ABSTRACT
This chapter develops a relationship of trust with the Romani minority through extensive and long-term contact, with views to ensuring the Romani's right to protect and preserve their cultural heritage. Rights to access, representation and participation in cultural heritage, are fundamentals which have been set down in several international conventions ratified by the Norwegian state. Norwegian history concerns the brutal repression and forced assimilation of the Romani/Tater people of Norway. This Traveller community, whose presence in the country has been recorded as far back as the early 1500s, and recently received recognition as a national minority. Furthermore, the author specifically use the Norwegian spelling for Romani, in an attempt to underline that this is a particular ethnic group in Norway, distinct from other Romany in Europe. At the time, this particular national minority had all but disappeared from the public consciousness due to severe and systematic assimilation measures implemented by the Norwegian state over many years.
