Annual Meeting

           The Gypsy Lore Society Annual Meeting and Conference on Gypsy Studies

Gypsy Lore Society meetings are held on an annual basis and are rotated among different US cities and other countries. Meetings typically include presentations of recent research, discussion sessions, exhibits and films. Gypsy Lore Society members receive discounts on meeting registration fees.

Previous GLS Conferences

1979 3 February Montclair State College, Montclair NJ, USA

1980 2 February Montclair State College, Montclair NJ, USA

1981 7-8 February Wagner College, Staten Island NY, USA

1982 6-7 February Wagner College, Staten Island NY, USA

1983 11-13 March University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI, USA

1984 24-26 February Wagner College, Staten Island NY, USA

1985 15-17 February National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC

1986 21-23 February Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA

1987 26-28 March University of California, Los Angeles, USA

1988 25-27 March Wagner College, Staten Island NY, USA

1989 7-9 April University of Toronto, Canada

1990 30 March - 1 April Wagner College, Staten Island NY, USA

1991 19-21 July Leicester Polytechnic, Leicester, United Kingdom

1992 13-15 March Harvard University, Boston MA, USA

1993 28-30 May Catholic University of America, Washington DC, USA

1994 1-2 April University of California, Los Angeles, USA

1995 29-31 May National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden, The Netherlands

1996 28-30 March New School for Social Research, New York NY, USA

1997 25-27 April Boston University, Boston MA, USA

1998 27-28 March University of Texas - Arlington, USA

1999 28-29 June University of Florence, Italy

2000 11-12 August Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA

2001 no meeting

2002 6-7 September Minority Research Institute at Hungarian Academy, Budapest, Hungary

2003 30-31 May University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI, USA

2004 3-4 September University of Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

2005 9-10 September Universidad de Granada, Spain

2006 2-3 June University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA

2007 6-8 September University of Manchester, United Kingdom

2008 28-30 August Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA

2009 27-29 August University of Helsinki, Finland

2010 8-10 September Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal

2011 1-3 September European Centre for Modern Languages, Graz, Austria

2012 19-22 September Istanbul, Turkey

2013 11-12 September University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom

2014 11-13 September Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia

2015 10-12 September Academy of Sciences of Moldova, Chisinau, Moldova

2016 14-16 September Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden

2017 30 August - 1 Sept University of Cyprus, Nicosia

2018 4-7 September Bucharest, Romania

2019 15-17 August Reykjavík, Iceland

2020 no meeting

2021 8-10 September Prague, Czech Republic

2022 28-30 September Belgrade, Serbia

2023 3-6 October São Paulo, Brazil

2024 25-27 September Sofia, Bulgaria

2025 23-26 September Paris-Aubervilliers, France

Conference Program

Book of Abstracts

2026 Annual Meeting of the Gypsy Lore Society and Conference on Romani Studies

NEW!

News for GLS participants

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN (Ticket publication date 24 may 2026)

A guided visit to Uštica / Jasenovac Memorial Site is planned for 5 September. Please take this date into account when arranging your travel.

The visit will take place at Jasenovac Memorial Site (approx. 114 km from Zagreb), with support from the Croatian Romani Union “Kali Sara” (Zagreb)  Further practical information will be shared soon.

General Information

The 2026 Annual Meeting of the Gypsy Lore Society and Conference on Romani Studies is scheduled for September 2nd -5th and will be held in Zagreb, Croatia. The conference is organized on behalf of the Gypsy Lore Society by the Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar (Zagreb) with co-organizers: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb (Zagreb) and Institute for Migration (Zagreb) and the Croatian Romani Union “Kali Sara” (Address: Ulica Pavla Hatza 23, 10000 Zagreb).

Conference Academic Committee

Tatiana Zachar Podolinská (Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology SAS, Slovakia)

PhD Željko Holjevac (Director; Institute of Social Science Ivo Pilar, Zagreb)

PhD Domagoj Tončinić (Dean; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Zagreb) 

PhD Marina Perić Kaselj (Director; Institute for Migration, Zagreb)

Veljko Kajtazi (The Croatian Romani Union "Kali Sara") 

Elena Marushiakova (Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology SAS, Slovakia)

Venue of the conference, fee and schedule

The conference will feature paper presentations and topic-focused panels. The panels can be pre-arranged or open panels. The organizers aim to limit scheduling parallel sessions to maximize participant attendance and engagement.

Registration

Registration Form 

Conference fees

€170 for GLS members 

€270 general 

The Registration Fee Includes:

1. access to all conference events and cultural programs organized in the premises of the conference venue.

2. tea/coffee breaks for the full three days

3. conference material (bag, stationary, printed program booklet, etc.)

Registration & payment deadline: 31 July 2026

Please choose between the two conference fee categories according to your membership status. GLS members pay a lower fee than non-members. If you are unsure of your membership status, please contact the Treasurer, treasurergypsylore@gmail.com

Participation is not guaranteed until full payment of the conference fee is received. Please note that registration is only valid upon receipt of the conference fee by July 31, 2026. Thank you for your understanding.

You can make a bank transfer to our bank account. You may incur banking charges from your bank if you choose to pay via bank transfer.

For the bank transfer you will need the following details:

Account name: GYPSY LORE SOCIETY (FOUNDED 1888), n.o.

Bank name: 365.BANK, A.S.

Currency: EUR

Address: Dvorakovo nabrezie 4

BIC/Swift code: POBNSKBA

IBAN number: SK6565000000000020607416

To pay directly using PayPal, debit or credit card, use the following link: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/2VEMA3T7WVPGS

Financial Aid for Conference Attendees

Two stipends are available for participation in the 2026 Annual Meeting of the Gypsy Lore Society and Conference on Romani Studies, 2nd - 5th September, Zagreb, Croatia.

Through the generosity of its members, the Gypsy Lore Society awards two stipends of €500 each to eligible conference participants enrolled in a PhD programme or those up to three years past completion of their PhD requirements. Their conference papers should be accepted. They should not have received aid for meeting attendance from another source. Priority is given to members of the Gypsy Lore Society. Those

who have not previously received a stipend will also be given preference. Stipends are awarded if approved participants attend the conference and present their papers.

Applicants should send a brief letter of application to the Gypsy Lore Society Treasurer,

treasurergypsylore@gmail.com , by June 15, 2026.

The sessions and panels of the conference take place at:

Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar (Marulićev trg 19/1, 10000 Zagreb)

Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb (Ulica Ivana Lučića 3, 10000 Zagreb) 

Institute for Migration (Trg Stjepana Radića 3, 10000 Zagreb).

Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar (Marulićev trg 19/1, 10000 Zagreb)

 Tram station: Trg Republike Hrvatske [Tram: 14, 17, 12]

 Tram station: Vodnikova [Tram: 2, 4, 9]

More info:

https://www.zet.hr/en

https://citymapper.com/zagreb

Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb (Ulica Ivana Lučića 3, 10000 Zagreb)

 Tram station: Sveučilišna aleja [Tram: 5, 13]

More info:

https://www.zet.hr/en

https://citymapper.com/zagreb

Institute for Migration (Trg Stjepana Radića 3, 10000 Zagreb).

 Tram station: Lisinski [Tram: 5, 13]

More info:

https://www.zet.hr/en

https://citymapper.com/zagreb

To Participate in the Conference

There are three ways to participate.

1. Submit an individual paper for the general conference program (deadline: 15 April 2026);

2. Propose a pre-arranged panel with multiple papers on a specific theme (deadline: 15 April

2026);

3. Submit your paper to one of the 8 open panels listed below (deadline: 15 April 2026).

Open Panels 

We are pleased to announce that we have received proposals for 8 open panels for the GLS

2026 Conference. Scholars are now invited to submit their papers to any of these thematic

panels, in addition to submitting individual papers or proposing pre-arranged panels.

Panel 1: Romaňi čhib the kultura: literatura, bašaviben, čitre the aver (Romani language and

arts: literature, music, visual art etc., panel in Romani!)

Panel 2: Le Rom ando historickívo taj ando antropologickívo rodimo / O Roma andro

histroricka the antropologicka študiji (Roma in historical and anthropological research)

Panel 3: Protestant Mission Efforts towards Gypsy/Roma Communities (17th–21st Centuries)

Panel 4: Roma slavery meets Slavery studies

Panel 5: Late-Peripatetic Adaptations in the Age of Global Modernity

Panel 6: The Boyash/Rudari Today

Panel 7: Forgotten places of mass crimes against Roma: Culture of remembrance of Roma

victims of genocide

Panel 8: Narratives of Otherness and Counter-Narratives: Karelian and Romani Identity in

Finnish Film and Social Media

Abstract of the open panels

Please send your abstracts and possible proposals for panels to glsconferencezagreb2026@gmail.com 

Submission Guidelines

Abstracts should not exceed 600 words. Bibliographical references are counted separately and should be limited to a maximum of 5 references.

Conference Presentation Policy

To ensure a fair opportunity for all participants to present and to keep the conference schedule within the planned number of days, each participant may present one paper as the presenting author and may be listed as a co-author on one additional paper. 

The conference will begin on the morning of Wednesday, September 2, 2026, and close on Saturday, September 5.

The working hours for the conference are from 9h30 to 12h30 and from 14h to 18h. The total time for presentation of a paper is expected to be 30 minutes: 20 minutes for the paper and 10 minutes for discussion. The presentation languages are English, Croatian and Romani.

Deadlines

Deadline for submission of open panel proposals: 15 March 2026

Deadline for submission of papers and pre-arranged panel proposals: 15 April 2026

Deadline for the confirmation of contributions accepted for 2026 GLS Conference: 15 May 2026

An assessment committee of international scholars from the Conference Academic Committee, headed by the President of the GLS, Tatiana Zachar Podolinská, will make the final selection of papers to be presented and possible panels.

Accommodation

Several hotels (3 to 5 stars) are within moderate distance from the conference venue:

3star Hotels

Hotel Centar

Kneza Branimira 3, 10000 Zagreb

+385 (0) 1 4841 122

+385 (0) 98 256 135

info@hotel-central.hr

https://hotel-central.hr/

Hotel Laguna

Kranjčevićeva 29, 10000 Zagreb

Tel:+385 1 3047000

Fax:+385 1 3047077

E-mail: hotellagunazg@gmail.com

4star Hotels

Best Western Premier Hotel Astoria

Petrinjska ulica 71

Tel: +385 1 4808 900

Fax: + 385 1 4808 908

sales@hotelastoria.hr

recepcija@hotelastoria.hr

www.bestwestern.com

Hotel Dubrovnik d.d.

Ljudevita Gaja 1,

E: info@hotel-dubrovnik.hr

T: +385 1 4863 512

https://www.hotel-dubrovnik.hr/

Hotel Garden

Vodnikova ul. 13

+385 1 4843 720

info@gardenhotel.hr

https://www.gardenhotel.hr/en/contact/

Hotel International

Miramarska 24

Tel.: +385 52 808 400

Fax: +385 52 800 215

E-mail: hello@maistra.hr

https://www.maistra.com/properties/hotel-international/#/

5star Hotels

The Westin Zagreb

Krsnjavoga 1

T: +385-1-4892000

Fax: +385 1-4892001

https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/zagwi-the-westin-zagreb/overview/

Esplanade Zagreb Hotel

Mihanovićeva 1

info@esplanade.hr

www.esplanade.hr

Hotel Le Premier

Ulica kralja Držislava 5

+385 1 44 00880

booking@lepremier.hr

Restaurant: booking@lepremier.hr

Due to high demand for accommodation, early booking is strongly recommended.

Conference Organizing Committee

PhD Danijel Vojak (Institute of Social Science Ivo Pilar, Zagreb)

PhD Ivan Andrijanić (University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zagreb)

PhD Petar Radosavljević (University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zagreb)

PhD Filip Škiljan (Institute for Migration, Zagreb)

Ivana Olujić (University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zagreb)

Ahmad Sawas Najjar (The Croatian Romani Union "Kali Sara") 

Magdalena Slavkova (Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences)

Julieta Rotaru (ILARA-EPHE-PSL, Paris and ICCR senior scholar, Pune, India).

Aid to Early-Career Scholars

A fund to aid early-career scholars to attend future meetings has been established. You may contribute to the fund here.

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=A3J6KCRHF7ZZE