No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Place Relations of Mobile People: National and Local Identification of Highly Skilled Migrants in Wrocław, Poland
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 April 2022
Abstract
This article discusses the difference between the construction of national and local identifications related to the new place of residence. It shows that local identification is more inclusive than national, and therefore may be a key to strengthening social cohesion. National and local identities can both be seen as forms of place identification (i.e., of spatial or territorial identity). The article builds on qualitative research on highly skilled migrants living in Wrocław, Poland. The empirical data shows that these migrants would rather obtain a city identification and call themselves Wrocławianie (inhabitants of Wrocław), and do not want, or only partially want, Polish national identity. Living in and experiencing Wrocław makes them feel like insiders, while experiencing Poland positions them as outsiders. While national identity is built around the difference between “us” and “them”, local identity focuses on gaining knowledge about the particularity of a place and therefore allows for acceptance of heterogeneity and is easier for migrants to obtain.
- Type
- Article
- Information
- Copyright
- © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for the Study of Nationalities
References
References
Anthias, Floya. 2008. “Thinking Through the Lens of Translocational Positionality: an Intersectionality Frame for Understanding Identity and Belonging.” Translocations: Migration and Social Change 4 (1): 5–20.Google Scholar
Fallov, Arp, Mia, Anja Jørgensen, and Knudsen, Lisbeth B.. 2013. “Mobile Forms of Belonging.” Mobilities 8 (4): 467–486.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beaverstock, Jonathan V. 2005. “Transnational Elites in the City: British Highly-Skilled Inter-Company Transferees in New York City’s Financial District” Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies 31: 245–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berg, Bruce L. 2009. Qualitative Research for the Social Sciences. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.Google Scholar
Berg, Mette Louise, and Sigona, Nando. 2013. “Ethnography, Diversity and Urban Space.” Identities 20 (4): 347–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bielewska, Agnieszka. 2015. “Imigracja Wewnętrzna i Międzynarodowa a Globalność Wrocławia. Internal and International Immigration and Globality of Wrocław.” Studia Ekonomiczne. Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego w Katowicach 223: 152 –161.Google Scholar
Bielewska, Agnieszka. 2021. “Game of labels: Identification of Highly Skilled Migrants.” Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power 28 (5): 615–633.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bielewska, Agnieszka, and Jaskułowski, Krzysztof. 2017. “Place Belonging in a Mobile World. A Case Study of Migrant Professionals.” Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 53 (3): 343–368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blunt, Alison. 2011. Domicile and Diaspora: Anglo-Indian Women and the Spatial Politics of Home, Vol. 82. Malden: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Blunt, Alison, and Sheringham, Olivia. 2019. “HomeCity Geographies: Urban Dwelling and Mobility.” Progress in Human Geography 43 (5): 815–834.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brubaker, Rogers, and Cooper, Frederick. 2000. “Beyond ‘Identity.’” Theory and Society 29 (1): 1–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butcher, Melissa. 2010. “From ‘Fish out of Water’ to ‘Fitting In’: The Challenge of Re‐placing Home in a Mobile World.” Population, Space and Place 16 (1): 23–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cai, Xiaomei, and Su, Xiaobo. 2021. “Dwelling-in-Travelling: Western Expats and the Making of Temporary Home in Guangzhou, China.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 47 (12): 2815–2832.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castells, Manuel. 2011.
The Rise of the Network Society: The Information Age: Economy
, Society, and Culture, Vol. 1. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Central Statistical Office. 2019. Demographic Yearbook of Poland. Warszawa: Statistical Publishing Establishment.Google Scholar
Conradson, David, and Latham, Alan. 2005. “Friendship, Networks and Transnationality in a World City: Antipodean Transmigrants in London.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 31 (2): 287–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, Norman, and Moorhouse, Roger. 2003. Microcosm: A Portrait of a Central European City. London: Pimlico.Google Scholar
Devine-Wright, Patrick. 2015. “Local Attachments and Identities: A Theoretical and Empirical Project Across Disciplinary Boundaries.” Progress in Human Geography 39: 527–530.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dolińska, Kamila, and Makaro, Julia. 2013. O Wielokulturowości Monokulturowego Wrocławia. Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego.Google Scholar
Drew, Hilary. 2014. “Overcoming Barriers: Qualitative Interviews with German Elites.” The Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods 12: 77–86.Google Scholar
Edensor, Tim. 2002. National Identity, Popular Culture and Everyday Life. Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar
Edensor, Tim. 2006. “Reconsidering National Temporalities: Institutional Times, Everyday Routines, Serial Spaces and Synchronicities.” European Journal of Social Theory 9 (4): 525–545.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eurostat
. 2019. Migration and Migrant Population Statistics. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Migration_and_migrant_population_statistics#Migrant_population:_21.8_million_non-EU-27_citizens_living_in_the_EU-27_on_1_January_2019 (Accessed January 20, 2022.)Google Scholar
Favell, Adrian. 2011 . Eurostars and Eurocities: Free Movement and Mobility in an Integrating Europe, Vol. 56. John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Favell, Adrian. 2014. Immigration, Integration and Mobility: New Agendas in Migration Studies. Colchester: ECPR Press.Google Scholar
Gilmartin, Mary, and Migge, Bettina. 2015. “Home Stories: Immigrant Narratives of Place and Identity in Contemporary reland.” Journal of Cultural Geography 32 (1): 83–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nina, Glick Schiller, and Çağlar, Ayse. 2016. “Displacement, eEmplacement and Migrant Newcomers: Rethinking Urban Sociabilities within Multiscalar Power.” Identities 23 (1): 17–34.Google Scholar
Goldthorpe, John H. 1995. “The Service Slass Revisited.” In Social Change and the Middle Classes, edited by Butler, Tim and Savage, Mike, 313–329. London: UCL.Google Scholar
Grzymała-Kazłowska, Aleksandra, and Brzozowska, Anita. 2017. “From Drifting to Anchoring. Capturing the Experience of Ukrainian Migrants in Poland.” Central and Eastern European Migration Review 6 (2): 103–122.Google Scholar
Gustafson, Per. 2009. “Mobility and Territorial Belonging.” Environment and behaviour. 41 (4): 490–508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, Stuart. (1992). The Question of Cultural Identity. Hall, W: S., Mcgrew, T. (red.), Modernity and Its Futures (s. 273–325). Cambridge: Polity PressGoogle Scholar
Heckmann, Friedrich. 2005. Integration and Integration Policies: IMISCOE Network Feasibility Study. Bamberg: europäisches forum für migrationsstudien (efms) Institut an der Universität Bamberg. https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-192953 (Accessed January 29, 2022.)Google Scholar
Hess, Martin. 2004. “‘Spatial’ Relationships? Towards a Reconceptualization of Embeddedness.” Progress in Human Geography 28 (2): 165–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ho, Elaine Lynn‐Ee. 2011. “Migration Trajectories of ‘Highly Skilled’ Middling Transnationals: Singaporean Transmigrants in London.” Population, Space and Place 17: 116–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hummon, David M. 1992. “Community Attachment.” In Place Attachment, Human Behavior, and Environment: Advances in Theory and Research, edited by Altman, Setha M. and Altman, Irwin, 253–278.Google Scholar
Jaskułowski, Krzysztof. 2017. “Indian Middling Migrants in Wrocław: A Study of Migration Experiences and Strategies.” Asian and Pacific Migration Journal 26 (2): 262–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaskułowski, Krzysztof, and Pawlak, Marek. 2020. “Migration and Lived Experiences of Racism: the Case of High-Skilled Migrants in Wrocław, Poland.” International Migration Review 54 (2): 447–470.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kivisto, Peter, and La Vecchia-Mikkola, Vanja. 2015. “The Integration of Iraqis in Two European Cities: Emotions and Identity Work.” Emotion, Space and Society 16: 90–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kłopot, Stanisław, and Trojanowski, Paweł. 2018. “Cudzoziemcy we Wrocławiu.” Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Sociologica 64: 35–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korinek, Kim, Entwisle, Barbara, and Jampaklay, Aree. 2005. “Through Thick and Thin: Layers of Social Ties and Urban Settlement Among Thai Migrants.” American Sociological Review 70 (5): 779–800.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kvale, Steinar. 1996. Interviews. An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing. Thousand Oaks: Sage.Google Scholar
Leonard, Pauline. 2010. “Work, Identity and Change? Post-colonial Encounters in Hong Kong.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 36 (8): 1247–1263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leonard, Pauline. 2013. “Making Whiteness Work in South Africa: A Translabour Approach.” Women’s Studies International Forum 36: 75–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewicka, Maria. 2011. “Place Attachment: How Far Have We Come in the Last 40 Years?” Journal of Environmental Psychology 31 (3): 207–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, Liangni Sally. 2014. “A Search for a Place to Call Home: Negotiation of Home, Identity and Senses of Belonging Among New Migrants from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to New Zealand.” Emotion, Space and Society 10: 18–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marston, Sallie A., Jones, John Paul III, and Woodward, Keith. 2005. Human Geography without Scale. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 30 (4): 416–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayblin, Lucy, Valentine, Gill, and Winiarska, Aleksandra. 2016. “Migration and Diversity in a PostSocialist Context: Creating Integrative Encounters in Poland.” Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space 4 (5): 960–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meier, Lars. 2016. “Dwelling in Different Localities: Identity Performances of a White Transnational Professional Elite in the City of London and the Central Business District of Singapore.” Cultural Studies 30 (3): 483–505.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nowicka, Magdalena. 2007. “Mobile Locations: Construction of Home in a Group of Mobile Transnational Professionals.” Global Networks 7 (1): 69–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nowicka, Magdalena, and Ryan, Louise. 2015. “Beyond Insiders and Outsiders in Migration Research: Rejecting A Priori Commonalities. Introduction to the FQS Thematic Section on Researcher, Migrant, Woman: Methodological Implications of Multiple Positionalities in Migration Studies.” Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research 16 (2).Google Scholar
Paasi, Anssi. 2004. “Place and Region: Looking through the Prism of Place.” Progress in Human Geography 28: 536–546.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piekut, Aneta. 2013. “‘You’ve got Starbucks and Coffee Heaven… I Can Do This!’ Spaces of Social Adaptation of Highly Skilled Migrants in Warsaw.” Central and Eastern European Migration Review 2 (1): 117–138.Google Scholar
Pustułka, Paula. 2016. “Ethnic, Gender and Class Identities of Polish Migrant Mothers: Intersecting Maternal Narratives with Transnationalism and Integration.” Social Identities 22 (1): 44–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Qian, Junxi, Zhu, Hong, and Liu, Yi. 2011. ”Investigating Urban Migrants’ Sense of Place through a Multi-scalar Perspective.” Journal of Environmental Psychology 31 (2): 170–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogova, Laureta X. 2014. The Key to Integration? A Study of Language as a Policy Strategy for Social Integration of Immigrants in Sweden. Master’s Thesis, Lund University.Google Scholar
Rollero, Chiara, and De Piccoli, Norma. 2010. “Place Attachment, Identification and Environment Perception: An Empirical Study.” Journal of Environmental Psychology 30 (2): 198–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutten, Mario, and Verstappen, Sanderien. 2013. “Middling Migration: Contradictory Mobility Experiences of Indian Youth in London.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 40: 1217–1235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryan, Louise, Sales, Rosemary, Tilki, Mary, and Siara, Bernadetta. 2008. “Social Networks, Social Support and Social Capital: The Experiences of Recent Polish Migrants in London.” Sociology 42 (4): 672–690.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryan, Louise. 2018. “Differentiated Embedding: Polish Migrants in London Negotiating Belonging over Time.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 44 (2): 233–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryan, Louise, and Mulholland, J. Jon. 2015. “Embedding in Motion: Analysing Relational, Spatial and Temporal Dynamics Among Highly Skilled Migrants.” In Migrant Capital, edited by D’Angelo, Alessio, 135–153. London: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saldaña, Johnny. 2012. The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers. Los Angeles: Sage.Google Scholar
Sassen, Saskia. 2000. “The Global City: Strategic Site/New Frontier.” American Studies 41 (2/3): 79–95.Google Scholar
Savage, Mike. 2010. Identities and Social Change in Britain since 1940: The Politics of Method. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simmel, Georg, and Hughes, Everett C.. 1949. “The Sociology of Sociability.” American Journal of Sociology 55 (3): 254–261.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simonsen, Kirsten. 2004. “‘Europe’, National Identities and Multiple Others.” European Urban and Regional Studies 11 (4): 357–362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stedman, Richard C. 2006. “Understanding Place Attachment among Second Home Owners.” American Behavioral Scientist 50 (2): 187–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szacki, Jerzy. 2004. “O Tożsamości (Zwłaszcza Narodowej).” Kultura i Społeczeństwo 48(3).Google Scholar
Ślęzak, Ewa, and Bielewska, Agnieszka. “Cities’ Migration Policies in a Country with a Deficit of Migration Policy. The case of Poland.” International Migration. Published online ahead of print July 30, 2021. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12907.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tuan, Yi-Fu. 1990. Topophilia: A Study of Environmental Perceptions, Attitudes, and Values. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Thomson, Stanley B. 2010. “Grounded Theory-Sample Size.” Journal of Administration and Governance 5 (1): 45–52.Google Scholar
Trąbka, Agnieszka. 2019. “From Functional Bonds to Place Identity: Place Attachment of Polish Migrants Living in London and Oslo.” Journal of Environmental Psychology 62: 67–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trentelman, Carla K. 2009. “Place Attachment and Community Attachment: A Primer Grounded in the Lived Experience of a Community Sociologist.” Society and Natural Resources 22 (3): 191–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Riemsdijk, Micheline. 2014. “International Migration and Local Emplacement: Everyday Place-making Practices of Skilled Migrants in Oslo, Norway.” Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space 46 (4): 963–979.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walsh, Katie. 2011. “Migrant Masculinities and Domestic Space: British Home‐making Practices in Dubai.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 36 (4): 516–529.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walsh, Katie. 2012. “Emotion and Migration: British Transnationals in Dubai.” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 30 (1): 43–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wrocławska Strategia Dialogu Międzykulturowego 2018–2022. 2018. https://www.wielokultury.wroclaw.pl/wp-content/uploads/wroclawska_strategia_dialogu_miedzykulturowego.pdf (Accessed January 29, 2022)Google Scholar