Polish Mobilities and the Re-making of Self, Family and Community Katherine Botterill A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University February 2012 ABSTRACT The thesis explores the social and spatial mobilities of young Polish people and the ways in which the self, the family and the community are being re-made through mobility in an enlarged European Union. The research is based on an empirical study with post-accession current and return migrants in Edinburgh, Kraków and Katowice. It explores young people‘s perceptions and experiences of mobility in three key areas: the personal histories of mobility; the practice of mobility; and the relations of mobility. The thesis argues that social and spatial mobility are differentially and relationally experienced by young Polish people. Furthermore, through a critical engagement with theories of mobility and modernity it is argued that collective social forms (family and community) are being re-configured through mobility. Conceptually, the research is positioned within the inter-disciplinary study of mobilities, which assert the centrality of movement in contemporary social life (Urry and Sheller, 2006). Drawing on empirical evidence, the thesis provides an intimate reading of the personal transformations of mobility for young Polish migrants and offers micro-level analysis of theories of migration, mobility and modernity. As such it responds to calls for empirically grounded studies on mobilities (Cresswell, 2006; McDowell, 2006) and reflexivity (Atkinson, 2010), and contributes to a growing area of research post- accession Polish migration and mobility (Burrell, 2009). i Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to express my thanks and gratitude to my supervisory team – Professors Alastair Bonnett, Alison Stenning, Jane Pollard and Nina Laurie. In different ways they have guided me through different theoretical and empirical plains of Human Geography and provided invaluable practical support to see me through the unwieldy process of completing a PhD. I would like to express gratitude to the Economic and Social Research Council for funding my research and the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University for providing the resources and support required to carry out my research. I am also grateful for the fantastic support and friendship of the Geography postgraduate community at Newcastle, in particular Matthew Rech, Rahielah Ali, Jeff Chase, Charlotte Johnson and Gisela Zapata. The everyday conversations in the confines of 5th floor Daysh have been immensely valuable to me and contributed to a growing confidence and refinement of my work. Travel and mobility have been an essential part of this project. I would like to thank those who have helped me navigate and negotiate the field in Edinburgh, Kraków and Katowice. In Edinburgh, my thanks go to Lidia Krzynowek, Jarek Gasiorek and Kasia Raszewska for their support in recruiting willing volunteers and interest in my project. In Kraków, Katowice and Warsaw, I would like to thank Professor Bołeslaw Domański for hosting my research visit at Jagiellonian University, and to Magda Procner, Siobhan Magee, Darek Swiątek and Daniela Coimbra-Swiątek for their help and support in navigating an unfamiliar place. Most importantly, I am exceptionally grateful to the Polish migrants that participated in this project, for giving up their time and sharing with me their personal histories and reflections on being a migrant in the UK. Without their contributions and generosity this thesis would not have been written. This thesis is dedicated to my grandmother, Mary Botterill, whose spirit of adventure and determination in life has inspired my aspiration to explore the world and challenge its boundaries. I am also indebted to my family and friends for their patience and encouragement over the past three years. In particular, my mother, Susan Ryall, my sister, Sophie Meads and my partner, Lani Watson. In individual ways their encouragement, generosity and love has been a constant source of support for which I am always grateful. ii Table of Contents Chapter One: Introduction ............................................................................................ 1 1.1 Motivation and Justification .................................................................................... 3 1.2 Research Questions ................................................................................................. 4 1.2.1 Methodology ..................................................................................................... 4 1.2.2 Summary of Key Arguments ............................................................................ 5 1.3 Outline of the Thesis ............................................................................................... 8 Chapter Two: Polish Mobilities in the United Kingdom ........................................... 10 2.1 Polish Migration to the UK ................................................................................... 10 2.1.1 Mobile Histories and Networks ...................................................................... 12 2.1.2 ‗New‘ Mobile Subjectivities ........................................................................... 13 2.1.3 Mobile Strategies ............................................................................................ 15 2.2 Geographies of Polish Mobility ............................................................................ 16 2.2.1 The Research Locations .................................................................................. 17 2.3 Concluding Remarks ............................................................................................. 24 Chapter Three: Methodology....................................................................................... 25 Part I: The Research Mechanics ...................................................................................... 25 3.1 The Research Participants ..................................................................................... 25 3.2 Access and Recruitment ........................................................................................ 29 Part II: The Research Design .......................................................................................... 31 3.3 The Approach ....................................................................................................... 31 3.4 The Method .......................................................................................................... 31 3.4.1 Telling Stories: Biographical-narrative interviews ........................................ 32 3.4.2 Imaging Mobility: Photo elicitation ............................................................... 37 3.4.3 Semi-structured Interviews ............................................................................. 40 iii 3.4.4 Interactive Blogging ....................................................................................... 41 3.4.5 Volunteer Ethnography ................................................................................... 44 3.5 Data Analysis ........................................................................................................ 46 Part III: Reflections from the Field ................................................................................. 47 3.6 Reflexivity, Representation and Positionality ....................................................... 47 3.6.1 Validity and Generalisability .......................................................................... 51 3.6.2 Impact and Reciprocity ................................................................................... 52 3.7 Concluding Remarks ............................................................................................. 53 Chapter Four: A Critical Reading of Migration and Mobility ................................. 54 4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 54 4.2 The Migration-Mobility Nexus ............................................................................. 55 4.2.1 Economic theories of migration ...................................................................... 56 4.2.2 Politics and Structure in Migration Theory .................................................... 58 4.2.3 A Transnational Frame ................................................................................... 60 4.2.4 Cosmopolitanism ............................................................................................ 63 4.2.5 Social Mobility ............................................................................................... 65 4.3 Mobilities in the Twenty First Century ................................................................. 68 4.3.1 A New Mobilities Paradigm ........................................................................... 68 4.3.2 Mobility and Modernity .................................................................................. 73 4.4 Re-framing Mobility ............................................................................................. 80 4.5 Concluding Remarks ............................................................................................. 82 Chapter Five: Transformation: Post-socialist Mobility and Immobility ................. 84 5.1 Introduction ..........................................................................................................