An Introduction to Intercultural Communication. Fred E. Jandt
in Persia, then arriving in Europe in the 13th or 14th century. The name Gypsy was mistakenly applied by medieval Europeans, who thought all dark-skinned people came from Egypt. Leading a nomadic life, the Roma were often regarded as tramps and accused of thefts and robberies. From the beginning of the 17th century, attempts were made to forcibly assimilate the Roma people by requiring permanent settlement and banning the Romany language. The Roma were particularly persecuted by Nazi Germany. About 500,000 died in Nazi gas chambers and concentration camps. The Roma language and culture, including remembrance of the Holocaust (known in the Roma language as porraimos, or “the devouring”), are central to Roma identity throughout the world.
Roma and other peoples demonstrate against discrimination of nomad people in Berlin in 2016.
Sipa USA via AP
The Roma have no nation-state of their own and now number approximately 10 million in Europe, mainly in the Balkans and in Central and Eastern Europe, and about 2 million elsewhere, mainly in North and South America and North Africa. Romania has the largest number—about 500,000 according to census data but more reliably estimated at 2.5 million. For decades, Eastern European communist governments suppressed prejudice against the Roma and banned the nomadic life. As the countries shifted to market economies and many people lost jobs, the Roma have again experienced discrimination (Herakova, 2009).
The creation and expansion of the European Union made it possible for citizens to move freely across national boundaries. Italy, for example, had 210,937 foreign residents in 1981. That number grew to more than 4 million by 2006, with many migrating from Romania. In 2005, a councilman in a northern region of Italy appeared on television, stating, “Nomads, they are animals,” and suggested “a vaccine for Roma children which, with their saliva and spit, might ‘infect’ Italian children attending the same schools” (Nicolae, 2006, p. 138). On national television, the president of the National Association of Sociologists of Italy claimed that the Roma stole children and then sold them “sometimes in parts” (Nicolae, 2006, p. 138). Graffiti appeared on walls: “Gypsies go away” and “Gypsies to the gas.”
Map 2.1 Ten Highest European Roma Populations
Source: Based on data from the Council of Europe’s Roma and Travellers Division (2012).
Italian politicians proposed a census of the Roma in Italy as a first step to ending the discrimination. Yet, as Guillem (2011) explained, the census itself was a form of Othering, reinforcing the belief that the Roma are uncivilized and inferior to European society (Kaneva & Popescu, 2014). As recently as 2010, France deported 1,000 Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, and bulldozed some 300 Roma camps. France’s actions were called a “disgrace” by the European Commission and have been likened to ethnic cleansing (Bennhold & Castle, 2010).
The European Union states have made better treatment of the Roma a condition for new members. Critics charge that these efforts are for the purpose of reducing migration into the more prosperous Western European nations.
Case Study: Koreans in Japan
The relationship between Japan and Korea reflects deep-seated and long-standing prejudice. Historically, Korea had closer ties to China than did Japan, and both Korea and China tended to view Japan as a “troublemaking” state. This view was reinforced time and again by Japanese incursions into Korean territory and 35 years of Japan’s colonial rule. It has only been in recent years that the South Korean and Japanese governments have signed mutual friendship treaties, established normal diplomatic relations, and entered into joint economic development agreements. In an act of historic symbolism, South Korea and Japan cohosted the 2002 World Cup soccer games. Despite economic ties, there remains a sense of han, or bitter resentment, that many Koreans feel toward the Japanese.
After Japan’s annexation of Korea in 1910, thousands of Koreans migrated into Japan seeking employment. Following the great 1923 Kanto earthquake in Japan, it was rumored that Koreans were poisoning water supplies. Mob violence left some 6,000 Koreans dead. Later, between 1939 and 1945, more Koreans were forced by the Japanese government to migrate to work in mines (Weiner, 1994). During World War II, the Koreans in Japan were forced to become Japanese nationals. Japan’s surrender to the Allied Forces brought an end to the annexation of Korea, and the majority of Koreans who had been brought to Japan under forced immigration returned to Korea, but some 500,000 to 600,000 remained in Japan (Fukuoka, 1996).
When the San Francisco peace treaty came into effect in 1952, the government of Japan claimed that the Koreans then in Japan should not be granted Japanese nationality. The descendants of the Koreans who remained in Japan, who may never have been to Korea and who may not have spoken Korean, were legally foreigners.
Focus on Skills 2.3 Can Maps Be Racist?
Even international issues can become local issues. Assume you work in the governor’s office in Virginia. The Virginia legislature passed a bipartisan bill that would require new public school textbooks in the state to note that the Sea of Japan is also referred to as the East Sea. You learn that New Jersey and New York are considering similar legislation.
The legislation was proposed by a Korean immigrant living in Virginia who saw that in his son’s fifth-grade textbook, what he knew to be the East Sea was labeled as the Sea of Japan. Mark Keam, a Korean-American member of the Virginia House of Delegates, said that the labeling reminds Korean-Americans of Japan’s 35-year colonial rule of the Korean peninsula. “When Virginia’s kids are learning history and geography about that part of the world, they should be taught properly that there are two sides of the story.”
Japan’s government hired lobbyists to try to defeat the bill. Ambassador Kenichiro Sasae wrote to Virginia’s governor that “positive cooperation and the strong economic ties between Japan and Virginia may be damaged” if the bill becomes law. After similar bills were introduced in New Jersey and New York, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga called them “extremely regrettable” and pledged a “response through diplomatic channels.” Both Korean and Japanese governments posted old maps and documents online. Korean arguments are that the name East Sea has been in use for hundreds of years and that Sea of Japan was used only when Korea was under Japanese rule. Japanese arguments state that Sea of Japan has been used on maps since 1602 and dismiss East Sea as only a name used locally in South Korea.
1 Now that you understand the relationship between Japan and Korea, how do you advise the governor?
2 What can you do to influence the course of centuries of misunderstanding in order to reduce this communication barrier?
Source: Simon (2014, p. A7).
As the largest minority group in Japan, Japanese-born Koreans are the victims of social, economic, and political prejudice. Japanese law provides little or no protection against the housing and employment discrimination many Japanese-born Koreans experience. In 1974, the National Council for Combating Discrimination Against Ethnic Minorities (Mintohren) was founded by Korean residents and concerned Japanese to fight for the human and civil rights of the Korean residents in Japan.
Case Study: White Privilege
In the 1930s, W. E. B. Du Bois wrote of White supremacy as a global phenomenon (1935 reissued in 1995). Later, Theodore W. Allen introduced the term White privilege, which later was popularized by Peggy McIntosh (1989). She uses the term to describe how a dominant culture empowers some:
As a white person, I have realized I had been taught about racism as something which puts others at a disadvantage, but had