The name is absent

Appendix 1

of an outsider is considered bad luck (although outsiders are permitted to supply the
building materials). All the houses within the Alpha compound are oriented with their
doors generally away from the surrounding neighborhood (even when it means the door
of one house opens onto mud holes, back wall or bathroom of another house etc.). Loud
noise in the form of music from stereos or televisions and noise from yelling provides a
constant audible form of insulation from the outside. Also, most every externally
originating object, including beds and cookware, is handled with disregard, but certain
items like photographs or gold (the former depicting family members or close friends and
the latter in the form of jewelry such as that given and worn during celebrations) are
cared for closely because they are considered “internal” and/or purifying (see
Alexandrakis 2003). Non-Roma must always remain aware of their position relative to
these manifestations of the “inside/outside” dialectic and to never become offensive by,
for example, asking their Romani hosts to turn down music, tracking dirt into homes,
touching sensitive items without permission, or make negative comments about particular
building choices (such as the placement of doors and windows). This may seem
straightforward at first, but consider that sometimes these rules can change.

As a non-Rom, there is no question that I am considered an outsider to the
community despite my prior relationship with them, and as such my movements within
the camp are subject to a set of informal rules that follow the inside/outside dialectic
mentioned above. For example, it is impermissible for me to enter a Romani home
without being bidden to do so. This may appear at first to be self-evident; Roma
themselves, however, do not observe a strict border between the interiors and the
exteriors of their homes except when an outsider is nearby. The Roma at the Alpha

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