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Dignity, happiness and being able to live a 'normal life' in the UK - an examination of post-accession Polish migrants' transnational autobiographical fields

Dignity, happiness and being able to live a 'normal life' in the UK - an examination of post-accession Polish migrants' transnational autobiographical fields
Dignity, happiness and being able to live a 'normal life' in the UK - an examination of post-accession Polish migrants' transnational autobiographical fields
This article examines data from a qualitative study of post-accession Polish migrants living in the UK. We examine themes from our interviews such as ‘dignity’, ‘normality’, ‘happiness’ and the ‘affordability’ and ‘ease’ of life in the UK (compared to Poland). We focus on the autobiographical or intra-personal discursive practices that define what Habib calls migrants’ continuing relationship with their ‘homeland’. We draw on Emirbayer and Mische's analysis of the relationship between ‘agency’ and what they call ‘embedded temporalities’ to examine the interaction between our participants' recollections of life in Poland and their evaluation of their present lives in the UK in order to examine the impact of these on their future plans (to stay in the UK or return to Poland). We locate this analysis in what we call a transnational autobiographical field which is a modification of what Levitt and Glick Schiller call a transnational social field. Rather than examine, for example, how decisions to migrate, settle and re-migrate are embedded in inter or trans-personal social relations and networks, in this article we examine the self-dynamics associated with our participants' articulation of their intra-personal and autobiographical embedded temporalities. Our argument is that articulations of individuals' pasts, presents and anticipated futures are also significant factors shaping their migration, settlement, and re-migration
1350-4630
1-17
McGhee, Derek
63b8ae1e-8a71-470c-b780-2f0a95631902
Heath, Sue
f4df85b4-fdde-4353-8641-08a4b9fbbcae
Trevena, Paulina
ea357454-39d9-4065-a4c7-8f77fed75760
Centre for Population Change
McGhee, Derek
63b8ae1e-8a71-470c-b780-2f0a95631902
Heath, Sue
f4df85b4-fdde-4353-8641-08a4b9fbbcae
Trevena, Paulina
ea357454-39d9-4065-a4c7-8f77fed75760

McGhee, Derek, Heath, Sue and Trevena, Paulina , Centre for Population Change (2012) Dignity, happiness and being able to live a 'normal life' in the UK - an examination of post-accession Polish migrants' transnational autobiographical fields. Social Identities, 1-17. (doi:10.1080/13504630.2012.709002).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This article examines data from a qualitative study of post-accession Polish migrants living in the UK. We examine themes from our interviews such as ‘dignity’, ‘normality’, ‘happiness’ and the ‘affordability’ and ‘ease’ of life in the UK (compared to Poland). We focus on the autobiographical or intra-personal discursive practices that define what Habib calls migrants’ continuing relationship with their ‘homeland’. We draw on Emirbayer and Mische's analysis of the relationship between ‘agency’ and what they call ‘embedded temporalities’ to examine the interaction between our participants' recollections of life in Poland and their evaluation of their present lives in the UK in order to examine the impact of these on their future plans (to stay in the UK or return to Poland). We locate this analysis in what we call a transnational autobiographical field which is a modification of what Levitt and Glick Schiller call a transnational social field. Rather than examine, for example, how decisions to migrate, settle and re-migrate are embedded in inter or trans-personal social relations and networks, in this article we examine the self-dynamics associated with our participants' articulation of their intra-personal and autobiographical embedded temporalities. Our argument is that articulations of individuals' pasts, presents and anticipated futures are also significant factors shaping their migration, settlement, and re-migration

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More information

e-pub ahead of print date: 2 August 2012
Organisations: Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 343332
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/343332
ISSN: 1350-4630
PURE UUID: 94211650-a480-45e7-9c45-d4c7a5fc6b6f
ORCID for Derek McGhee: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3226-6300

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Date deposited: 03 Oct 2012 13:21
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 12:02

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Contributors

Author: Derek McGhee ORCID iD
Author: Sue Heath
Author: Paulina Trevena
Corporate Author: Centre for Population Change

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