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Will they still be dancing? (1982)

Etnographic study of Romanians from East Serbia in Sweden in 1980s

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Wallach!an family celebrating the slava. (C. U. Schierup/1971)<br />

During Turkish rule in the Negotinska Krajina, the Wallachian inhabitants<br />

were from the <strong>be</strong>ginning of the fifteenth century administered under so-called<br />

"Wallachian Laws" (Vlaski Zakoni, Bojanic-Lukac 1978:36). These laws envisaged<br />

special tax privileges for the Wallachian population in exhange for<br />

obligations to defend the border of the empire. When the border was moved,<br />

the privileges ceased. Most often the Wallachians moved toward the border,<br />

searching for the privileges, trying to escape the severe taxes in the interior.<br />

Under Ottoman rule and later under the Kingdom of Serbia, Wallachians in<br />

the border regions enjoyed a great measure of autonomy and self-government<br />

under their traditional rulers (Knez, staresina). These preconditions helped<br />

perpetuate the specific cultural profile characterizing Wallachians in<br />

Yugoslavia today.<br />

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