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the range of true speech instances, I have been able to recognize its more simple form and
the significance it carries. Knowing and understanding modes of Roma communication
has been very important in maintaining MERIA. It is likely that many NGOs fail with
the Roma because their members do not understand these subtle codes. For example,
moments where the Roma are building these trust relationships may be dismissed as
complaining or manipulating for more benefit. Of note, some other communication
styles are even more difficult to manage, particularly ones employed at times of
perceived threat as when NGO personnel and others, like anthropologists, first make
contact.
An example of this kind of communicative style is performed by Romani women.
The Romani women living at the Alpha compound and, according to personal experience
and the accounts of others, other Romani women across the Attica region in Greece
employ a particular resistance strategy that makes communication nearly impossible.
Specifically, these women, contrary to the rather reticent Romani men, forcefully beg,
yell at their friends while ignoring outsiders, and will gather in very large numbers
around non-Roma they find in the compound asking questions loudly and often getting
into fights with each other. Regardless of the broader anthropological significance of this
practice (which is considerable, but beyond the scope of this work), it can be stated
unequivocally that Romani women accomplish a definite power shift in their favor by
making outsiders uncomfortable and often confused. These practices deny the target
speaking space or sometimes even the opportunity to orient oneself within a social
situation - outsiders often report a sense of talking to nobody and everybody at once.
Interviews with the general non-Romani population living outside the compound have