NEWS

Information on the 2026 GLS Board election results and welcome to the incoming Board 

According to our By-laws, the Society is governed by a Board of Directors comprising 15 members. Directors serve three-year terms, with five new directors elected annually. Each director serves until their successor is elected and qualified. Important: Only members in good standing are eligible to vote. 

The election was held by secret electronic ballot. Technical support and vote counting were carried out by the independent firm ElectionBuddy. Voting emails from the ElectionBuddy platform were sent to members who had paid their membership fees by 17 March 2026. All current paid-up members of the Society were eligible to vote. The election took place from 23 March to 3 April 2026.

Turnout: a participation rate of 62%. The vote was uncontested, and most importantly we reached the required turnout, with more than 50% of eligible voters casting a ballot.

Reelected Board members: Ioan Duminica, Loreley French, Lilyana Kovacheva, and Petre Matei.

Newly elected Board member: Jana Horváthová. 

The newly elected Board members join the continuing Board members: Huseyin Kyuchuk (Hristo Kyuchukov), Tatiana Zachar Podolinská, Magdalena Slavkova, Marcos Toyansk Guimarais, and Sofiya Zahova (serving until January 2027), and Julieta Rotaru, Elena Marushiakova, Colin Clark, Carol Silverman, and Viorel Achim (serving until January 2028).

The terms of the newly elected and reelected members are for three years, ending in January 2029.

Profile and Statements of the candidates for the Board of Directors

of the Gypsy Lore Society,

2026 term

1. Duminica, Ion

PhD, Assoc. Professor                                                                      

Head of the Department “Traditional culture of Ethnic minorities”

Institute of Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Moldova

Tel. +37379537572

E-mail: cultura.minoritati.etnice@gmail.com

https://ich-md.academia.edu/IonDuminica/CurriculumVitae

I am a Moldovan citizen of Roma ethnicity. In 2006, I received my PhD degree in Political science at the Institute of Philosophy, Sociology and Law of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova. Currently, I am the Head of Department “Traditional culture of Ethnic minorities” / Institute of Cultural Heritage at the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Moldova. As a Roma scholar in Romani studies, I have published scientific works on various topics: Roma History and Ethnology, Romani tradition and culture, Social integration of Moldavian Roma etc.  My current priority direction in researches is in looking to describe Roma traditional culture in the Republic of Moldova, especially on discover in the field unexplored last traces of Roma blacksmithing heritage. I believe this could be achieved on the one side through realizing regional/local field researches and comparative studies (from the past to the present); and on the other side through conducting interviews and communications with Roma community representatives and pro-Roma researchers&stakeholders. I find especially useful conducting memory studies and research in historical archives and libraries.

I am closely connected and collaborating with the Gypsy Lore Society since beginning of my academic career – as Roma scholar in Romani studies (South-Est European researches dimension).

I was initiator and the main organizer, coordinator and member of the Academic Programme Committee of the 2015 Gypsy Lore Society Annual Meeting and Conference on Romani Studies which was hosted by the Institute of Cultural Heritage of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova (Chisinau, 10-12th September 2015).

Since 2019, I covering regularly my Gypsy Lore Society membership fee.

Since 2020, I was elected as member of the Board of Directors of the Gypsy Lore Society.

Since 2022, I was elected as member of Editorial Board of Brill Publishing Series “Roma History and Culture”

After my re-election in 2026 at the Board of Directors of the Gypsy Lore Society, I will encouraged new approaches to Romani Studies, continuation and enlargement of field and archival researches and to support works for historical and cultural heritage of the Roma. Also, if I will be re-elected to the Board of Directors of the Gypsy Lore Society – one of my priorities will be focused to encourage the creation and continuous replenishment of a digital library in the field of Romani studies, which can be available to open access by the members of the Gypsy Lore Society.

2. French, Lorely (PhD., Professor Emerita of German, Pacific University, Oregon, USA

Research Fellow, Passau International Centre for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Passau, Germany (2025-2026))

I am honored to be a candidate for the Board of Directors of the Gypsy Lore Society. I am Professor Emerita of German at Pacific University in Oregon, in the U.S., where I taught and researched for 39 years on language, literature, feminist studies, women’s student, and international cultural studies from the eighteenth century to the present. I incorporated the cultures, histories, and literatures of Romani peoples into several of my classes. In those classes and in my research, I have focussed largely on Austrian Romni writer, artist, activist, and educator Ceija Stojka and other German-speaking Romani writers and artists. I have co-curated three exhibits on Ceija Stojka (2009, with Michaela Grobbel, at Pacific University, Sonoma State University, and West Branch Gallery; 2023, with Stephanie Buhmann and Carina Kurta, at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York; and 2024, with Carina Kurta, at the Ebensee Museum in Austria for the European Capital of Cultural Bad Ischl Salzkammergut 2024). Presently, I am a Research Fellow at the Passau International Centre for Advanced Interdisciplinary at the University of Passau in Germany, where I am curating an exhibit and organizing a workshop on Ceija Stojka and a colloquium on "Dreams, Hopes, and Utopias in Literature, Film, and Art by Roma and Sinti in Europe."   My translation of Ceija Stojka’s three memoirs from German into English, entitled The Memoirs of Ceija Stojka: Child Survivor of the Romani Holocaust, which includes an introduction, notes, and a glossary, appeared with Camden House/Boydell & Brewer in 2022. My book Roma Voices in the German-Speaking World was published by Bloomsbury as a hardcover in 2015 and revised as paperback in 2016. To the literature section of RomaArchive: Digital Archive of the Roma, which launched in 2019, I contributed the essays and biographies on Romani writers in Austria and the United States. 

I am running for re-election to the board, having served for three years already. I attended my first Romani Studies conference in 2007 in Manchester, England. Since then, I have followed the research of many of its members closely in order to stay current with my own research. I attended the Romani Studies conference at the University of Iceland in 2019, where I co-chaired a panel on Roman literatures with Sofia Zahova and Marina Ortrud Hertrampf. That panel developed into the special issue of the Romani Studies journal, co-edited by us three, entitled: Contemporary Narratives by Roma & Narratives about Roma/Gypsies, in 2020. I presented online at the conference in Prague in 2021, and in person in Belgrade (2022), São Paolo (2023), and Paris (2025) in sessions on Romani literature(s). 

Being a Board member has allowed me the opportunity to give back to an organization whose members have generously shared their insights with me and given me inspiration and assistance. In my position on the board, I have helped in the transition from moving the organization from the United States to Slovakia, looking into financial and legal matters. That work is ongoing, and thus I want to see it through to the end.  I am a board member of the Ceija Stojka International Fund and have served in leadership roles in other professional organizations; I thus recognize the dedication and time commitment involved. Although all areas of Romani Studies are important, I would like to see Romani literatures and visual arts continue to receive increasing scholarly attention. At recent conferences, I have attended the section with papers presented in the Romani language, which I am trying to learn, and heard about publications in Romany. I would love to see this focus on the language continue at conferences and in publications.

3. Horváthová, Jana

(Director of the Museum, Museum of Romani Culture, Brno, Czech Republic, 1 Oct 2003 – present)

My name is Jana Horváthová. I come partly from a Romani family, from the Holomek lineage of Czech Roma, who were severely affected by the racist genocide of Roma and Sinti during World War II. My grandfather, JUDr. Tomáš Holomek, and my father, Ing. Karel Holomek, successively led the Romani ethno-emancipation movement in Czechoslovakia from 1944 onwards.

I am a historian and museologist who participated in the establishment of the Museum of Romani Culture (www.rommuz.cz), which operates in the Czech Republic. In addition to its main headquarters in the city of Brno, it has two branches and is currently building its third branch in the capital city of Prague. Its establishment and development are my lifelong mission. In my work, I follow in the footsteps of my ancestors and further develop their legacy.

As a potential member of the GLS Board of Trustees, I would like to bring to this institution more native speakers of the Romani language - Roma themselves - who are striving to find their roots and build their identity. I would also like to bring Romani figures whose work can give GLS new momentum. Research in Romani studies can be more closely connected with the people and subjects of research, thereby achieving shared and mutually beneficial synergy.

I can also offer experience in developing unique collections relating to Roma and Sinti, which we preserve in the Museum of Romani Culture, and thus inspire other countries to undertake similar museum, museological, and documentation work. This work is of great importance.

Within the framework of decolonization efforts, it is time for mainstream museums to identify and acknowledge works of Romani provenance in their collections and to present this origin publicly. GLS, also thanks to its scientific potential, can significantly contribute to this decolonization process. Academic research could thus, through even closer engagement, contribute to building the modern Romani nation and supporting its prosperity and wellbeing.

4. Kovacheva, Lilyana Zhelyova

My name is Lilyana Zhelyova Kovacheva. I am of Romani origin, belonging to the Erlii group. My father is a third-generation blacksmith, and my maternal grandfather was a sieve and comb maker. Both family lineages were historically Romani and Turkish-speaking, and they practised Islam.

I am trained as a pedagogue. In 1992, Romani language instruction was introduced in Bulgaria as an optional subject for students of Romani origin. In my role as a Romani language teacher, I had the opportunity to collect authentic Roma folklore through my students. This experience significantly deepened my interest in the Romani language, history, and cultural traditions.

In 2010, I enrolled as a PhD student at the Institute of Folklore with Ethnographic Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Before completing my doctoral studies, I became a member of the Gypsy Lore Society. In 2013, I presented my first paper at the Society’s annual conference in Glasgow, Scotland. My presentation focused on Romani groups living in Central and Eastern Bulgaria. Since then, I have regularly participated in almost all annual conferences of the Gypsy Lore Society.

Several years later, I was nominated to the Board. I firmly believe that representatives of the Romani community should be actively involved in both the academic and organizational life of the Gypsy Lore Society. Their participation allows them not only to present their own research but also to engage with scholarly work by researchers from other countries who study different Romani groups and subgroups. This exchange broadens academic knowledge while introducing the perspective of insiders.

Of particular importance to me is the reflexive methodological approach, which emphasizes the researcher’s internal perspective, lived experience, and long-term personal observation. When scholars who belong to the community under study engage in research, their insights contribute to a more nuanced, contextualized, and ethically grounded understanding of Romani culture and society.

For these reasons, I wish to serve on the Board of the Gypsy Lore Society. I see this role as mutually beneficial—both for myself and for members of the Society who are not of Romani origin. Over the past fifteen years, the Gypsy Lore Society has consciously opened its doors to Romani scholars, a practice I strongly support and regard as an exemplary model of inclusive academic governance.

Another crucial aspect for me is that the Society not only supports doctoral and postdoctoral scholars of Romani origin but also provides them with genuine opportunities to participate in decision-making processes related to the organisation's development. For several consecutive terms, the vice presidents of the Gypsy Lore Society have been Romani scholars. This is highly motivating for early-career researchers of Romani origin and offers them valuable administrative and leadership experience. I myself have served two consecutive terms as Vice President of the Society.

My primary goal as a Board member is to work actively to increase the inclusion of Romani community members in the Gypsy Lore Society, both as researchers and in leadership roles. I consider it particularly important to create further opportunities for postdoctoral scholars of Romani origin to publish their research in the Society’s journal and to participate in calls, grants, and competitions announced by the Gypsy Lore Society.

5. Matei, Petre

I completed my PhD in History at the University of Bucharest (Romania) in 2010. I was especially interested in seeing how the Roma communities positioned themselves in the interwar period, in an effort to follow their own social and ethnic agenda. At the same time, I looked at how the ground was prepared for the World War II deportations to which 25,000 Romanian Roma fell victim. To do so, I addressed the perceptions of Roma by different local actors, by comparing the older attitudes toward Roma specific to certain milieus with the measures taken against them during the Second World War. I received a DAAD fellowship, which I used for a stay at the Ruhr University Bochum, where I had the chance to work with Prof. Michael Zimmermann, to conduct research for my doctoral thesis in 2006. Later, I benefitted from several other fellowships offered by prestigious institutions such as the US Holocaust Memorial Museum or the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies. Since 2016, I have been a researcher at the “Elie Wiesel” National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania and an Associate Lecturer in Roma History at the MA Programme Roma Studies within the Political Science Department at the National University for Political Studies and Administration (SNSPA), Bucharest. Additionally, since 2021 I have been a member of the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure WP 9, where I am focusing on oral history interviews with Roma Holocaust survivors.

Between 2014-2016, I led the project “Roma Survivors of Deportations to Transnistria”, financed by the EEA & Norway Grants, where I interviewed the last Roma survivors, whom I also helped apply for compensation from Germany. Apart from creating an extensive oral history database consisting of 297 interviews, 208 Roma survivors obtained their Ghetto-Renten, with a total of over three million euros in compensation (http://dipbt.bundestag.de/doc/btd/18/064/1806493.pdf). Furthermore, I have worked as a researcher within different projects related to Roma history: “The Gypsy Issue in Romania in the 19th Century. The Institution of Slavery, Abolitionist Movement and Emancipation of Gypsies”; “Coming to Terms with National History and Participation in Contemporary Memorialisation of the Holocaust in Central and Eastern European Post-Communist Countries”; “The Roma in Romania under Communist Rule. State Policies and the Roma Movement”; “Countering Online Antisemitism and Antigypsism” etc.

I have been a GLS member since 2016 and in 2018 I served as member of the Organizing Committee on the occasion of the GLS conference in Bucharest. In 2022, I was elected as editor-in-chief of Romani Studies, the GLS journal.

I have co-edited a book with Vintillă Mihăilescu (Condiția romă și schimbarea discursului [The Roma Condition and the Change of Discourse], published in Romanian in 2014 and in German in 2020) and I edited Mișcarea romă din România în presa interbelică: 1933-1941 [The Roma Movement in Romania in the Interwar Press: 1933-1941] in 2022. In addition to these edited volumes, I published around 30 articles on Roma history. I briefly reproduce just a few recent titles from 2022 (Understanding and Legitimizing Gypsy Slavery in the Traditional Romanian Society; Roma in 1980s Communist Romania and the Roma Discourse on the Holocaust between Compensation and Identity), 2021 (Perceptions on the Roma Holocaust in Post-Communist Romania: Patterns of Memory and Identity), 2020 (Wie wurde der Zigeuner zum Ungeheuer; Between Nationalism and Pragmatism: The Roma Movement in Interwar Romania); 2019 (Survival Strategies of the Roma Deportees to Transnistria), etc.

If elected to the Board, I will do my best to encourage young scholars (also of Roma background) to join the GLS.