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to the symbolic capital contained therein. So, by breaking in and taking materials from
these sites - saws, bags of cement, tarpaulins, or archaeological material - the Rom
symbolically breaks through the barrier keeping them and others away from something
truly, and in some ways fundamentally Greek, which they then bring into their safe space.
This bolsters the consumer’s sense of Greek-ness, demonstrates power over a limiting
authority which is both a prized Romani and Greek trait, and ultimately heightens the
individual’s status.
The compound is thus a place where the Roma can practice and experience power
over the segregation and prejudice they suffer regularly, and where they can practice their
identities unhindered by the state. The use of particular materials in the architectural
designs ofhousing also indicates the local social importance of a national∕civic identity,
even if it means circumnavigating the gatekeepers of that identity to achieve this. For the
Rom, appropriated symbols of Greek-ness - narrative, performance, or material - are
manifestations of a claim to belonging.
Identity and Practice: Negotiating and Being Romani
The increasing importance of national symbols and discourses in idiosyncratic
Roma identity negotiations runs counter to the trend among the mainstream Greek
population of turning away from such phenomena, placing normative authority instead on
increasingly transnational discourses, flows, and symbols. While both the Roma and the
mainstream population seem to have left the processes and structures of the state behind,
the Roma, as shown above, remain attentive to its discourses and symbols. This
divergence is most evident at settings where the two populations meet regularly, like