‘Their place is here!’ – nationalism and migration in Poland Michal P. Garapich CRONEM University of Surrey/University of Roehampton Center for European Studies Jagiellonian University Transnational identities – cities unbound – migrations redefined Kraków 6 th – 8 th October 2006

Main themes over emigration in Polish nationalistic discourse Determinism Fatalism and degradation Materialism Threat to identity Individualistic migrant vs. collective nation Roots = moral superiority

The re-birth of Polish nationalism in public discourse and politics in recent times is seen generally as a reaction to the processes of rapid change and socio/economic transformation – of which migrations and growing mobility are a prime symptom.

Polish conman urban myth Contestation of dominant discourse – strategic ‘banal anti-nationalism’ De-romanticizing ethnic ties Praxis - warning against abuse of trust Prove that ethnic sentiments are vulnerable Rationalize interactions between migrants

‘We are here’ protest against Polish tax law penalizing migrants London, March 2006 – photo

A new, much more reflexive and individualized expression of relationship with the ‘national community’, the society and the state has emerged. Its rationality rests on the assumption that ethnic ties and affiliation are too vague, contradictory and vulnerable to abuse to be the sole basis of action and agency. physical distance isn’t a barrier to access to public space and the state.

Nationalism isn’t only about identifying a population under a roof of a invented, imagined and homogenous culture against the significant ‘others’ but about constantly fixing and territorializing individuals, extending the process of ‘othering’ onto people that migrate no matter for their ethnic/social/cultural background. Polish migrants successfully manage to contest and strategically maneuver over both. If the recent growth of nationalistic discourse in Poland is partly stimulated by growing transnational movements of Poles, its grip on what people actually do, how they think and act – both in Poland and abroad - is rather weak.