens rolle i å huske historien om romani-slaveri.
• En utstilling om romani-slaveri, kuratert av MEMOROBIA-forskerteamet og Senter for studier av Holocaust og religiøse minoriteter.

Konferansen vil samle ledende stemmer innen historie, utdanning, minnekultur og kunst, inkludert bekreftede deltakere: Emanuel Barica, Ian Hancock, Luiza Medeleanu, Petre Petcut, Oana Rusu og Alexandru Zamfir.

Arrangementet er et samarbeid mellom MF vitenskapelig høyskole, Amare Rromentza, Roma Program for Health and Human Rights ved the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights ved Harvard University, og Senter for studier av Holocaust og Livssynsminoriteter (HL-senteret). Konferansen er en del av MEMOROBIA-prosjektet, finansiert av Norges forskningsråd.

Program 24 November - Day 1

Location: MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society 

9.00 Welcome 

• Solvor Mjøberg Lauritzen, Professor, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society
• Trine Anker, Professor and Prorector Research, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society
• Maria Dumitru, PhD Candidate, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society

9.15 – 10.15 Keynote speech – Slavery, Legacies, Traumas

Keynote speaker: Ian Hancock, Professor emeritus, University of Texas at Austin

Moderator: Maria Dumitru, PhD Candidate, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society

10.15 – 10.30 Coffee Break

10.30 – 11.45 Panel discussion - The History of Roma Slavery and Forms of Resistance

Panelists:

• Maria Dumitru, PhD Candidate, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society
• Petre Petcut, PhD and Historian

Moderator: Alma Dzafic Ferhatovic, MSc student in Sociology of Law, Lund University

11.45 – 12.45 Lunch

12.45 – 13.45 Keynote speech – Reparations

Keynote speaker:  Mary Bassett, Director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights and FXB Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights in the department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

13.45 – 14.00 Break

14.00  – 15.00 Panel discussion  – Reparations

Panelists:

• Solomia Karoli, Romas Menneskerettigheter - Roma Manushikane Cacimata, Norway
• Bjørn Erik Thon, The Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud in Norway
• Lillan Støen, Taternes Landsforening (National Association of Travellers, Norway)
• Mihai Neacsu, Director of the National Centre for Roma Culture, Romania
• Fernando Ruiz Molina, Human Rights Lawyer and PhD Candidate at School of Law, Criminology and Government at the University of Plymouth
   

Moderator: Margareta Matache, Lecturer on Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the co-founder and Director of the Roma program at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University

17.00  – 18.30 Book Launch “The Permanence of Anti-Roma Racism. (Un)uttered Sentences” 

By Margareta Matache. The book offers a glimpse into how centuries-old racism against Roma people continues to affect their lives throughout Europe. Blending personal and family stories and archives with critical, historical, and social science analyses, the book examines how racism, harmful myths, and powerlessness have been passed down through generations since the Middle Ages. 

Respondent: Guro Jabulisile Sibeko, Azanian-Norwegian teacher, author, spoken word artist and political activist.

Location: Litteraturhuset 
 

Program 25 November - Day 2

Location: The Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies

9.00 – 9.15 Welcome

• Jan Heiret, Director at The Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies
• Solvor Lauritzen, Professor, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society

9.15 – 10.00 Keynote - Contemporary Activism & Arts of Resistance 

Keynote speaker: Dr. Delia Grigore, Associate Professor, University of Bucharest

Moderator: Solvor Lauritzen

10.00 – 10.45 Panel discussion - Roma history and Education 

Panelists:

• Alexandru Zamfir, PhD, University of Bucharest
• Luiza Medeleanu, PhD candidate University of Bucharest
• Elise Christensen, Educator, 22 July Centre

Moderator: Solvor Lauritzen

10.45 – 11.00 Coffee break

11.00 – 11.30 Launch of Critical Romani Studies Special Issue “Racialized Slavery in Moldova and Wallachia: Legacies and Silences”

Moderator: Maria Bogdan, PhD, Central European University 

11.30 – 12.00 Launch of Exhibition curated by the MEMOROBIA research team and the Center for Studies of the Holocaust and Religious Minorities.

Speakers: 

• Solvor Lauritzen, Professor, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society
• Emanuel Barica, Roma artist reflecting around the Roma people`s history and struggles, and challenging established narratives through art.

12.00 – 13.00 Lunch

13.00 – 14.00 Panel discussion - The Role of the Arts in Remembering the History of Roma Slavery

Panelists:

• Emanuel Barica
• Oana Rusu, actor and PhD candidate, University of Arts, Târgu Mureș, and Lucian Blaga University, Sibiu.
• Cecilia Salinas, PhD, Anthropologist and artist 

Moderator: Alma Dzafic Ferhatovic, MSc student in Sociology of Law, Lund University

14.00 – 14.30 Documenting and remembering the Roma slavery – a conversation

Speakers: 

• Agnes Lakatos, Journalist, Radio Sweden
• Ian Hancock, Professor emeritus, University of Texas at Austin 

14.30 – 15.00 Screening: Letter of Forgiveness –  A film by Alina Serban

A short film about an enslaved Roma woman who fights to obtain freedom for her son. The film is directed by Alina Serban, an independent Roma actress and activist. She is the first Roma woman director in Romania.