Who are the Rudari? The origins of this ethnic group, now found as a diaspora encompassing the Balkans, central, eastern, and western Europe, confounded generations of linguists, ethnographers, and “Gypsiologists,” who for centuries applied various methodologies to prove that this people (who themselves insisted they were not Romani) were truly “Gypsies” who had long-since forgotten their native language. This book, the result of a multi-year research project, attempts to if not answer the question conclusively, then at least dispel some of the lingering misapprehensions associated with this people.
Julieta Rotaru and David Gaunt bring considerable interdisciplinary skills to bear on this topic, and the depth of their research truly impresses. The book begins with a discussion of the literature on the origins of the Rudari, first taking to task the flawed attempts made by linguists such as Gustav Weigand, who looked primarily at vocabulary. While understandable, one wishes the volume did not begin here, however, as this section will prove very challenging to those not acquainted with linguistics, particularly as highly specialized terms are used but left undefined (and, given that the final assessment of this literature is that it amounts to bunk—and quite rightly so—the question arises as to whether it was necessary to spend so many pages on the subject). The authors then turn to a discussion of ethnographic studies, spending considerable time on the work of the eugenicist Ion Chelcea. On the one hand, this is understandable, as Chelcea produced one of the most detailed studies of Rudari to date (Rudarii. Contribuție la o enigma etnograficǎ, 1944); yet while the authors nod to Chelcea's racism, the admiration they nonetheless express for Chelcea's work feels slightly tone-deaf.
From there the authors dive into the fruits of their own linguistic and historical research, benefiting from an exhaustive reading of contemporaneous sources spanning multiple centuries, administrations, and languages. One of this book's novel contributions is to use professionyms and ethnonyms utilized in the historical record, especially the Wallachian census of 1839, to pinpoint the origins of the Rudari in Wallachia and their eventual migration to other regions of present-day Romania and neighboring countries. By looking at when specific professionyms and ethnonyms arose, and placing this in a broader socio-economic context, the authors trace the transformation of this group from being primarily employed as gold washers and metallurgists to craftsmen woodworkers, some remaining semi-nomadic, others setting permanently in Romanian villages (although usually inhabiting the margins), with different names being attached to this group depending on region and occupation (Zlǎtari and Lingurari, for example).
In what this reviewer finds to be the book's most interesting contribution, the authors spend a considerable portion of the book in a discussion of Oltenia (the western portion of Wallachia) under Austrian (1718–39) and Russian (1828–34) occupation. For centuries prior to this, Wallachian princes had granted the Rudari, principally occupied as gold washers, to the Cozia Monastery of the Romanian Orthodox Church (which, it should be pointed out, owned the vast majority of enslaved Roma). From the perspective of the monastery, this meant that the Rudari were enslaved, and therefore could be exploited for their labor and made to pay a special tax. The Rudari themselves, however, consistently interpreted their status as being wholly separate from the țigani (enslaved Roma) and therefore should only pay one tax, to the crown, which the monastery would collect. Rudari would on occasion engage in protests, such as work stoppages and refusal to pay taxes, to demonstrate their malcontent, particularly whenever a new head of the monastery was selected. As slavery did not exist in either empire, formerly enslaved Roma—and so, too, the Rudari—enjoyed considerably more freedom (at least initially; both occupational regimes, as part of their enlightened reforms, would seek to control population movements).
Indeed, this was the “golden era” of the Rudari, as goldmining, particularly under the Austrian administration, increased significantly. This economic boom was short-lived, however, and as alluvial gold deposits ran dry, the Rudari turned to woodworking, the occupation most closely associated with them still to this day. In the meantime, with the resumption of Wallachian rule over Oltenia, the institution of slavery returned, and with it the monastery's claim of ownership. Their continued insistence that this was unjust, the authors argue, helped solidify a collective identity amongst Rudari as a group unrelated to Roma; a belief that still adheres today, long after the collective memory among Rudari of their past as gold washers has faded, along with their economic prospects. The book ends, somewhat abruptly, in the mid-nineteenth century, and one can only hope that the authors plan to continue their study into the present day.
