Romanistan
The authors of Secrets of Romani Fortune Telling present: Romanistan! Do you love rebels? Do you want to live in a place where outcasts shine their brightest? Welcome to Romanistan! We're your friendly neighborhood Gypsies, celebrating Romani identity and outcast culture, and practicing good diplomatic relations with other marginalized communities.
We love the rebels who are living their truth, even if it clashes with tradition. We also love tradition and honoring our roots. This podcast is for everyone who loves and supports Roma & related groups, and anyone who feels like a misfit and wants to uplift others to create a beautiful community.
We feature pioneers in culture, fashion, art, literature, music, activism, cuisine, and everything good. We adore the intersections of gender, sexuality, spirituality, ability, and identity. We cover all topics, from the difficult to the glorious. Let's sit crooked and talk straight.
Hosted by Paulina Stevens and Jezmina Von Thiele. We reclaim the slur Gypsy, but if you aren’t Romani, we prefer you don't use it. xoxo.
P.S. The Romani people are a diasporic ethnic group originally from northwest India, circa the 10th century. Now, Roma live all over the globe, and due to centuries of oppression, slavery, genocide, and other atrocities, Roma are still fighting for basic human rights. We seek to raise awareness of who Roma are, and highlight Romani resilience, creativity, & culture.
Romanistan
Florian Tacorian and Social Media Representation
We're back to our beloved interviews! Florian Tacorian is a Romani educator, actor and student at the University of Florida. He has built a large platform on TikTok and YouTube under the name @florida.florian where he teaches millions of people about Romani people, history, and culture, as well as, the importance of proper and accurate Romani representation in media. Florian is from a mixed Romani family of the Kalderash (coppersmith) clan of Roma in Romania. His videos aim to dismantle common anti-Roma stereotypes, empower Roma youth, and represent our Romani people in a new light that focuses on our strength, resistance, and cultural beauty.
Some recommended resources are TV Siklana, Magda Matache and the Roma Program at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard, The European Roma Institute of Arts and Culture (ERIAC) and Re-Thinking Roma Resistance, @romani.ed on TikTok, and @roma.culture on Instagram.
Romani crushes for this episode are Loly by Zita Moldovan @loly_by_zita_moldovan, The Feminist Collective of Roma Gender Experts (DIKKO) @dikko.magasin, and Dikh He Na Bister @dikh_he_na_bister who are raising funds soon for young Romani Holocaust Educators.
You can find us on Instagram @romanistanpodcast, and on Facebook under the same name, and on Twitter @romanistanpod. Join our Patreon for extra content.
We started a Ko-fi fundraiser to help us grow. Our goal is to release more episodes more often, and we would eventually like to expand so we can produce content by other Romani & Sinti creators. We are hoping to cover production costs, like paying for our hosting site, website, editing and producing, and all the rest. We would love it if you could contribute and spread the word. The link, Ko-fi.com/romanistan, is in our bio on Instagram, and will be in the show notes
Please rate, review, and subscribe. It helps us so much.
If you would like to advertise with us, email us at romanistanpodcast@gmail.com. We offer sliding-scale for Romani, Sinti & related businesses, so reach out!
You can find Jez on Instagram @jezmina.vonthiele, and on Twitter, TikTok, and Patreon, and you can find Jez’s vintage and curiosities shop Evil Eye Edit on Instagram @evileyeedit & Etsy.
You can find Paulina Verminski on Instagram @_paulina_v_ and at https://romaniholistic.com/. Follow Paulina’s store, Romani Holistic, i