This book was imagined in Bucharest, when I was invited to participate in a conference organized by the Roma Cultural Museum in Bucharest in 2014, “Roma Policies in Romania: Between Ethnicity and Social Vulnerability; The Perspectives of Nicolae Gheorghe.” This is where I met Ana Ivasiuc, and where we discussed the importance of Roma activism and scholarship in light of controversies regarding the viability of Roma as scholars, and of activism in scholarship. We held strong views about the importance of demonstrating that the Roma were actively engaged in their struggle for recognition as scholars and in their leadership and participation in Roma liberation, resisting the powerful pressures to give up their identities no matter how they are manifested, and fighting for their dignity.

      Among the individuals who come to mind who entered this struggle, Nicolae Gheorghe managed to play important roles, mediating between the political controls of Romanian communism and those of Roma groups he sought to embolden, and daring to explore their unification in the 1970s, when I was carrying out field research in Transylvania. My relationship with Romania was limited as my ability to enter the country ended (Beck 1992b), my academic career choices narrowed, and I adapted to the changing environment.

      I met Nicolae Gheorghe during my first two years of doctoral research on the history and political economy of an upland Romanian community (1974–76),