Appendix 1
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opportunities and the actions (such as evictions) of the surrounding local authorities.6
There are several families at the Alpha compound that have lived there for over 30 years.
Some of these families have managed to secure steady work in the area and enjoy a level
of financial stability uncommon among their Romani neighbors. The majority, however,
live day-to-day, work at unsteady jobs, and rely on support from neighbors and family.
Conducting fieldwork among Greek Roma can be very challenging for three main
reasons: many Athens-area Roma are very poor and suffer from overt injustices that are
difficult to witness, most practice myriad resistance strategies when dealing with non-
Roma, and all are stigmatized in such a way that the ethnographer’s involvement with
Roma often draws censure and even hostility from the non-Romani community. The
standard “rigorous hanging out” method employed by many anthropologists in the field is
simply not an option here. One must seek a means of moving in and out of both
communities without harming one’s ability to gather data in either, while fostering
relationships that permit access to significantly private areas of life in each.
Additionally, from a methodological perspective, the nature of field relationships
with non-Romani Greeks is also crucial, both in informal settings and those in formal,
corporate settings. In terms of the former, while research contacts in the field may
certainly develop into friendships, informal contacts in Greece are often established and
continue to operate following an ethic of individualistic gain. This is not to say that
Athenians are somehow manipulative or uncooperative; on the contrary, in my
experience they are in fact quite accommodating and enthusiastic. As those familiar,
however, with conducting fieldwork in Greece can attest, the researcher's relationship
6 For example, forced evictions in one area may lead to a temporary population explosion at the Alpha
compound.