Authors: D. Niedźwiedzki, M. Galent, I. Goddeeris
Nomos, Kraków 2009
The Polish pendulum migration to Western Europe after the fall of the Iron Curtain has not only boosted economic productivity, but has also had an impact on the minds of the people involved. Polish immigrants came into contact with a different society to the one they had known, and their Western European employers became acquainted for the first time with Eastern European individuals. This monograph analyzes how this pendulum migration has influenced perceptions, identities, values, and social capital of both the host society and the migrants themselves. By means of interviews with Poles and Belgians in a Belgian provincial city (Leuven), it analyses to what extent this migration has contributed to the construction of European identities.
Prof. Ewa Nowicka (University of Warsaw)
"This book delves deeply into the current processes of migration in Europe, analysing the changes in the values of economic migrants from Poland and – in what is an absolutely new aspect – in those of their employers from western Europe. Alongside these changes in values there is a particular emphasis on the process of Europeanisation, which the authors study from the cultural as well as political viewpoints. […] According to the authors, Europeanisation is felt not only by the migrants but those who have contact with them. Both sides must then redefine the categories of ‘us' and ‘them'. […] In my opinion this book adds an interesting voice to the discourse on migration and, while it by no means solves all the issues at stake, it supplies fresh empirical knowledge. Thanks to this, the book sheds light on little-known phenomena that have been neglected up to this point in the vast field of research conducted on migration."
Dr. Louise Ryan (Middlesex University)
"Through a fascinating study of Polish migrants in Leuven, this book contributes to migration studies in three important ways: firstly, by adding to the growing body of work on Polish migration across the EU; secondly, by enhancing our understanding of the varied and complex interactions between migrants and the host population; and thirdly, by exploring the interconnections between social networks, social capital and the reconstruction of identities in the context of migration.
This book will be of great interest to migration scholars not only in Belgium and in Europe but also in the wider international context."
