The Boyash also known as Rudari Lingurari or inclusively as oamenii nötri (our people) are
an ethnic group living today in scattered communities in the Balkans Central and Eastern
Europe but also in the Americas. What brings the disperse communities of Boyash together is
their Romanian mother tongue (memory of) traditional occupation common historical origin and
the fact that the majority population considers them Gypsies¿ ¿Roma. A marginal topic until now
at the crossroads between Romani and Romanian studies the Boyash studies are today an
interdisciplinary field dealing with the experiences of the Boyash over time in Romania and
all the places where they have settled. The editors of this volume intend to mark two centuries
of scholarly interest in the Boyash by bringing together researchers from different fields
summing up existing literature and bringing new research to the forefront.
