Polish migrant mothers accommodating London; practising transcultural citizenship

Abstract

This paper addresses Polish mothers’ insights into their relationship between their home and the culture of their neighbourhoods. Based on thirty-five in-depth interviews conducted in London, I described processes, both social and emotional, accompanying the mothers’ engagement with the practices of transcultural citizenship. The paper examines the ways in which the mothers theorize their, often racialized, working-class localities through their “Polish” and “class” lens, mark their cultural and social belonging, and ultimately internalize and accommodate these new settings (neighbourhoods and schooling). Adaptation mechanisms as well as emotional costs and identity re-enactments, which are associated with accommodation and creation of new values and practices, are also brought to light. I argue that (1) performance of transcultural citizenship moves the concept towards the notion of ordinary everyday engagements with the local community and belonging and (2) hybridization of identities is a prominent result of such engagements.

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