Abstract
This paper explores how a group of immigrant Roma women are shaping their reproductive lives in the transnational context generated by the migratory flows of post-1989 Romania. The analysis is based on the ethnographic reconstruction of the reproductive lives of 124 women from seven Roma family networks residing in Spain and connected with relatives all over Europe. Although these groups are increasingly heterogeneous, some common patterns seem clear. Primarily, we observe that these women are transforming the tempo and quantum of their reproductive careers in a culturally specific fertility transition that is not based on the postponement of childbearing and marriage. Early, pronatalist and patrilocal marriage followed by adolescent maternity are powerful normative orientations in the groups studied. Spacing the second or the third child and stopping having children in their early 30s seem to be the most common strategies by which they are responding to the increasing costs and setbacks of high fertility. Their transnational experiences in Western Europe are contributing to this process in ideological, structural and instrumental terms. The demographic contrasts of many Roma groups with their non-Roma neighbours are a source of prejudice and ‘ethno-demographic anxiety’ that fuel populist, nationalist and illiberal sentiments and movements.
Highlights
All over Europe the apprehensions generated by shrinking and ageing populations are exacerbated by the assumed excessive reproduction of autochthonous and immigrant minorities
Some important patterns emerge from the analysis of data concerning the fertility processes of these women and their embeddedment in marriage and gender institutions
We have explored how a group of Roma women from various Romanian regions are transforming their reproductive lives in the transnational context brought about by their displacement to Western Europe
Summary
All over Europe the apprehensions generated by shrinking and ageing populations are exacerbated by the assumed excessive reproduction of autochthonous and immigrant minorities In this process ‘the real or perceived growth of minority populations’ generate ‘ethno-demographic anxieties’ and ‘nationalist fears about the physical and cultural survival of the nation’ (Dumbrava, 2017: 1490). It is deepening the ‘cleavage’ that has opened ‘between Central and Eastern Europe on one side and Western and Northern Europe on the other’ (Botev, 2012: 72) While countries such as Albania, Bulgaria, Poland, and Romania are losing population to emigration, Italy, Germany, Spain, the UK and others have gained immigrants from these and other countries (Frejka, Gietel-Basten et al, 2016: table 1). In his study of the role of migration in the sustainability of European populations, Coleman concluded that ‘countries such as Poland, Latvia, Bulgaria and Romania will lose between 15 and 27 per cent of their population by 2055 with or without migration, thanks to their low birth rates’ (2008: 459)
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