THE ROMA COMMUNITY OF MURGENI, COUNTY OF VASLUI, ROMANIA. THE SOCIAL EFFECTS OF A RELIGIOUS CONVERSION TO PENTECOSTAL CULT

Abstract

The present presentation includes the findings of a field sociological research in 2015 in Murgeni - a small provincial town in Romania located at the eastern border of Europe, with a Roma community of over 2,000 inhabitants. The study presents for the beginning a brief description of the locality.The central theme of the research was the role that the conversion of Pentecostal worship had in the life of the Roma community. Within this framework, research has attempted to answer a set of questions as follows: To what extent have some traditions of the Roma population changed? How has the local Pentecostal Church developed to this day? How did the authorities get all these changes? How does the Romanian population report to the mass conversion of the Roma community? In order to answer these questions, sociological research was based on various techniques: a survey of a sample of 300 subjects, participatory field observation, focus groups with ethnic Roma, interviews with local decision-makers, interviews with religious leaders. Field research has proven to be a good opportunity to identify new directions of action for local government or non-governmental actors who can intervene to better socio-cultural integration of the Roma or to understand the social costs of their migratory flows to Europe.