Migration and National Identity in Transnational Social Fields: A Comparative Study Between Post-WW2 and Post-2004 Migration from Poland to the UK

Abstract

This thesis centres on the relationship between migration and national identity in transnational social fields. I explore how national identity, of people who move from one country to another, evolves over time under contrasting transnational conditions historically, politically, socially, economically and in the context of recent technological advancements. To achieve this, I compare two flows of Polish migrants in the UK: those who arrived just after World War 2, with those who came following Poland’s EU accession. This comparison puts identity construction of a communitas, a very physical collective of the post-war group, vis-à-vis with the more individual experiences in the European space in this millennium. There are two main findings in this study. Firstly, I demonstrate that these contrasting national identity formations are triggered by different transnational conditions, which continue to be controlled by nation-states. Secondly, I bring to the forefront the integral role of emotions which underpin migrants’ practice and their experiences of transnational mobility. The concepts of roots and transnational trajectories are introduced to capture the relational and affective processes underlying people’s transnational practices and identity building. Roots represent the complex relationship between the continued national way of thinking, the relationship within old and new localities as well as agency and emotions towards the national. Transnational conditions experienced over time make up migrants’ individual transnational trajectories which fluctuate in size and available opportunities depending on the political situation and arrangements made by nation-states.