Ian Hancock

Ian Hancock (Romani: Yanko le Redžosko, born 29 August 1942) is a linguist, Romani scholar and political advocate. He was born and raised in England and is one of the main contributors in the field of Romani studies.

He is director of the Program of Romani Studies and the Romani Archives and Documentation Center at The University of Texas at Austin, where he has been a professor of English, linguistics and Asian studies since 1972. He has represented the Romani people at the United Nations and served as a member of the US Holocaust Memorial Council under President Bill Clinton, who, Hancock claims, has Romani ancestry. He also represented the Romani people at the 1997 Rafto Prize award.

Hancock was born in London in 1942. His mother, Kitty, is Romanichal; his father, Reginald (Redžo), was part Romungro, the descendant of a Hungarian speaker of North Central Romani named Imre Benczi. He acquired the surname Hancock by Imre's daughter, Maria, who married a member of an English West Country showman family of that name.

In the late 1960s, he became a Romani rights activist after reading reports about anti-Romani discrimination in Britain. In particular, he took up the cause of Romani rights after reading about an incident in which Romani children left unattended by their parents, who had been arrested, had started a fire by knocking over a paraffin lamp. In 1971, he graduated with a PhD in linguistics.

Hancock has published more than 300 books and articles on the Romani people and language (particularly the Vlax dialect). These works analyse the Romani people through not only Romani linguistics but also history, anthropology, and genetics. He has also appeared in the documentary American Gypsy. He is currently writing a book called On Romani Origins and Identity.

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