THE GYPSY POPULATION OF TATARSTAN: FEATURES OF SOCIO-CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE EDUCATION AND HEALTH ISSUES

Abstract

The urgency of the issue under study is due to the need for a comprehensive study of groups that are in a foreign ethnic environment. The aim of the article is to study the peculiarities of sociocultural development and attitudes towards the issues of education and health protection of the Gypsy population living in the Zelenodolsk district of the Republic of Tatarstan. The principal approach to the study of that issue is the polyparadigmatic methodology. The article is written on the materials of a field study conducted in the summer of 2016 in the Zelenodolsk district of the Republic of Tatarstan in areas densely populated by Gypsies. The authors conducted a series of interviews with both local residents and representatives of the Gypsy enclave. The article describes an attitude of the Gypsy population to the educational process as a socialization tool for children, and addresses the issues of maintaining the health of the Gypsy population. Particular attention is paid in the article to the fact that the issues of children’s education are not a priority for the Roma population of the study area; and issues related to health protection are significantly different from those of the local population. The position of the local population in relation to the Gypsy enclave is analyzed. The existence of a pronounced cultural distance between the host population and the Gypsies is substantiated. It was concluded that the development of strategies for the integration of the Gypsy people enclave into the local community depends on the support of the initiatives put forward by local residents and the administration, by a majority of the representatives of the camp. The materials of the article may be useful for ethnologists, social and cultural anthropologists, political scientists, as well as representatives of bodies and structures responsible for issues of interethnic and interfaith contacting.