Roma People, Where to? Tradition and Change in Roma Communities

Roma community in Romania is one of the largest ethnic communities in this country. Romani people integration and reducing disparities between the Roma community and the majority one is a priority for both the Romanian state and the Roma civil society. The integration of the Roma on the labor market is an important step in the integration process. This article proposes qualitative research through the interview method. The research question investigates whether traditional occupations practiced by Roma do not provide Roma access to the labor market today. The general objective of this study aims to identify and analyze qualitatively non-traditional socio-economic practices in the Roma communities in Timișoara and Cluj-Napoca. This objective has been operationalized in several specific objectives related to the identification of traditional economic practices in the occupations of members of the Roma communities in Timisoara and Cluj-Napoca, depending on membership in the subgroup / ethnic group, the identification of non-traditional economic practices in the occupations of members of the Roma communities in Timișoara and Cluj-Napoca, analysis of the role of traditional economic practices in preserving the lifestyle specific to the Roma ethnic group, as essential elements of culture in the communities of Timișoara and Cluj-Napoca. The last two objectives propose the analysis of non-traditional economic practices taken over in the occupations of the members of the Roma communities from Timișoara and Cluj-Napoca following the process of internal and external migration, respectively following the intervention of European funded programs. The participants of this research are 10 Roma people from Cluj-Napoca and 10 Roma people from Timișoara. The research results show that with industrialization, traditional occupations tend to limit their activity and integrated Roma people no longer practice the traditional occupations practiced by their parents or grandparents.