Abstract
In our paper, we present the story of emancipation of a Roma woman, who works as a social outreach worker. Our method is based on ethnographic approach and our paper focuses on the study the emic perspective of participants in our research.
The aim of the paper is to show the tension arising between the actions and expectations of Alice and the actions and expectations of those who are the important others in relation to her. There are two planes present in the personal story of Alice's emancipation: the plane of Alice's agency, which is represented by actions, decisions, self-determined will, versus the plane of cultural models, schemata, roles, status positions, images that are in some way offered to Alice or even forced upon her or with which she herself identifies.
We will follow the contradictory process of establishment of personal identity of a woman who takes endeavours in several social fields constantly trying to maintain the permeability of these fields and their meanings, which is not an entirely trivial matter.