The year 1425 marked the official arrival of the first recorded group of Roma in the Iberian Peninsula. From the fifteenth century onward, beginning with chronicles, royal safe-conducts, legal documents, and the earliest literary representations, Romani identity in the Hispanic world was largely constructed through the writings and artistic production of non-Roma (Gadje). These representations shaped enduring cultural narratives about Roma communities across the Iberian Peninsula and, later, throughout the Spanish-speaking world. It was not until the twentieth century that Romani and Gitano authors and artists began to emerge as prominent voices, challenging inherited stereotypes and reclaiming the authority to represent their own histories, cultures, and identities.

This panel seeks to examine the diverse representations of Roma and Gitano communities across the Hispanic world—including the Iberian Peninsula, Latin America, and transatlantic contexts— from the medieval period to the present. We invite papers that explore how Romani identities have been imagined, constructed, negotiated, contested, and redefined in literary, artistic, historical, and cultural production, paying particular attention to the dialogue between non-Roma representations and Romani self-representation. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, literary portrayals of Roma and Gitanos; theatre, poetry, and prose; visual arts; music and performance; film and media; archival and legal documents; translation; memory and cultural heritage; and the circulation, persistence, or transformation of stereotypes across time. Papers drawing on a variety of disciplinary approaches are especially encouraged, including—but not limited to—literary analysis, history, art history, cultural studies, media studies, anthropology, performance studies,