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“Rebuilding Ties that Existed Long Ago”: Experiences of Finnish Roma During Missionary Work in Estonia Cover

“Rebuilding Ties that Existed Long Ago”: Experiences of Finnish Roma During Missionary Work in Estonia

Open Access
|Jun 2022

Abstract

This article analyses Finnish Roma experiences of interaction with Roma in Estonia, in the period after the historic fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 through to the present. The research data rely on semi-structured interviews and informal conversations, as well as indirect observations of Finnish Roma missionising activities. The results show that Roma identity was seen as a unifying factor and a source of a feeling of belonging, but not as the major factor driving mission. The driving force of the mission stems from the urge to evangelise, inherent in how Pentecostal teaching is lived and directed. This study contributes to the understanding of the interplay of ethnic identity and spirituality in Roma communities in the context of missionising, as well as the role of missionising for the missionaries themselves.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2022-0007 | Journal eISSN: 2228-0987 | Journal ISSN: 1736-6518
Language: English
Page range: 117 - 134
Published on: Jun 23, 2022
Published by: University of Tartu, Estonian National Museum, Estonian Literary Museum
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 2 issues per year

© 2022 Lidia Gripenberg, published by University of Tartu, Estonian National Museum, Estonian Literary Museum
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.