Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
territory, and they tend to fulfill multiple purposes at the same time. one Roma
may be friends with francesco the mechanic, whom he often asks to lend him
some tools and to give him some advice about repairing his car; another knows
the ice-cream seller, for whom he worked for a few months and who helped him
to obtain a residence permit; another knows the waiter in a restaurant because
they were at school together; still another knows the bartender or shopkeeper
who gives him credit, to whom every now and then he sells a spare part for the
car, and with whom he has gone dancing at the palacavicchi;12 then there is the
one who is a friend of the warrant officer (
maresciallo
) of the local
carabinieri,
who sold him a car some time ago and had a son in the same class as other Roma
children in the former camp at muratella; and there is the friend of ahmed, the
kebab seller who often gives him credit and once in a while visits the camp for a
chat “because he is a muslim like us”; and the one who when she has a problem (a
sick child, an eviction, or needs a contact name and address for the purchase of
a mobile phone sim card) can depend on a family of italian friends; finally, the
one (especially among teenagers) who has a girlfriend or boyfriend in the area.
The Roma also put down roots in districts where they do not reside, but
where they carry out their economic activities. for example, scrap metal workers
(most of the bijeljincuri and some Vlasenicakuri families) frequent the Roman
coast. besides being relatively near to where they live, the coast is also an area
where it is easy to find metals because construction there, whether by individual
families or businesses, is booming.
The Roma regularly work the same districts, according to a system of rota-
tion. every day they follow a sort of outline itinerary and each district in this
itinerary is meticulously sifted, street by street; they often use a megaphone to
broadcast a prerecorded message that announces the arrival of “your scrap metal
dealer,” while hunting for metal left in the street or near the refuse containers.
but the main part of the scrap metal collection business depends heavily on the
individual's interpersonal abilities. it is in fact by getting to know the residents
of the district being worked that a network of regular customers can be built up
and maintained: These are the ones who do not turn to the “competition” to get
rid of their metal; who call the mobile phone number if there is any work to be
done; who will tip off the dealer about anyone who is clearing out their basement;
or who gives some acquaintance who wants to get rid of a gate or a water heater
without hassle a tip about their own “reliable scrap metal dealer.”
in the course of their itinerary, the Roma habitually stop in certain bars to
have a
cornetto
and a coffee, buy cigarettes for their Romanian “employees” (usu-
ally Roma) and perhaps to see if there is any news about scrap metal that needs
collecting. also important are good relations with the police, which ensure that
one can go about one's business in peace and not be suspected in the event of
thefts from building sites and because these same police send work in their direc-
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