Brexit will lead to more, not less immigration

As the implications of the Brexit vote sink in, one of its few positive effects is that suddenly the debate around immigration, freedom of movement and EU citizenship has matured. Michał P. Garapich argues, however, that Brexit will in fact lead to more, not less immigration because migrants tend to think strategically. Freedom of movement guarantees that migrants can respond to economic demand quickly: they come for work, leave when it’s gone. He underlines that any future harsher migration regime is bound lead to more undocumented migrants getting stuck in the country

Polskie organizacje imigranckie w Wielkiej Brytanii - raport z badania przedstawicieli instytucji

The report is an outcome of the project "Polish immigrant organizations" founded by the National Science Centre [grant number 2014/14/E/HS6/00731]. The proposed project was aimed at assessing and identifying factors contributing to the current status of Polish immigrant organizations in selected European countries (Germany, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain). The project envisioned two tracks of research: 1. Diagnostic research designed to assess the status of Polish immigrant organizations in selected European countries. 2. Explanatory research designed to identify factors affecting the status of Polish immigrant organizations in selected European countries

Polskie organizacje imigranckie w Wielkiej Brytanii - raport z analizy danych zastanych

The report is an outcome of the project "Polish immigrant organizations" founded by the National Science Centre [grant number 2014/14/E/HS6/00731]. The proposed project was aimed at assessing and identifying factors contributing to the current status of Polish immigrant organizations in selected European countries (Germany, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain). The project envisioned two tracks of research: 1. Diagnostic research designed to assess the status of Polish immigrant organizations in selected European countries. 2. Explanatory research designed to identify factors affecting the status of Polish immigrant organizations in selected European countries

Czy Bóg to Gadzio? Religijność i konwersje polskich Romów w perspektywie elastycznych epistemologii romskości

The article is an anthropological analysis of religious conversions among Polish Roma. Through pioneering ethnographic work among transnational Roma communities, the article takes a critical approach to contemporary analysis of religious lives of Roma in Polish scholarship. Following the relational approach of Frederik Barth, Michael Stewart and participatory ethnography of Paloma Gay y Blasco, the article proposes an ethnographically grounded interpretation of new forms of religiosity among Polish Roma emphasizing individual agency, creativity and the so called by Marco Solimene and Stefanii Pontrandolfo flexible epistemologies, through which we can better grasp overall social changes in Poland. English language title: Is God a gadjo? Religion and conversions among Polish Roma through flexible epistemologies of Rom

Die polnischen Migranten in Großbritannien im Kontext des Brexit

Die Entscheidung der britischen Bevölkerung für den Austritt des Vereinigten Königreichs aus der Europäischen Union in einem Referendum am 23. Juni 2016 (52 Prozent Ja-Stimmen, 48 Prozent Nein-Stimmen) wurde zu einer der größten politischen Herausforderungen der letzten Jahrzehnte für das Land – manche behaupten sogar seit dem Zweiten Weltkrieg. Die Kompliziertheit dieser Aufgabe, sowohl der Austrittsbedingungen als auch der Festlegung neuer Regeln für die künftige Zusammenarbeit mit der EU, verschlang auf jeder Seite eine gigantische Menge an Energie, Geld und politischem Atem, und die vorliegende Analyse ist nicht der Versuch, dieses zu rekapitulieren. Vielmehr ist ihr Hauptziel, die polnische Migration und die Situation dieser Minderheit in den Kontext der Ursachen einzuordnen, die zum Brexit geführt haben, und ihre gegenwärtige politisch-rechtliche Situation sowie Zukunftsperspektiven darzustellen. Allerdings lehrt die Erfahrung mit der »Brexit-Story«, dass man mit Zukunftsprognosen vorsichtig sein muss. Die vorgezogenen Wahlen zum britischen Unterhaus am 12. Dezember 2019 stellen viele Aufgaben im Zusammenhang mit dem Brexit (zum wiederholten Male) unter ein Fragezeichen und die zukünftige Zusammensetzung des Parlaments kann weitere Überraschungen nach sich ziehen

Migratory encounters, common idiom, and the king: the relationship between two Roma groups from Poland in transnational social space

Roma ethnicity presents scholars with plenty of conceptual and methodological challenges, which in the light of the increased mobility of that largest European minority after EU enlargements has additionally perplexed academics and policymakers alike. This article presents our fieldwork data derived from encounters and conversations with Roma individuals in Poland and England. Our approach to this issue is rooted in the emic perspective, examining how Roma people navigate and cope with their own heterogeneity. By focusing on the relationship between two Roma groups from Poland, namely Polska Roma and Bergitka (or Carpathian) Roma, we shed light on Roma’s practical approaches to their group identity. We explore what is at stake when boundaries are encountered, negotiated, and occasionally bridged, in particular when it comes to gender and conflict resolution strategies. In the article, we account for the two groups’ interconnections through the history of migrations and current modes of transnational living. We show how, interestingly, nationality or common country of origin may become the binding factor. This article was published open access under a CC BY licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0

Gadzikano, Romano ciacipen, czyli w stronę dekolonizacji badań romologicznych

Niniejszy zeszyt "Studiów Migracyjnych Przeglądu-Polonijnego" ma szczególny charakter z niejednego powodu. Jest to pierwszy numer w historii pisma, od prawie 50. lat stymulującego naukowe dyskusje wokół migracji, transnarodowości i etniczności, poświęcony w całości polskim Romom. Na stronie "Studiów Migracyjnych – Przeglądu Polonijnego" czytamy, że czasopismo „kontynuuje tradycje Przeglądu Polonijnego, który ukazał się po raz pierwszy w 1975 roku z inicjatywy ówczesnego Komitetu Badania Polonii PAN. Od samego początku Przegląd Polonijny […] był pismem interdyscyplinarnym, w którym dzieje i przemiany funkcjonowania skupisk polonijnych analizowano w kontekście szeroko rozumianych procesów migracji i stosunków etnicznych”. Studia migracyjne w Polsce (zarówno czasopismo, jak i obszar badań naukowych) wywodzą się wprost ze studiów polonijnych (diasporycznych). Migracje z Polski zostały opisane w licznych tomach, od prac Thomasa i Znanieckiego począwszy, poprzez artykuły naukowe w czołowych czasopismach migracyjnych. Polki i Polacy proszą o azyl, jeżdżą na saksy, pracują na zmywaku w Londynie. Polki i Polacy tęsknią za krajem, dla nich powstają polskie sklepy oraz polskie misje katolickie, celebrują w polski sposób święta, wchodzą w związki mieszane, integrują się (bądź nie) ze społeczeństwem kraju docelowego budując różne formy przynależności i transnarodowe formy życia rodzinnego. Powstają kolejne teksty na temat edukacji drugiego pokolenia polskich migrantów w szkołach, artykuły o podtrzymywaniu polskich tożsamości i o złożoności relacji w transnarodowych rodzinach. W tych wszystkich jakże potrzebnych dyskusjach, umyka często fakt, że z Polski migrują nie tylko etniczni Polacy, ale też mniejszości. Stąd polscy Romowie są w tych dyskusjach nieobecni, chociaż od dekad, wraz z innymi współobywatelami i współobywatelkami, zasilają szeregi migrantów za chlebem, wyjeżdżających na saksy, azylantów, uchodźców, migrantów przed i po-akcesyjnych

Welcoming Voices: Memory, Migration and Music

There are many studies of migration that focus on the economic and social impact of immigration, but the effect that migration has on cultural practices is less explored. This article considers the relationship song plays in the experience of migration. It focuses on the recent migration of Eastern European communities to the UK, played out against the backdrop of tensions surrounding Brexit. It explores how engaging with song plays a role in assimilation, reorientation, and displacement processes. Song has had a profound historical significance for Eastern European nations and their identity, demonstrated vividly in the events surrounding the collapse of the USSR in the late 1980s. Throughout 1987, the Lithuanian Rock March Festival toured the country to perform forbidden (“Western”) songs by way of political protest; in 1988 the anti-Soviet rock musical Lāčplēsis took Latvia by storm playing to over 180,000 people; and in the same year, Estonian musician Alo Mattiisen’s “Five Fatherland Songs” formed the basis of the Tartu Music Days festival, constructing a powerful song-cycle of anthems against the oppression of the Soviet state. Following this concert, the journalist Heinz Valk penned a celebrated article crystallizing the significance of these events in the evocative term “The Singing Revolution”. In this context, song became for these nations a deep expression of identity, a force for non-violent protest against oppression, and a communal bond whose articulation in mass singing events created a powerful voice enabling their emergence onto the stage of the coveted West. Thirty years later, the relationship of Eastern Europeans with the West continues to be tested as the world’s borders become points of tension and as the identities of nation states and national identities become scattered. With accession to the EU in 2004, a surge of movement beyond national boundaries created diasporic populations of Eastern Europeans in the UK. Here, encountering the tensions of immigrant life, the barriers of linguistic and cultural currency and the challenges of assimilation, migrants experience both individual and communal dynamics that influence their sense of personal and national identity. Informed by a number of ethnographic projects with migrant populations, this article explores some of the ways in which that sense of personal and national identity is played out through music and song. Working principally with Lithuanian and Polish communities in Lincolnshire between 2016 and the present, and engaging with local community events, outreach activities and interviews, the article will listen to the migrants’ own voices in exploring the subtle, personal and communal ways in which song informs their sense of self