# Relative Strangers: Romani Kinship and Palestinian Difference Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-anthropology-901932/relative-strangers-romani-kinship-and-palestinian-difference Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-anthropology-901932/relative-strangers-romani-kinship-and-palestinian-difference.md Podcast: [New Books in Anthropology](https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-anthropology-901932) Published: 2026-09-05T08:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK7292360701.mp3 Audio file: https://pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK7292360701.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-anthropology-901932/episodes/relative-strangers-romani-kinship-and-palestinian-difference Duration seconds: 3394 ## Resource Examining how memory, intergenerational transmission, and kinship work together, Relative Strangers (U Toronto Press, 2024) sheds light on Romani life in Palestine. Arpan Roy presents an ethnographic portrait of Dom Romani communities living between Palestine and Jordan, zooming in on everyday life in working-class neighborhoods, and under conditions of perpetual war and instability. The book focuses on how Doms are able to sustain ethnic difference through kinship, even when public performances of difference are no longer emphasized – a kind of alterity that is neither visible by obvious markers like race or religious difference, nor detected by the antennas of the state. Drawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Amman, Roy makes a case for such alterity for Romani people and other groups in the region. Analysing intimate ethnographic scenes through anthropological theories of kinship, psychoanalysis, social theory from the Global South, and more, the book reveals how alterity in the Middle East does not adhere to rigid identitarian categories.  Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-anthropology-901932/episodes/relative-strangers-romani-kinship-and-palestinian-difference/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-anthropology-901932/relative-strangers-romani-kinship-and-palestinian-difference.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.