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The panel “The mothers’ story of inequality and otherness in contemporary Europe: bringing up children in low income, immigrant and ethnic minority families” present and discuss methodology and some research findings from the EC H2020 ISOTIS project: “Inclusive Education and Social Support to Tackle Inequalities in Society”. The study was conducted in 10 European countries: Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Portugal: http://www.isotis.org. Presenters from five countries focus on biographical aspects of the qualitative study of mothers with young children from low income, immigrant and ethnic minority backgrounds. They address challenges and opportunities of comparative analysis of interviews conducted in nine EU countries and Norway, based on the common methodology. The analysis of the findings draw upon mothers lives and their views on bringing up their children by overcoming a variety of circumstances that makes them and their children “other” in modern European societies: poverty and deprivation (England and Poland); prejudices and hidden discrimination against Romani ethnic minority (Czech Republic), cultural and linguistic difficulties of being immigrants (Italy and the Netherlands). The English and Polish studies focus on native-born, low-income mothers in large cities. The common aspect of both studies is mothers’ economic and social status in their respective societies: single parenting, dysfunctional families and their own or children’s learning difficulties that affect their everyday life. The English mothers’ narratives depict loneliness and desperation in dealing with challenges of bringing up their children in poverty, often on their own, but also human resources they mobilise in support of their children growing up. The Polish research team highlights needs and challenges of Polish mothers in similar circumstances, by focussing on the social support system – formal, official forms of support, as well as the informal networks. The Czech Roma mothers’ stories depict their complex and overlapping identities interwoven in their multiple roles. Despite some of them being high achievers in education and established professionals, they still experience multiple disadvantages due to their ethnicity along with other aspects of “otherness” – regardless of their strong self-identification as being Czechs. The Italian and Dutch researchers discuss narratives of mothers of immigrant background. The Italians explore the experience of mothers of Moroccan origin in Italy and the Dutch of Turkish mothers who live in the Netherlands. The Moroccan immigrant mothers often have limited access to care and assistance services which is an additional vulnerability factor for both mother and child, but also is a crucial experience within which a positive negotiation and renegotiation of educational models develops starting from the confrontation between the cultures of the country of origin and of the host country. This contributes to mothers’ new identities, which can “bridge” the two cultures not only for themselves, but also for their children. Dutch researchers analyse narratives of Turkish mothers in The Netherlands about their belongingness in the host culture. Mothers emphasized “Turkishness” to a varying extent to describe their identity; however, those who perceived discrimination valued Turkish identity higher than those who did not.
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