Dissidence operates, necessarily, with reference to dominant structures. Dissident reading uncovers those structures to oppose them and almost reinscribes them. The idea is to show the possibility of subversion which is only possible with respect to hierarchy. The term was coined by Raymond Williams and became popular through Jonathan Dollimore and Alan Sinfield’s collaborative work Political Shakespeare: New Essays in Cultural Materialism (1985). The article uses the concept of dissident reading to locate the potential of subversion in Romani folk literature by analysing two Romani folk tales. It attempts to locate the points of disparities and persecution implied in the tales and thereby using them to uncover the dissidence.

Keywords: Dissidence, Alan Sinfield, Jonathan Dollimore, subversion, Roma, hierarchy, Established.