# Elena Marushiakova

Elena Marushiakova (Bulgarian: Елена Марушиакова) is a historian and ethnographer working in field of Romani Studies, of Slovak and Russian origin, who has lived and studied in Slovakia and Bulgaria. In 2016 she became a research professor in the School of History at the University of St Andrews. Elena Marushiakova became the president of the Gypsy Lore Society.

## Life

Marushiakova started her professional career in the Ethnographic Institute at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, followed by work in the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies and Ethnographic Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
From 2001 to 2004, Elena Marushiakova conducted research on Roma in the former Soviet Union in the framework of the Complex Research Programme "Difference and integration" of the Universities of Leipzig and Halle. From 2013 to 2014, she was Professor Fellow in International Research Centre Work and Human Lifecycle in Global History at the Humboldt University of Berlin, in 2015 Leverhulme Visiting professor at the University of St Andrews, and in 2016 Professor Fellow in Imre Kertész Kolleg at Friedrich Schiller University Jena.
Since September 2016, Elena Marushiakova is the Principal Investigator of the ERC Advanced Grant and works as a research professor in the School of History at the University of St Andrews.
From 2023, she working at the Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology at the Slovak Academy of Sciences.
Elena Marushiakova was the president of the Gypsy Lore Society (2010–2020) and the Funding and Scientific Committee member of the European Academic Network on Romani Studies. From 2020 to 2022, she was co-editor in chief of the Romani Studies (journal).
Elena Marushakova is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Brill & Schoning Series "Roma History and Culture".
Elena Marushiakova is a holder of the 2009 Fulbright New Century Scholars Award from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State and the Council for International Exchange of Scholars.
Professor Elena Marushiakova received on 7 February 2020 the Doctor Honoris Causa Award of Södertörn University in Stockholm for her great contribution to Romani Studies. The appointment was challenged by academics working with Romani studies at Södertörn who consider her work antiziganist and because of her contributions to the German school of "tsiganologie". This was disclosed by the Romani-Swedish magazine DIKKO in 2021. Numerous Roma and many scholars from different countries refuted the accusations and expressed their strong support for Elena Marushiakova.
In 2022, the Initiative Group for Roma Culture, which includes Roma intellectuals from Bulgaria, honoured Elena Marushiakova and Veselin Popov with the award "Romanipe" for their long-life activity in the field of Roma studies.
In 2022, the Best Historical Materials Committee of the Reference and User Services Association, an affiliate of the American Library Association selected as one of the Best Historical Materials published in 2020 and 2021 the book Marushiakova, Elena and Vesselin Popov, eds. 2021. Roma Voices in History: A Source Book. Roma Civic Emancipation in Central, South-Eastern and Eastern Europe from 19th Century until the Second World War. Leiden: Brill & Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh.
In 2023, Elena Marushiakova received the title of Honorary Professor of the University of St Andrews.

## Main activities

Elena Marushiakova and her co-author Veselin Popov conducted numerous ethnographic field researches and have published about Gypsies/Roma in Bulgaria, the Balkans, Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia. Their major works include the first book on Roma in Bulgaria (1997), a book on Gypsies in Ottoman Empire (2000), and a book on Gypsies in Central Asia and Caucasus (2016).
In frames of the RomaInterbellum project (ERC Advanced Grant 2016) led by Elena Marshiakova were published the volumes: "Roma Voices in History: A Source Book. Roma Civic Emancipation in Central, South-Eastern and Eastern Europe from the 19th Century until World War II" (2021), "Romani Literature and Press in Central, South-Eastern and Eastern Europe from the 19th Century until World War II" (2021), and "Roma Portraits in History: Roma Civic Emancipation Elite in Central, South-Eastern and Eastern Europe from the 19th Century until World War II" (2022).
Elena Marushiakova and Veselin Popov also published in the fields of Roma folklore and oral history – the Studii Romani Series. They initiated the first museum exhibition about Roma in Bulgaria in 1995-1996 and the first international museum exhibition "Roma/Gypsies in Central and Eastern Europe" in 1998–1999 in Budapest.
Elena Marushiakova and Veselin Popov read lecture's courses and hold public lectures at universities and research institutes, and at summer schools in Bulgaria, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Iceland, Finland, Poland, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Republic of Moldova, Turkey, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA.