Introduction

This book addresses the complex understanding of literacy and writing among Roma, Sinti and Travellers, ¹ groups that have long been arbitrarily labelled as people “without writing” (Toninato 1997). Such a negative definition, apparently confirmed by official low literacy rates among Roma, is ultimately based on two basic assumptions: that “true” writing coincides with alphabetic writing, and that the Roma are an exclusively oral culture with no knowledge of the written medium. This study challenges both assumptions.