ABSTRACT
The previous two chapters concerned responses to questions about ‘the country’, and the use of terms such as ‘nation’. The minorities present in each country were rarely mentioned without some prompting: those from minority backgrounds were not always included in the concept of the country. This chapter considers these internal ‘others’: those born and living in the country, but apparently not always part of it. One particular group found in nearly all the countries was the Roma. Official data in most countries appears to grossly underestimate the Roma population. Table 8.1 shows the census data for the Roma in a number of countries, and various estimates of the actual population. Their semi-invisibility was also reflected in the lack of references made to the Roma in the various focus groups. Only in Romania were there substantial references to this minority, and these were generally antagonistic.
