Rural Roma Heritage communities
Even though Roma are the largest minority group in Hungary (as well as in the neighbouring Eastern-European countries) their ethnic and socio-cultural characteristics are extremely varied and heterogeneous. The question of safeguarding, managing and re-using Roma heritage in Hungary and specifically in its most deprived rural areas (mostly in the North-Eastern part of the country, near the Ukrainian and Slovakian border) has already been researched by the ELTE team in the REACH (Re-designing access to CH for a wider participation in preservation, (re)use and management of European culture) Horizon 2020 project, between 2017-2020.
The main partner of the research team is the Romama Social Cooperative in Tomor, a unique initiative in Hungary. Roma cultural heritage is in general very much under-represented. The fact that this pilot takes place in one of the most deprived rural areas of the country where the local Roma communities suffer from serious social problems and discrimination proves that their work is even more precious and worthy to be given a larger visibility. Tomor is a small village in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, within the Cserehát region of northeastern Hungary, which is a hilly, partially forested area in the Northern Hungarian Mountains, stretching across a triangular region south of the Slovak border, between the Bódva (Bodva), Hernád (Hornád), and Sajó (Slaná) rivers, with an average elevation of 250-300 meters. Tomor is situated at the banks of the Vadász stream, a tributary of the Hernád. With a population of around 200, Tomor saw 25% of its residents identifying as Roma in the 2022 census. In contrast to the surrounding villages, Tomor is not classified as disadvantaged or persistently disadvantaged by the state authorities. This is mainly due to the increase in educational attainment and employment over the last decade.
The main challenges for attracting more tourists to a pilot cultural heritage site in a deprived region, not currently recognized as a cultural destination at the national level, are compounded by social and infrastructural barriers. Attracting more tourists to a pilot with stigmatized, marginalized, and disadvantaged Roma communities presents significant challenges as these communities often face social stigma that might lead to misconceptions and deter potential visitors, reducing interest in the cultural richness that these communities contribute.
Mapping and analysing the possibilities of local Roma heritage preservation through the following channels:
-observation of the Romama home restaurant events and participatory research in thematic working groups, focusing on local history, ethnography, built heritage, gastronomy, music and gender roles of Roma heritage, through oral history interviews, collection of personal photos, archives, recipes, etc.
-increasing the visibility of Romama at Hungarian and international level and open opportunities for local young people
-co-developing a business model for mobile catering service (food truck), outreach of the restaurant to festivals
-building network with other Roma cultural heritage institutions in rural areas (in Hungary and in other Eastern-European countries) in order to create European Roma cultural routes (in collaboration with the EU-project RomHeritage (romheritage.eu)
-empowering already existing touristic projects and initiatives (gastronomic, cultural tourism, religious tourism, etc) that are related to intangible (musical, artistic, gastronomic) and tangible (the few existing monuments and memorial sites) of Roma heritage in Hungary.
Local population (Roma and non-Roma inhabitants of the village of Tomor and the surrounding villages; mostly school pupils, teenagers; staff members of the Romama Social Cooperative, local stakeholders of cultural tourism from the county/region, nearby towns and other villages.
The following results are expected from the pilot:
a) Increased knowledge about the existence and the specificities of rural Roma heritage on local, regional and national scale;
b) Planning cultural itineraries that integrate Roma intangible heritage practices and tangible heritage sites;
c) Building a regional network of Roma cultural institutions / tourism-related initiatives and programmes on a regional scale.
Romama Social Cooperative
Transnational character of European Roma com- munities; Cooperation with Roma cultural and touristic initiatives in the region/neighbouring countries (Slovakia, Romania).
