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A review by kali
Australian Gypsies: Their Secret History by Mandy Sayer
2.5 stars...
I had high expectations of this book as I've enjoyed Mandy Sayer's previous works of memoir and fiction, and the idea of there being a 'secret' history of Australian Gypsies or Romani intrigued me. The structure of the book was interesting -- alternating sections detailing the chronology of the Romani's patsias, their travels, name changes, brushes with the law, etc; quasi-ethnographic information about the food, clothing, employments, etc of the Romani; and case studies drawn from Mandy's conversations with contemporary Romani around Australia. But it just didn't work. There wasn't enough rigour and too much opinion and generalisation in the historical or ethnographic sections, and too much unnecessary detail in the case studies. The information was repetitive throughout and I got to the end not really knowing much more about Romani in Australia as a socio-cultural group, other than the fact they were here. And the title seems a misnomer. The information presented throughout, shows that the Romani have been visible and documented in Australian press since the beginning, if they kept their Romani identity and cultural practices.
I had high expectations of this book as I've enjoyed Mandy Sayer's previous works of memoir and fiction, and the idea of there being a 'secret' history of Australian Gypsies or Romani intrigued me. The structure of the book was interesting -- alternating sections detailing the chronology of the Romani's patsias, their travels, name changes, brushes with the law, etc; quasi-ethnographic information about the food, clothing, employments, etc of the Romani; and case studies drawn from Mandy's conversations with contemporary Romani around Australia. But it just didn't work. There wasn't enough rigour and too much opinion and generalisation in the historical or ethnographic sections, and too much unnecessary detail in the case studies. The information was repetitive throughout and I got to the end not really knowing much more about Romani in Australia as a socio-cultural group, other than the fact they were here. And the title seems a misnomer. The information presented throughout, shows that the Romani have been visible and documented in Australian press since the beginning, if they kept their Romani identity and cultural practices.