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You are here: Home Members MartinS Šimon, M. (2011): Successful integration of Romanian community from Bílá Voda / Úspěšná integrace rumunské komunity z Bílé Vody. Český lid : Ethnological journal 98, č. 2, str. 155 - 172. (IF 2010 = 0.343)
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Šimon, M. (2011): Successful integration of Romanian community from Bílá Voda / Úspěšná integrace rumunské komunity z Bílé Vody. Český lid : Ethnological journal 98, č. 2, str. 155 - 172. (IF 2010 = 0.343)

This paper presents a case study dealing with integration of Romanian Pentecostals in peripheral rural village in the Czech Republic. The pentecostal religion and its related value system plays a crucial role in their successful integration. They have succeeded in their self-presentation to other people in the village which sees them as a family oriented, humble and hard-working people. Such image is in accordance with expectation of majority population concerning acceptance of foreign migrants.

Abstract:  In this paper I seek to contribute to our understanding of Romanian immigration in the Czech Republic that has been neglected so far in the scholarly literature. This article presents evidence on a selected Romanian community in peripheral village in the Jeseník region based upon biographic interviews. The emergence and function of the community are reflected in the migration history of Romanian families, their gradual integration in society and in place of residence (marginalized village). Special emphasis is placed upon crucial moments like emergence of the distinction between Romanians and Roma in the eyes of majority of the society. Positive as well as negative influences upon the integration are discussed. The paper shows empirical evidence which is in some aspects contradictory to findings about integration of foreingers in the Czechia as presented by Tollarová (2006). The paper concludes with some consideration about future development of the community.

Keywords:  Immigrant integration, migration to rural areas, Romanian, Roma, Pentecostalism.

Journal webpage: http://eu.avcr.cz/Casopisy/cesky_lid/

Note: The text is unfortunately written in Czech language, but it is easy to get it google-translated to other languages in order to get the main points of the article. According to Romanian professor Dumitru Sandu it is the only article dealing specifically with Pentecostal migration from Romania.

Contributed by:

Martin Šimon

Prague, Czech Republic
Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague
last modified 2013-01-23 16:18