# David Scheffel

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{{short description|Canadian former professor}}
thumb|Scheffel in Czechia in 2008
'''David Z. Scheffel''' is a Canadian and Dutch former professor of [anthropology](/source/anthropology) at [Thompson Rivers University](/source/Thompson_Rivers_University) in [Kamloops](/source/Kamloops), [British Columbia](/source/British_Columbia), Canada.<ref name="sect">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mnZkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=j34NAAAAIBAJ&pg=4219,2792073&dq=david-scheffel&hl=en|title=Sect finds freedom in wilderness|date=26 December 1981|work=[Calgary Herald](/source/Calgary_Herald)|page=G23|accessdate=2 May 2011}}</ref>

==Biography==
Scheffel was born in [Prague](/source/Prague), Czechoslovakia<ref>{{Cite web |title=David Z. Scheffel |url=https://mngbookshop.co.uk/author/david-z-scheffel/ |access-date=2025-11-03 |website=The Mare Nostrum Group Bookshop |language=en-GB}}</ref> in {{birth based on age as of date|64|2019|6|21|noage=1}}.<ref name="vancouversun 2019 q808" /> He emigrated as a teenager in 1968.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Fosztó |first=László |last2=Scheffel |first2=David Z. |date=2006 |title=Review of Svinia in Black & White: Slovak Roma and Their Neighbours, ScheffelDavid Z. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26590944 |journal=International Issues & Slovak Foreign Policy Affairs |volume=15 |issue=3-4 |pages=113–115 |issn=1337-5482}}</ref> He is a permanent resident of Canada and a citizen of the Netherlands.<ref name="vancouversun 2019 q808" />

He authored a 2005 study titled ''Svinia in Black & White: Slovak Roma and Their Neighbours'' detailing a field study in the Slovakian village of [Svinia](/source/Svinia). He implemented a development project aimed at improving the conditions of the local impoverished [Roma](/source/Romani_people) community.<ref name=":2" /> As part of the project, he aimed to develop apartments for the local Roma. He cooperated with the municipal government and acquired eight hectares of land with an EU grant, but the project ended when a new mayor rejected it and ended cooperation.<ref name=":3" /> This project is also the subject of a 1998 documentary film titled ''[The Gypsies of Svinia](/source/The_Gypsies_of_Svinia)''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://onf-nfb.gc.ca/en/our-collection/?idfilm=33616|title=The Gypsies of Svinia|work=Collection|publisher=[National Film Board of Canada](/source/National_Film_Board_of_Canada)|accessdate=20 February 2014|archive-date=3 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210403083027/http://onf-nfb.gc.ca/en/our-collection/?idfilm=33616|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Scheffel studied [child prostitution](/source/child_prostitution) in Roma settlements in eastern [Slovakia](/source/Slovakia), and in 2017 a report was filed against him for reportedly sexually abusing the children that he studied.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Schmunk |first=Rhianna |date=9 October 2018 |title=B.C. professor out on bail after 11 months detained in Slovakia |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/david-scheffel-tru-slovakia-arrest-bail-1.4855270 |website=[cbc.ca](/source/cbc.ca)}}</ref> In June 2019, a Slovakian court in [Prešov](/source/Pre%C5%A1ov) found Scheffel guilty of sexual abuse, child pornography possession, and illegal weapon possession. He was sentenced to seven years in prison.<ref name="vancouversun 2019 q808">{{cite web | title=B.C. university professor gets seven-year sentence in Slovakia | website=The Vancouver Sun | date=2019-06-21 | url=https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/b-c-university-professor-gets-seven-year-sentence-in-slovakia | access-date=2023-09-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=A Canadian professor accused of sexual abuse gets 7 years in Slovak prison | website=The Slovak Spectator  | date=2019-06-19 | url=https://spectator.sme.sk/c/22148979/canadian-professor-david-scheffel-accused-of-sexual-abuse-gets-7-years-in-slovak-prison.html | access-date=2023-09-14}}</ref> 

Scheffel's lawyer claimed that the charges were likely fabricated in order to undermine Scheffel's advocacy for the Roma community. The lawyer was reportedly not allowed to cross-examine any of the witnesses that testified against Scheffel.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=CAUT calls for Canada’s intervention in professor’s unjust detention in Slovakia |url=https://www.caut.ca/news/caut-calls-for-canadas-intervention-in-professors-unjust-detention-in-slovakia/ |access-date=2025-11-03 |website=CAUT |language=en-US}}</ref> The [Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies](/source/Association_for_Slavic%2C_East_European%2C_and_Eurasian_Studies) and the [Canadian Anthropology Society](/source/Canadian_Anthropology_Society) both expressed concern about the circumstances of Scheffel's arrest and trial.<ref name=":0" /> In 2021, the [Canadian Association of University Teachers](/source/Canadian_Association_of_University_Teachers) wrote a letter to Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister [Marc Garneau](/source/Marc_Garneau), petitioning him to intervene in what they described as his "unjust detention". Scheffel reportedly contracted [COVID-19](/source/COVID-19) while in prison.<ref name=":1" />

==Books==
* {{cite book | last=Scheffel | first=David Z. | title=Svinia in Black and White: Slovak Roma and their Neighbours | publisher=University of Toronto Press | date=2005-04-01 | isbn=978-1-4426-0683-8}}
* {{cite conference | title = Assessment of Marginality and Integration Among Disadvantaged Groups conference held at the Faculty of Philosophy | location = Prešov University | date = September 25–27, 2003 | chapter = Roma Marginality/Romska Marginalita}}<ref name=":3">{{cite web | first=Andrea | last = Chalupová | title=Roma marginality and integration discussed at conference | website=The Slovak Spectator | date=2003-10-20 | url=https://spectator.sme.sk/c/20020673/roma-marginality-and-integration-discussed-at-conference.html | access-date=2023-09-14}}</ref>
* {{cite book | last=Scheffel | first=David | title=In the Shadow of Antichrist: The Old Believers of Alberta | publisher=Broadview Press | publication-place=Peterborough, Ont. | isbn=978-0-921149-73-6 | date = 1991}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Scheffel, David}}
Category:Living people
Category:Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge
Category:Canadian anthropologists
Category:Canadian ethnologists
Category:McMaster University alumni
Category:Memorial University of Newfoundland alumni
Category:University of Manitoba alumni
Category:Romani activists
Category:Romani advocacy
Category:Canadian people convicted of child sexual abuse
Category:1955 births
Category:People from Prague

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [David Scheffel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Scheffel) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Scheffel?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.