Introduction

Central Europe is considered a cultural space that has complex intersections of languages, ethnic identities and cultures (Johnson, 2010). People with Roma ethnic-minority backgrounds are no exception. On the contrary, their biographies display the symptomatic complexity and tensions with overwhelming power (Sidiropulu-Janků, 2015). Research shows that Czech Roma are oppressed, discriminated against, and economically disadvantaged (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2016; Obrovská and Sidiropulu-Janků, 2021). While interviewing Czech Roma mothers, a diversity of coping strategies was identified, and a decision was made to analyse the intersection of ethnic and economic aspects of mothering over the course of the original project plan. This chapter looks at mothering from a twofold perspective – how Czech Roma mothers understand the notion of good mothering on both a general level and on a more personal basis. Czech Roma represent an ethnic-minority group that is neither coherent nor a traditional social group, yet they show significant differences from the ethno-majority population, for example, with regard to benefit fraud (Kroutilová-Nováková and Kinská, 2017). Living in predominantly urban social settings, mainly influenced by economic and educational deprivation and not symbolically valued for their difference, they represent the survivalist lifestyle of the undeserving people. However, their social structural position is not unique, and closer research of their narrative, self-reflexive understanding of themselves may serve as a reservoir of uncovered knowledge about living outside the symbolic normative mainstream (Frýbert and Pařízková, 2014).

Biographical perspectives on mothering

Being a mother is a seemingly self-explanatory social role. It appears to simply mean to give birth and nurture a child. In this respect, the combination of physical qualities (procreation, pregnancy, giving birth) and normative social practices (upbringing and care versus the economic security expected from a father) resembles pre-reflexive thinking about gender, and the role of a mother is closely interlinked with feminine gender stereotypes (Arendell, 2000).

Achieving distance from the prefabricated normative labels may be especially challenging for people in a socially disadvantaged position. The biographical method is especially useful here not only for its voice-giving potential (Roberts, 2002), but also for uncovering contextual and nonstereotypical notions of mothering through a focus on life narrative as a form of reflection on an individual's life project (Breckner et al, 2000; Chamberlayne et al, 2000).