Acknowledgments
The monograph is published as a part of the research project “Roma Interbellum: Roma Civic Emancipation Between the Two World Wars”, which is funded by the European Research Council (ERC), under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Grant Agreement No. 694656). The content reflects solely the author’s view, and the agency is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.
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This book has been long in the making. I could not have completed it alone: many people contributed with data, help, encouragement, advice and comments. My deepest gratitude goes to the converted Roma among whom I did long years of empirical work. Through our conversations, I tried to understand the Romani sense of the believing world on which they project their everyday lives. They invited me into their homes, revealed to me the most intimate details of their personal stories, meanwhile treating me with soft drinks, coffee, and sweets, and asked in return that I write their “true history” so that their children may be proud of them. Those who believed they had a special mission to achieve as spiritual leaders wished, by telling me their stories, to contribute to the accumulation of knowledge about the Roma as God’s chosen people and to sustain the existence of their community. This is a great responsibility and I hope that my promise to them has been fulfilled with this book.
Throughout the book, I have not concealed the names of my informants and I have not changed the names of the neighborhoods, towns, and villages where they live, because as evangelicals they would like to openly serve as moral examples both for the faithful and for those not yet converted. I respect their wish. Besides, it would make no sense to change the names of pastors who are famous and have contributed to the religious mobilization of the Roma and, in particular, to the development of the evangelical culture. I have only omitted the names of individuals pointed out as negative examples because I believe that everyone deserves a second chance to change. I am grateful to my Bulgarian, Turkish and Armenian interviewees, who gave me a lateral but important perspective on the development of Romani evangelicalism in Bulgaria and thus also contributed to this work.
Elena Marushiakova and Vesselin Popov provided me with emotional support during the fieldwork, constant advice and comments on the manuscript. They encouraged me to write this monograph in English so that more people may read about the Evangelical Roma in Bulgaria.
My colleagues from the Balkan Ethnology Department of the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum at Bulgarian Academy of Sciences created a stimulating environment in which I could take some of the early steps toward developing the book. My thanks also go to the translator of the manuscript, Vladimir Vladov, and to the proofreader Martha Aladjem Bloomfield, both of whom spent much time working on the manuscript.
My family helped me in every way they could, and I am thankful for their love, patience, faith, and encouragement through the years. I am indebted to them for the long time I devoted to the book, as well for their comments on it – a debt that I hope to repay in some way.
Magdalena Slavkova