Abstract
The subject matter of this paper based on long-term ethnographic research conducted by the team Doubek-Levínská-Bitnerová is the first phase of a self-constituting biographical story of a social outreach worker Alice presented against the background of relationships between the majority and the Roma minority in the Czech Republic (Doubek, Levínská, Bittnerová 2015). Alice comes from a Roma family living in an excluded area in a remote part of Western Bohemia and belonging to one of the poorest Roma communities.
Despite her social and educational background (she originally completed only a special basic school and she comes from a large family with typical problems), she managed to escape the spiral of poverty and become a self-confident social outreach worker. In her life story she reveals significant influences, key events, important persons and explains how she developed the needed skills.
Her story culminates with her social recognition in the role of a social outreach worker, in which she finds her identity and professional fulfilment.