Becoming a nanny in Vietnamese family: beating boredom and loneliness after retirement

SOURALOVÁ, Adéla. Becoming a nanny in Vietnamese family: beating boredom and loneliness after retirement. In Between Work and Retirement: Transition to Retirement in Central and Eastern European Societes. 2014.

Basic information

Original name

Becoming a nanny in Vietnamese family: beating boredom and loneliness after retirement

Name in Czech

Stát se chůvou ve vietnamské rodině: proti nudě a samotě po odchodu do důchodu

Authors

SOURALOVÁ, Adéla

Edition

Between Work and Retirement: Transition to Retirement in Central and Eastern European Societes, 2014

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Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Prezentace na konferencích

Field of Study

Archaeology, anthropology, ethnology

Country of publisher

Serbia

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

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Abstract

V originále

Many Vietnamese families in the Czech Republic hire Czech nannies to look after their children. Many of these women are young retirees who find themselves at a new life stage, passing from productive age to “unproductive”. This passage brings to their previously active lives not only a decrease of income, but also many new situations marked by boredom and loneliness, usually also connected with intergenerational ruptures. And at exactly this moment in their lives these women are contacted by Vietnamese families asking “Would you like to take care of our child?”. Drawing upon qualitative research conducted with Vietnamese mothers, Czech nannies and children, the paper looks into how Czech nannies understand paid caregiving work as an inherent part of their retirement. In my paper I will offer several interpretations of why some women become nannies in Vietnamese families, placing these interpretations in the context of Czech social and family policies. I will deal with an emic understanding of paid caregiving as 1. A rite of passage from active labour participation to retirement, as 2. a strategy of active ageing, and as 3. identity work providing women with space for doing (present and intensive) grand-motherhood with Vietnamese children. In doing so the paper offers insight into women’s strategies of dealing with retirement and negotiating their new identities against the background of culturally-defined standards and societal expectations.