300 Quapaw Quapaw The Quapaw (Kwapa, Akansa, Arkansas) lived at or near the mouth of the Arkansas River where it meets the Mississippi River in southeastern Arkansas. They now live on a federal trust area in northeastern Oklahoma. They speak a Dhegiha Siouan language and numbered over twelve hundred in the 1980s. Bibliography Baird, W. David (1979). The Quapaw Indians: A History of the Downstream People. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. Thompson, V. H. (1955). "A History of the Quapaw." Chronicles of Oklahoma 33:360-383. Quechan ETHNONYMS: Cuchano, Cuchan, Cushan, Yum, Yuma Orientation Identification. The Quechan are an American Indian group located in western Arizona and eastern California. "Quechan," meaning "those who descended," is a shortening of the name that the Quechan believe was given to them and to other lower Colorado peoples at the time of creation on the sacred mountain Avikwame: "Xim Kwacin," meaning "those who descended by a different way" or "those who de scended by way of the water." Location. Aboriginally the Quechan lived along the lower Colorado River, north and south of its junction with the Gila River. This area lies primarily within the present states of Cal- ifornia and Arizona. Their reservation today is a small portion of their aboriginal territory. Demography. The population may have been about four thousand prior to contact with Spaniards in 1540. By the early 1900s there were fewer than a thousand. In 1988 the Quechan population was estimated at two thousand, about two-thirds of whom lived on or adjacent to the reservation. Unguistic Affiliation. Quechan is classified in the Yuman subfamily of the Hokan language family. Those living in the extreme southern portions of their territory may have spoken a distinct dialect of Quechan. History and Cultural Relations Quechan tradition describes their creation, along with that of other lower Colorado River tribes, by their culture hero, Kukumat. After Kukumat died, his son Kumastamxo took the people to the sacred mountain Avikwame, near the pres- ent city of Needles, California. There he gave them bows and arrows and taught them how to cure illness and then sent them down from the mountain in various directions. The an- cestors of the Quechan settled along the Colorado River to the south of the Mohave. Little archaeological evidence of the Quechan past has survived the Colorado's flooding. The Quechan and some of the other lower Colorado tribes may have begun as rather small patrilineal bands that gradually grew into larger "tribal" groupings. What caused the forma- tion of these tribes is not altogether clear; the interrelated fac- tors probably included population increase from a generally reliable and abundant riverbottom horticulture; competition with neighboring riverine groups for control of lucrative trade routes between the Pacific Coast and cultures to the east of the Colorado (including, for a time, the great Hohokam cul- ture between about A.D. 1050 and 1200); and increasingly strong social bonds between small groups living next to one another along the river's banks. In 1540 a Spanish expedition under Hernando de Alarc6n was the first group of Europeans to reach Quechan territory. For the next three and a half centuries the Que- chans were in intermittent contact with various Spanish, Mexican, and American expeditions intent on developing the land route between southern California and the interior to the east of the Colorado River. The Quechan controlled the best crossing point along the lower Colorado, just to the south of where it is joined by the Gila. During this time, too, warfare was endemic between the Quechan and other tribes living along the Colorado and Gila rivers. No permanent White settlements were attempted at the crossing until 1779, when Spanish settlers and soldiers arrived. In 1781, after two years of Spanish depredations, the Quechans attacked them, killing some and driving the others away. The tribe retained control of the area until the early 1850s, when the U.S. Army defeated them and established Fort Yuma at the crossing. Just across the river from the fort a small White American town soon sprang up to cash in on the increasing overland traffic between California and the East, and to the north and south along the Colorado itself. A reservation was set aside for the Quechan on the west (California) side of the river in 1884, but most of its acreage, including some of its best farmland, was lost to the tribe by the fraudulent 1893 agreement with the U.S. government. The government restored twenty-five thousand acres of the original reservation in 1978, minus most of the best farmland taken earlier. For most of the twentieth century the tribe has been attempting to create a secure economic base for the res- ervation, one to replace the relative abundance of the tradi- tional riverbottom farming that gave out in the early 1900s. Settlements The Quechan lived in settlements or rancherias scattered along the Colorado to the north of the Gila confluence for about sixty miles and to the southwest for about ten miles, and for about twenty-six miles eastward along the Gila itself. But the number and precise locations of these rancherias shifted from time to time, perhaps partly in response to war- fare with other groups. In the nineteenth century there were six Quechan rancherias, each located on an elevated area above the river floodplain, safe from the spring floods. For Quechan 301 much of the agricultural season from spring to fall, the people of the rancheria dispersed to family farm plots along the river- bottoms, where they lived in dome-shaped arrowweed shel- ters. The rancherias were gradually abandoned after the reser- vation was created in 1887, and families moved within the reservation boundaries to receive individual ten-acre plots of farmland allotted to them by the federal government. Today households are scattered primarily along the main roads link- ing the reservation with the nearby city of Yuma, Arizona, and the smaller town of Winterhaven, California. Economy Subsistence and Commercial Activities. Traditionally the Quechan farmed the rich riverbottom lands, growing mainly maize, squash, and beans. The cultivated crops proba- bly accounted for about 50 percent of the Quechan diet. The remainder came from gathered wild foods such as mesquite and screwbean pods and from river fish. Hunting was not very productive. Occasional irregularities in the river floods lent some uncertainty to the supply of cultivated foods. After White Americans developed the crossing into a transporta- tion center, Quechans worked as unskilled wage laborers in the town or on river steamers. By the 1950s there were virtu- ally no Quechans still farming; they worked as wage laborers and/or received income from leasing their land allotments to non-Indian farmers. Presently the tribe leases farm acreage and operates a bingo hall and two modem trailer parks. Industrial Arts. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Quechan women made pottery utensils, distinctive clay dolls, and beaded shawls; only the shawls are still made. Men made tools, weapons, and gourd rattles and other ritual paraphernalia. In general the Quechans were little concerned with embellishment of material culture beyond utilitarian needs. Trade. The Colorado River crossing in Quechan territory was along one of the main precontact trade routes linking coastal California tribes with the center of the great Hohokam culture in southern Arizona (A.D. 1000-1200), and later with Pima, Pagago, and others after the Hohokam de- clined. The Quechan likely acted as middlemen and/or ex- tracted a portion of the trade goods in exchange for safe pas- sage across the crossing. In lean years foodstuffs were traded. It is likely that control of this trade route was one of the issues in persistent intertribal warfare until the 1860s. Division of Labor. Both men and women worked the riverbottom fields, the men doing the heavier work of clearing brush, and both sexes helped with the harvest. Several related extended family households joined forces at clearing or har- vest times. Men did most of the fishing, women the gathering. Males waged war, although there were typically warrior- women accompanying each major war party. The elderly are still important economic and teaching assets in households where both parents work. Land Tenure. Traditionally, farm plots were considered the property of the household. The household's lands were abandoned at the death of one of its adult members, and they sought unoccupied land elsewhere in the vicinity. Ownership rules were not elaborately developed, and there was no inheri- tance. This changed radically after the reservation was cre- ated and the individual members of the tribe were each as- signed a ten-acre allotment. As the original and successive owners died, the plots were divided, and then repeatedly redi- vided, creating a major heirship crisis in some cases. The res- ervation land is still held in trust and cannot be sold. Most of the plots are presently leased to non-Indian farmers. Kinship Kin Groups and Descent. The Quechan recognize a se- ries of exogamous patrilineal clans. Clan functions besides regulating marriage are no longer clearly known. Each has one or more namesakes (totemic animals or plants) associ- ated with it (such as frog, maize, snake, red ant). Some clan names are considered foreign to the Quechan, indicating per- haps some earlier incorporation of alien groups into the tribal structure. Presently younger tribal members are only vaguely aware of the clan names and do not follow the rule of ex- ogamy. Kinship Terminology. The traditional kinship terms fol- lowed the bifurcate collateral avuncular and Iroquois cousin patterns, with major terminological emphasis on age and gen- der distinctions. Marriage and Family Marriage. Sometimes parents arranged betrothals fol- lowed by periods of gift giving and feasting. But there was ap- parently considerable flexibility in betrothal and marriage patterns. A man often courted a woman by playing a wooden flute outside her shelter at night, and she might invite him in to sleep with her (without having intercourse). After four nights of sleeping together, the couple was considered mar- ried. Ideally, postmarital residence was patrilocal. The typical marriage was monogamous, but polygyny was permitted. Mar- riages could be dissolved by either partner. Domestic Unit. Despite the patrilocal preference, the am- bilocal extended family was the predominant household unit until the 1920s, when the effects of land allotment and wage- based subsistence undermined the extended family's impor- tance. Nuclear family households then became numerous. Yet the extended household has remained a popular option for families who have elderly relatives to care for or who want to try to ease the burden of poverty by pooling the resources of the larger household group. And even nuclear family households are frequently but a few acres away from those of close kin. Inheritance. Until recently there was no inheritance of de- ceased's property; it was either destroyed (goods) or aban- doned (land), lest the survivors be constantly reminded of their loss. The allotment ofland and the construction of sub- stantial housing has changed this pattern somewhat, but there is still the feeling that a deceased's personal property should be destroyed after death. Socialization. The elders in the extended family household traditionally played a major part in the socialization of the young. Children were and are raised permissively. During their first menstruation, girls were lectured by older women about the proper adult female role; boys went through an ini- tiation ritual in which they were made to run long distances after having their nasal septa pierced and were lectured on the ideal traits of adult Quechan males. 302 Quechan Sociopolitical Organization Social Organization. There may have been gradations of status in Quechan families, but the basis for them is not clear. Individual ritualists and leaders possessing dream power had high prestige, as did warriors of exceptional bravery. The sev- eral rancherias were largely autonomous social units for much of the year. Quechan tribal structure became apparent during large war expeditions, harvest festivals, and major rituals mourning the death of prominent people. On the modem reservation the tribal identity has replaced most of the older rancheria identity. The elderly as a group are publicly treated with respect. Political Organization. Most of the time the rancherias operated as autonomous political entities, each with a headman noted for his wisdom and speaking ability. He served at the will of his rancheria and was expected to be gen- erous with his time and property. The key to leaders' effec- tiveness was the special power derived from dreams; this power was manifest in their performance. There were both civil leaders and war leaders. Traditionally these leadership positions were held by males. Since 1938 the tribe has been governed by an elected seven-member tribal council. Women have often been elected to the council, and the first woman tribal president was elected in 1987. Social Control. Gossip was probably a frequently used mechanism of social control in the past; it continues to be the most popular means. Sorcery and occasionally murder were used against repeated and flagrant social deviance. Late in the 1800s a Quechan leader reportedly ordered public flog- gings for drunkards, but such punishment of misbehavior may not be traditional. Children were and are scolded for misbehavior, but seldom spanked. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries government superintendents, with their appointed agency police force, upheld federal law on the reservation. Responsibility for both civil and criminal cases now lies with the Imperial County, California, sheriff's office; the federal government remains the law enforcement author- ity for major crimes on the reservation. Conflict. The natural lines of conflict traditionally were between rancherias, and after European contact the most ser- ious conflicts erupted over how best to deal with Whites. De- spite changes in specific issues, this has persisted as a funda- mental source of political factionalism. Another is the performance of elected tribal officials. Now factions consist of clusters of close relatives. Religion and Expressive Culture Religious Beliefs. The elemental Quechan beliefs involve a spiritual power derived from special dreams and a continu- ing interaction with the souls of the dead. The dream power is bestowed by the first men, created by Kukumat but imbued with spiritual power and culture by Kukumat's son Kuma- stamxo. Dream power was essential for successful leaders, curers, warriors, and the various ritual specialists. There was as well a collective tribal spiritual power that was renewed and increased through war with enemy tribes. Instead of prayers or sacrifices, there were formulas and purification through smoking and abstinence that produced more or less auto- matic results. Protestant and Catholic doctrine has become popular, but there is still an active core of men who preserve the traditional beliefs and an even larger group who combine elements of both traditional and Christian belief. Many peo- ple had guardian spirits manifest as special voices that spoke to them from time to time. These spirits, and those of the first people, lived either on the sacred mountain Avikwame or on one of the other sacred heights in the region. Religious Practitioners. Men with unusually potent dream power were given a special title: k-ax6tt. There were also individual speakers and singers who collectively pos- sessed the knowledge of rituals. Ceremonies. The major tribal ceremony was the kar'ik, held to honor the memory of deceased tribal members. It was conceived as a reenactment of the original mourning cere- mony following creator Kukumat's death. In the late nine- teenth and early twentieth centuries it featured carved wooden images of the deceased along with displays of new clothing laid out as offerings to the spirits of the dead. A major portion of the ritual scenario involved a battle reenact- ment; its climax was a large fire that consumed the ritual shel- ter and the offerings. Other 'religious" ceremonies were more like large-scale feasts. Even abbreviated kar'6k rituals are now rarely held. Medicine. Quechans traditionally believed disease could be caused by inadvertently ingesting a poisonous substance or by soul loss. Hostile sorcerers could cause either malady, as could the violation of a mouming, warfare, or menstrual taboo. Dream power was the source of a curer's abilities. Techniques included blowing smoke upon and massaging the patient, and sucking out the intrusive substance. Death and Afterlife. The souls of the dead pass through four layers, each more distant from the living world. The fourth is the land of the dead, far to the south, a land of plenty and happiness, with the best times enjoyed by those killed in battle. The body is cremated along with personal ef- fects, and others wishing to commemorate deceased relatives at the time may bum offerings of clothing as well. Spirits of some of the dead also return to receive the offerings to them burned during the kar'tk ritual. The traditional funeral ritual still predominates. Bibliography Bee, Robert L. (1981). Crosscurrents along the Colorado: The Impact of Government Policy on the Quechan Indians. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. Bee, Robert L. (1983). "Quechan." In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 10, Southwest, edited by Alfonso Ortiz 86-98. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. Forbes, Jack D. (1965). Warriors of the Colorado: The Yumas of the Quechan Nation and Their Neighbors. Norman: Univer- sity of Oklahoma Press. Forde, C. Daryll (1931). "Ethnography of the Yuma Indi- ans." University of California Publications in American Archae- ology and Ethnology 28:85-278. ROBERT L. BEE Rom 303 Rom Quileute The Quileute (Quillayute), including the Hoh, live on the west coast of the Olympic Peninsula in northwestern Wash- ington to the south of Cape Flattery. Today they live mainly on the Quileute and Hoh Indian reservations in Washington. The Quileute make a strong effort to preserve the culture, re- quiring, for example, that tribal membership be given only to those with 50 percent Quileute ancestry and birth on the res- ervation. They spoke Quileute, a language of the Chimakuan family and numbered about four hundred in the mid- 1980s. Bibliography Pettit, George Albert (1950). "The Quileute of La Push, 1775-1945." University of California Anthropological Records 14:1-120. Powell, Jay, and Vickie Jenson (1976). Quileute: An Introduc- tion to the Indians of La Push. Seattle: University of Washing- ton Press. Quinault The Quinault (Quinaelt, Quinaielt), including the Queets (Quaitso), live on the west coast of the Olympic Peninsula in northwestern Washington to the south of the Quileute and Hoh. They spoke Coast Salish languages and numbered about sixteen hundred in 1984. They now live with the Che- halis, Chinook, and Cowlitz on the Quinault Indian Reserva- tion in Washington. Bibliography Barsh, Russell Lawrence (1982). "The Economics of a Tradi- tional Coastal Indian Fishery." Human Organization 41:170- 176. Olson, Ronald L. (1936). "The Quinault Indians." University of Washington Publications in Anthropology 6:1-190. ETHNONYMS: Gypsy, or subgroup appellations: Kalderash, Machwaya Orientation Identification. The Rom speaking a Vlach (Viax) Gypsy dialect have representatives over most of the world including the United States, Canada, Mexico, and much of Central and South America. Rom means "human being," "man," and "husband," thus paralleling the use of the word 'man" in English. "Rom" and "Gypsy" are used interchangeably be- cause for the Rom the English term carries none of the nega- tive connotations it has for many non-Gypsies. Location. The Rom are found in every state, and although some continue to be seminomadic, traveling throughout the country and into Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and occa- sionally to Europe, most families strive to control a territory focused on a pool of fortune-telling clientele. Most Rom are urban dwellers, found primarily in the larger metropolitan centers; fewer live in small towns and on busy main roads throughout rural America. Demography. My enumeration of the Rom population in several states and large cities, and interviews with the Rom about their knowledge of where different families live, re- sulted in a figure of less than twenty thousand. The New York metropolitan area has the largest concentration, with perhaps as many as four hundred to five hundred families. Los Ange- les, Chicago, and other cities have lesser concentrations cor- responding primarily to their population size. linguistic Affiliation. The Rom speak a dialect of a lan- guage belonging to the Indic branch of the Indo-European language family. They refer to it adverbially as speaking ro- manes, "in the Gypsy way"; in English the language is called "Gypsy." Linguists refer to it and other related but not always mutually intelligible dialects as "Romani." The dialect spoken by the Rom falls into a category of Vlach, or Romanian- influenced Gypsy dialects. History and Cultural Relations On the basis of linguistic evidence, the ancestors of the Rom and other Gypsy groups are thought to have left India some- time before A.D. 1000. Loan words in the Gypsy language indi- cate they passed through Persian- and Greek-speaking areas. The first records that can reasonably be thought to apply to Gypsies come from early-fourteenth-century Greece. After the arrival of Gypsies in Europe, some groups spread west and north, whereas the ancestors of the Rom appear to have stayed in the Balkans, especially in the Serbian and Romanian-speaking areas, until the middle of the nineteenth century, at which time they began another series of migra- tions, culminating in the distribution of Rom families all over the world. This major split, often referred to as the first and second waves of migrations, is also reflected in the Vlach- non-Vlach dialect division. Before coming to North America, most of the families had traveled widely; group designations reflect the countries with which they were associated, such as Rusuya, Grekuya, Arxentinuya, Meksikaya, and so on. The 304 Rom tribal name of Machwaya derives from the Serbian area from which they emigrated. My research places the first arrival of Rom in the United States in 1881, but the real influx did not begin until about 1895. It was during this period, from 1895 until immigration was slowed down by World War I and halted by the literacy requirement of 1918, that the ancestors of most of the Rom families currently in the United States and Canada arrived here. The more recent Lovara Rom, who first arrived from Eu. rope in 1973, are not discussed here, as they have not been here long enough yet to be considered "American Rom." Settlements Owing to economic competition over fortune-telling terri- tory, Rom in the United States and Canada have evolved a scattered distribution roughly correlated with the density of the non-Gypsy population, especially that portion of it per- ceived by the Rom to comprise the best clientele. Larger cities are divided into areas of influence in which certain families hold sway, sometimes for decades or until displaced by an- other family. Some smaller towns are said to be "owned" by a single family, and extended families often lay claim to a por- tion of a state with rural areas and a number of small towns. This is especially true in the southern states. 'Ownership" may consist of informal arrangements with local law enforce- ment officials, possession of a fortune-telling license, influ- ence with welfare authorities, or a patronage relationship with some influential local person. Economy Subsistence and Commercial Activities. The economic organization of the Rom, like that of most Gypsies, has been characterized by what in recent years has come to be called a "peripatetic adaptation," or sometimes "commercial nomad- ism." Although much less nomadic and more urbanized today, the adaptation of the Rom remains an ethnically or- ganized, opportunistic exploitation of the human resource base by means of a wide variety of strategies. Non-Gypsies form the clientele; no similar economic relationship is sanc- tioned among the Rom. This adaptation is unusually stable in its overall relationship to non-Gypsy society, although the specific strategies utilized are readily accommodated to re- gional differences and changing times. This very flexibility is highly valued by the Rom. The principal trades the Rom have engaged in over the years have alternated between women's fortune-telling and the men's sales and service activities. Today fortune-telling is the primary subsistence activity and influences population distribution and social relations. Whenever possible, the Rom try to operate as independent entrepreneurs, thus avoiding the proletarianization of their labor. Industrial Arts. As independent traveling traders and service providers the Rom engaged little in primary produc- tive activities or manufacturing. They were everywhere depen- dent on the surrounding population for their subsistence. In spite of increased sedentism, the only relationship the Rom have to industry is by means of semiskilled repair trades, for- merly as copper- and tinsmiths, today as auto-body workers, electroplaters, metal burnishers, and so on. Trade. Rom have always been alert to opportunities to en- gage in buying, selling, or trading whatever goods seem to be in demand at any particular time. Shrewd tradesmanship is part of the self-definition of a Gypsy. Men generally deal in larger merchandise, formerly horses, today cars and trailers; women tell fortunes or sell smaller items, such as decorative objects; and children engage in occasional productive activi- ties such as shining shoes or hawking flowers on the streets. Division of Labor. Sexual dichotomy among the Rom ex- tends to types of work that are considered proper for men and women. Fortune-telling is women's work par excellence, al- though it's the men who control and protect the territory. Men's work is more variable, but at any particular time and place there is a range of pursuits that are considered properly "Gypsy." By the same token there are jobs, such as plumbing, that contravene the group's pollution taboos and that a Rom should not perform. Land Tenure. There is no traditional form of land tenure because there is no traditional attachment to land. Fortune- telling locations and the rights to the local clientele are often bought and sold as businesses, however. Today, real estate also may be purchased either as an investment or as a base for service operations. Kinship Kin Groups and Descent. The Rom population in North America is organized almost entirely on basis of kinship. Stu- dents of American Rom disagree in their interpretations of kinship. Gropper and Sutherland describe descent as cog- natic or bilateral; Gropper, however, recognizes the patri- lineal emphasis in rules of residence. In my view, descent ide- ology is patrilineal, as expressed frequently by the statement: "We always go by the father." In practice, rare exceptions occur. The patrilineally extended family is generally the larg- est functioning unit in the society. Patrilineally related males work together, pool their money for bride-price, defend com- mon fortune-telling territories against outside threats, and exhibit solidarity at public gatherings. Women's lineages are considered not to matter, as expressed by the statement refer- ring to marriage: "The girls are thrown away." Above the fam- ily are the lineage and the clan, which generally give the group its name; sometimes the names of lineage founders are used in addition to the clan name. Thus an individual may identify himself as being a Rom of the Kalderash tribe, Mineshti clan, Demitro lineage, the son of Zurka, known by the name of Wasso. Both the clan and the lineage are referred to by the term vitsa, which originates in the Romanian word meaning a "stem.' Kinship Terminology. Eskimo-type kinship terms are used. Most of the terminology derives from Indic roots, al- though some has been borrowed from Romanian and possibly from other European languages. It differs from common Eu- ropean kinship terms primarily by equating grandchildren with nieces and nephews and in emphasizing terms defining relationships among affines, the parties to marriage con- tracts. Marriage and Family Marriage. Within living memory, most marriages have been arranged by the families of the boy and the girl, the initi- Rom 305 ative being with the boy's parents. Formerly the young people were rarely consulted in the matter, today their wishes may be taken into consideration, especially if they are strongly op- posed to the proposed match. Elopement, which may have been an earlier form of marriage, is occasionally resorted to as an alternative form. Marriage is viewed as a contract between the two families with bride-price as the cement to solidify the agreement. At the wedding, formerly an elaborate three-day series of ceremonies now collapsed to one, the bride is trans- ferred to the groom's family, and money is collected from the guests to defray the costs borne by them. Over the genera- tions, patterns of bride exchange have developed between certain patrilineages amounting to a loose form of alliance. The members of such lineage pairs often say that the frequent intermarriages practically make them into one vitsa. Mar- riages between cousins once removed are common, but may also occur between first cousins, especially cross cousins. After marriage the couple traditionally resides patrilocally until other brothers in the family get married, at which time the first one may move out to begin an independent nuclear household. The relationship to the husband's paternal household remains strong, however, meals may still be taken there and often the households are in close proximity by choice. Divorce requires the return of a portion of the bride- price, the amount depending on the length of time the couple stayed together. Domestic Unit. The primary social unit among the Rom is the patrilineally extended family. Formerly this constituted a camping unit, but today it is difficult for such a large number of people to obtain single or adjacent housing. As much as possible, however, the extended family attempts to function as a domestic unit-for example, by visiting daily, sharing meals, and otherwise considering one another's homes as ex- tensions of one's own household. Inheritance. Typically at the time of death there used to be very little to inherit and a great reluctance to possess items belonging to the deceased; most personal belongings would have been burned, broken, or discarded to avoid possible vis- its by the spirit of the deceased. Today, increasing ownership of real estate and bank accounts is bringing more mainstream inheritance rules to bear on disposal of property. Socialization. Children are raised in an extended family setting with all older females sharing in child-caring activities. Children are indulged, protected, and treasured. They grow up feeling secure in, but dependent on, the protection they receive from the extended family. But they often seem at a loss in new situations without the support of the relatives. Even adults consider long separation from the family to be the worst kind of deprivation that could occur. Sociopolitical Organization Social Organization. The Rom function on a band level with family elders and influential 'big men" as the only type of leadership. Rom society is organized primarily on the basis of kinship, with sex, age, ability, wealth, and family membership used to rank individuals. It is patrifocal in that all important decisions are ultimately made by the adult males, although the advice of women may be considered. Age is generally accorded high respect, but ability may some- times count for more. Women defer to their men. Wealth is seen as proof of ability and luck and is highly esteemed. Prestige is based on a combination of wealth, ability, and good conduct. Political Organization. Lacking formal leadership, Rom political organization consists of loose federations, or shifting alliances between lineages, which generally are united by mar- riage ties. Charismatic individuals, those who have become wealthy or who have influential friends among non-Gypsies, may for a while possess certain power to influence others; however, their power is generally nontransferable. At the death of a 'big man," his sons do not necessarily inherit his status. Each has to earn his own status. Social Control. Social control is ultimately in the hands of one's peers and elders who happen to be in a position to com- mand respect at the particular time. Most of the time, social control consists of discussion and evaluation, gossip, ridicule, and similar informal pressure tactics. In more serious cases a divano, a gathering of friends, relatives, and available local elders, may be called first to discuss and attempt to solve the problem in order to avoid the expense and trouble of resort- ing to a Gypsy court. If this fails, the Kris, an ad hoc court of arbitration, is convened, generally by the party that feels it has been wronged. The judges are chosen from among avail- able respected elders, who are felt to be objective and are ex- pected not to favor one side over another. Sanctions may consist of monetary fines or, more rarely, formal ostracism. Charges of contravention of pollution taboos, more fre- quently used in the past, are among the strongest forms of so- cial control. A person or family labeled unclean, marime, is ef- fectively banned from further contact with other Rom until cleared by the Kris. Non-Gypsy law enforcement is also called upon as an adjunct to internal forms of conflict resolution, al- beit mostly for the harassment of enemies. Conflict. Conflicts-which may begin with individual dis- agreements over division of earnings, disputes over bride- price or daughters-in-law, or competition over fortune-telling territory-are often expressed on another level as disagree- ments between families or lineages. Patrilineally related individuals are expected to band together to defend the fam- ily against outsiders. Women whose natal lineages are in con- flict with those of their husbands are sometimes put in an awkward position of having to choose between them. Religion and Expressive Culture Religious Beliefs. In addition to traditions that may have earlier roots, the religion of the Rom incorporates elements from Eastern European folk religions, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Roman Catholicism. Today, although most consider themselves Catholic, large numbers have turned toward evangelical Protestant sects such as Pentecostalism. Beliefs are derived partly from indigenous traditions and partly from the official and folk religions of the countries among which the Rom have lived. God, 0 Del, and saints are venerated, and numerous spirits, some associated with natural elements such as wind or water, are recognized. Some are anthropo- morphized; others more manalike in their expression. Luck, Bax, especially is considered an active supernatural force, closely bound with the notion of fate. Symbolic uncleanness is sometimes also reified as an incarnation of evil. Pollution, or marime taboos based on the symbolic impurity of the lower 306 Rom body, especially of women, dictates proper behavior between the sexes, older and younger people, food and laundry han- dling, and the arrangement of household furnishings. The same separation of clean from unclean also dictates the kinds of social and economic relations permissible between the Rom and non-Gypsies. Religious Practitioners. No formal priests, shamans, or other religious specialists exist among the Rom. A few women are noted as interpreters of dreams; others may be feared as witches because of their age or ability to cast curses. Ceremonies. Major ceremonies with religious compo- nents include saint's day feasts, baptisms, funerals, feasts of honor, weddings, and Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas celebrations. All celebrate the Rom as a people; by the giving of feasts, respect is demonstrated to both the supernaturals and other Rom. Arts. Arts consist of music, including recent musical com- positions and adaptations, dance, folk songs, legends, and family history. Oratory, especially at a Kris, may also be con- sidered among the artistic expressions of the Rom. Folklore serves educational, evaluative, and prescriptive roles of major importance in the absence of writing and more formal educa- tion. Medicine. There is some evidence that the Rom once pos- sessed a rich body of folk medicines, remedies, and cures, most of which by now have fallen into disuse. There do not appear to have been any internally recognized medical spe- cialists, although the older women served as multipurpose ethnopsychiatrists, herbalists, and curers for outside clients. Modem medicine is accepted, and in cases of serious illness the best physicians and hospitals are sought regardless of the cost or distance. Death and Afterlife. Spirits of the dead are believed to survive death. The deceased are provided with money, a new suit of clothes, and travel necessities. Their spirits roam the earth for one year after death, retracing the steps traveled dur- ing life. The year after death is punctuated by a series of me- morial feasts, with the last one after a year formally conclud- ing the journey with a ceremony of 'Opening the Road," presumably to heaven, raio, and the liberation of the spirit from any further earthly obligations. Anniversaries of death are also commemorated with food offerings, generally by an extra place setting at a table. There is no corresponding belief in hell. Death is considered as polluting, and the appearance of spirits of the dead is generally feared unless the one per- ceiving the ghost had an especially close and good relation- ship with the person while alive. Nevertheless, one's ances- tors may be invoked to intercede on one's behalf at a time of great need. Those Rom who have recently become Pentecos- tals have renounced most of these beliefs and practices as pagan." Bibliography Gropper, Rena C. (1975). Gypsies in the City: Culture Pat- terns and Survival. Princeton: Darwin Press. Miller, Carol J. (1968) "Macvaja Gypsy Marime." M.A. the- *sis, University of Washington, Seattle. Pickett, David (1970). "The Gypsies: An International Com- munity of Wandering Thieves." Ph.D. diss., Syracuse Univer- sity. Salo, Matt T., and Sheila Salo (1977). The Kalderas in East- ern Canada. Folk Culture Studies, no. 21. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada. Silverman, Carol T. (1979). "Expressive Behavior as Adap- tive Strategy among American Gypsies." Ph.D. diss., Univer- sity of Pennsylvania. Sutherland, Anne (1975). Gypsies: The Hidden Americans. New York: Free Press. MATT T. SALO . only type of leadership. Rom society is organized primarily on the basis of kinship, with sex, age, ability, wealth, and family membership used to rank individuals. It is patrifocal in that all important decisions are ultimately made by the adult males, although the advice of women may be considered. Age is generally accorded high respect, but ability may some- times count for more. Women defer to their men. Wealth is seen as proof of ability and luck and is highly esteemed. Prestige is based on a combination of wealth, ability, and good conduct. Political Organization. Lacking formal leadership, Rom political organization consists of loose federations, or shifting alliances between lineages, which generally are united by mar- riage ties. Charismatic individuals, those who have become wealthy or who have influential friends among non-Gypsies, may for a while possess certain power to influence others; however, their power is generally nontransferable. At the death of a 'big man," his sons do not necessarily inherit his status. Each has to earn his own status. Social Control. Social control is ultimately in the hands of one's peers and elders who happen to be in a position to com- mand respect at the particular time. Most of the time, social control consists of discussion and evaluation, gossip, ridicule, and similar informal pressure tactics. In more serious cases a divano, a gathering of friends, relatives, and available local elders, may be called first to discuss and attempt to solve the problem in order to avoid the expense and trouble of resort- ing to a Gypsy court. If this fails, the Kris, an ad hoc court of arbitration, is convened, generally by the party that feels it has been wronged. The judges are chosen from among avail- able respected elders, who are felt to be objective and are ex- pected not to favor one side over another. Sanctions may consist of monetary fines or, more rarely, formal ostracism. Charges of contravention of pollution taboos, more fre- quently used in the past, are among the strongest forms of so- cial control. A person or family labeled unclean, marime, is ef- fectively banned from further contact with other Rom until cleared by the Kris. Non-Gypsy law enforcement is also called upon as an adjunct to internal forms of conflict resolution, al- beit mostly for the harassment of enemies. Conflict. Conflicts-which may begin with individual dis- agreements over division of earnings, disputes over bride- price or daughters-in-law, or competition over fortune-telling territory-are often expressed on another level as disagree- ments between families or lineages. Patrilineally related individuals are expected to band together to defend the fam- ily against outsiders. Women whose natal lineages are in con- flict with those of their husbands are sometimes put in an awkward position of having to choose between them. Religion and Expressive Culture Religious Beliefs. In addition to traditions that may have earlier roots, the religion of the Rom incorporates elements from Eastern European folk religions, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Roman Catholicism. Today, although most consider themselves Catholic, large numbers have turned toward evangelical Protestant sects such as Pentecostalism. Beliefs are derived partly from indigenous traditions and partly from the official and folk religions of the countries among which the Rom have lived. God, 0 Del, and saints are venerated, and numerous spirits, some associated with natural elements such as wind or water, are recognized. Some are anthropo- morphized; others more manalike in their expression. Luck, Bax, especially is considered an active supernatural force, closely bound with the notion of fate. Symbolic uncleanness is sometimes also reified as an incarnation of evil. Pollution, or marime taboos based on the symbolic impurity of the lower 306 Rom body, especially of women, dictates proper behavior between the sexes, older and younger people, food and laundry han- dling, and the arrangement of household furnishings. The same separation of clean from unclean also dictates the kinds of social and economic relations permissible between the Rom and non-Gypsies. Religious Practitioners. No formal priests, shamans, or other religious specialists exist among the Rom. A few women are noted as interpreters of dreams; others may be feared as witches because of their age or ability to cast curses. Ceremonies. Major ceremonies with religious compo- nents include saint's day feasts, baptisms, funerals, feasts of honor, weddings, and Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas celebrations. All celebrate the Rom as a people; by the giving of feasts, respect is demonstrated to both the supernaturals and other Rom. Arts. Arts consist of music, including recent musical com- positions and adaptations, dance, folk songs, legends, and family history. Oratory, especially at a Kris, may also be con- sidered among the artistic expressions of the Rom. Folklore serves educational, evaluative, and prescriptive roles of major importance in the absence of writing and more formal educa- tion. Medicine. There is some evidence that the Rom once pos- sessed a rich body of folk medicines, remedies, and cures, most of which by now have fallen into disuse. There do not appear to have been any internally recognized medical spe- cialists, although the older women served as multipurpose ethnopsychiatrists, herbalists, and curers for outside clients. Modem medicine is accepted, and in cases of serious illness the best physicians and hospitals are sought regardless of the cost or distance. Death and Afterlife. Spirits of the dead are believed to survive death. The deceased are provided with money, a new suit of clothes, and travel necessities. Their spirits roam the earth for one year after death, retracing the steps traveled dur- ing life. The year after death is punctuated by a series of me- morial feasts, with the last one after a year formally conclud- ing the journey with a ceremony of 'Opening the Road," presumably to heaven, raio, and the liberation of the spirit from any further earthly obligations. Anniversaries of death are also commemorated with food offerings, generally by an extra place setting at a table. There is no corresponding belief in hell. Death is considered as polluting, and the appearance of spirits of the dead is generally feared unless the one per- ceiving the ghost had an especially close and good relation- ship with the person while alive. Nevertheless, one's ances- tors may be invoked to intercede on one's behalf at a time of great need. Those Rom who have recently become Pentecos- tals have renounced most of these beliefs and practices as pagan." Bibliography Gropper, Rena C. (1975). Gypsies in the City: Culture Pat- terns and Survival. Princeton: Darwin Press. Miller, Carol J. (1968) "Macvaja Gypsy Marime." M.A. the- *sis, University of Washington, Seattle. Pickett, David (1970). "The Gypsies: An International Com- munity of Wandering Thieves." Ph.D. diss., Syracuse Univer- sity. Salo, Matt T., and Sheila Salo (1977). The Kalderas in East- ern Canada. Folk Culture Studies, no. 21. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada. Silverman, Carol T. (1979). "Expressive Behavior as Adap- tive Strategy among American Gypsies." Ph.D. diss., Univer- sity of Pennsylvania. Sutherland, Anne (1975). Gypsies: The Hidden Americans. New York: Free Press. MATT T. SALO . as the first and second waves of migrations, is also reflected in the Vlach- non-Vlach dialect division. Before coming to North America, most of the families had traveled widely; group designations reflect the countries with which they were associated, such as Rusuya, Grekuya, Arxentinuya, Meksikaya, and so on. The 304 Rom tribal name of Machwaya derives from the Serbian area from which they emigrated. My research places the first arrival of Rom in the United States in 1881, but the real influx did not begin until about 1895. It was during this period, from 1895 until immigration was slowed down by World War I and halted by the literacy requirement of 1918, that the ancestors of most of the Rom families currently in the United States and Canada arrived here. The more recent Lovara Rom, who first arrived from Eu. rope in 1973, are not discussed here, as they have not been here long enough yet to be considered "American Rom." Settlements Owing to economic competition over fortune-telling terri- tory, Rom in the United States and Canada have evolved a scattered distribution roughly correlated with the density of the non-Gypsy population, especially that portion of it per- ceived by the Rom to comprise the best clientele. Larger cities are divided into areas of influence in which certain families hold sway, sometimes for decades or until displaced by an- other family. Some smaller towns are said to be "owned" by a single family, and extended families often lay claim to a por- tion of a state with rural areas and a number of small towns. This is especially true in the southern states. 'Ownership" may consist of informal arrangements with local law enforce- ment officials, possession of a fortune-telling license, influ- ence with welfare authorities, or a patronage relationship with some influential local person. Economy Subsistence and Commercial Activities. The economic organization of the Rom, like that of most Gypsies, has been characterized by what in recent years has come to be called a "peripatetic adaptation," or sometimes "commercial nomad- ism." Although much less nomadic and more urbanized today, the adaptation of the Rom remains an ethnically or- ganized, opportunistic exploitation of the human resource base by means of a wide variety of strategies. Non-Gypsies form the clientele; no similar economic relationship is sanc- tioned among the Rom. This adaptation is unusually stable in its overall relationship to non-Gypsy society, although the specific strategies utilized are readily accommodated to re- gional differences and changing times. This very flexibility is highly valued by the Rom. The principal trades the Rom have engaged in over the years have alternated between women's fortune-telling and the men's sales and service activities. Today fortune-telling is the primary subsistence activity and influences population distribution and social relations. Whenever possible, the Rom try to operate as independent entrepreneurs, thus avoiding the proletarianization of their labor. Industrial. source of a curer's abilities. Techniques included blowing smoke upon and massaging the patient, and sucking out the intrusive substance. Death and Afterlife. The souls of the dead pass through four layers, each more distant from the living world. The fourth is the land of the dead, far to the south, a land of plenty and happiness, with the best times enjoyed by those killed in battle. The body is cremated along with personal ef- fects, and others wishing to commemorate deceased relatives at the time may bum offerings of clothing as well. Spirits of some of the dead also return to receive the offerings to them burned during the kar'tk ritual. The traditional funeral ritual still predominates. Bibliography Bee, Robert L. (1981). Crosscurrents along the Colorado: The Impact of Government Policy on the Quechan Indians. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. Bee, Robert L. (1983). "Quechan." In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 10, Southwest, edited by Alfonso Ortiz 8 6-9 8. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. Forbes, Jack D. (1965). Warriors of the Colorado: The Yumas of the Quechan Nation and Their Neighbors. Norman: Univer- sity of Oklahoma Press. Forde, C. Daryll (1931). "Ethnography of the Yuma Indi- ans." University of California Publications in American Archae- ology and Ethnology 28:8 5-2 78. ROBERT L. BEE Rom 303 Rom Quileute The Quileute (Quillayute), including the Hoh, live on the west coast of the Olympic Peninsula in northwestern Wash- ington to the south of Cape Flattery. Today they live mainly on the Quileute and Hoh Indian reservations in Washington. The Quileute make a strong effort to preserve the culture, re- quiring, for example, that tribal membership be given only to those with 50 percent Quileute ancestry and birth on the res- ervation. They spoke Quileute, a language of the Chimakuan family and numbered about four hundred in the mid- 1980s. Bibliography Pettit, George Albert (1950). "The Quileute of La Push, 177 5-1 945." University of California Anthropological Records 14: 1-1 20. Powell, Jay, and Vickie Jenson (1976). Quileute: An Introduc- tion to the Indians of La Push. Seattle: University of Washing- ton Press. Quinault The Quinault (Quinaelt, Quinaielt), including the Queets (Quaitso), live on the west coast of the Olympic Peninsula in northwestern Washington to the south of the Quileute and Hoh. They spoke Coast Salish languages and numbered about sixteen hundred in 1984. They now live with the Che- halis, Chinook, and Cowlitz on the Quinault Indian Reserva- tion in Washington. Bibliography Barsh, Russell Lawrence (1982). "The Economics of a Tradi- tional Coastal Indian Fishery." Human Organization 41:17 0- 176. Olson, Ronald L. (1936). "The Quinault Indians." University of Washington Publications in Anthropology 6: 1-1 90. ETHNONYMS: Gypsy, or subgroup appellations: Kalderash, Machwaya Orientation Identification. The Rom speaking a Vlach (Viax) Gypsy dialect have representatives over most of the world including the United States, Canada, Mexico, and much of Central and South America. Rom means "human being," "man," and "husband," thus paralleling the use of the word 'man" in English. "Rom" and "Gypsy" are used interchangeably be- cause for the Rom the English term carries none of the nega- tive connotations it has for many non-Gypsies. Location. The Rom are found in every state, and although some continue to be seminomadic, traveling throughout the country and into Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and occa- sionally to Europe, most families strive to control a territory focused on a pool of fortune-telling clientele. Most Rom are urban dwellers, found primarily in the larger metropolitan centers; fewer live in small towns and on busy main roads throughout rural America. Demography. My enumeration of the Rom population in several states and large cities, and interviews with the Rom about their knowledge of where different families live, re- sulted in a figure of less than twenty thousand. The New York metropolitan area has the largest concentration, with perhaps as many as four hundred to five hundred families. Los Ange- les, Chicago, and other cities have lesser concentrations cor- responding primarily to their population size. linguistic Affiliation. The Rom speak a dialect of a lan- guage belonging to the Indic branch of the Indo-European language family. They refer to it adverbially as speaking ro- manes, "in the Gypsy way"; in English the language is called "Gypsy." Linguists refer to it and other related but not always mutually intelligible dialects as "Romani." The dialect spoken by the Rom falls into a category of Vlach, or Romanian- influenced Gypsy dialects. History and Cultural Relations On the basis of linguistic evidence, the ancestors of the Rom and other Gypsy groups are thought to have left India some- time before A.D. 1000. Loan words in the Gypsy language indi- cate they passed through Persian- and Greek-speaking areas. The first records that can reasonably be thought to apply to Gypsies come from early-fourteenth-century Greece. After the arrival of Gypsies in Europe, some groups spread west and north, whereas the ancestors of the Rom appear to have stayed in the Balkans, especially in the Serbian and Romanian-speaking areas, until the middle of the nineteenth century, at which time they began another series of migra- tions, culminating in the distribution of Rom families all over the world. This major split, often referred to