Migration and (Im)mobility. Biographical Experiences of Polish Migrants in Germany and Canada

Principal Investigator: Dr. Anna Xymena Wieczorek (Universität Trier, IRTG Diversity)

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Martin Endreß

Duration: 2013-2017

Anna Xymena Wieczorek reconstructed mobile life worlds of young adults of Polish heritage in Germany and Canada. In order to overcome the methodological, conceptual and empirical dualism of mobility and migration, Anna Wieczorek developed a "mobilities perspective" - i.e. a combination of migration studies theories and approaches from mobility studies -  to analyze the rich empirical data that she had gathered in Toronto und Berlin. She identified three different patterns of (im)mobility: the immobile, the transnational and the cosmopolitan pattern of mobility, illustrating the diversity of immigrants' geographical movements after their initial migration. She was able to reveal different social configurations promoting or hindering the development, maintenance or shifting of each pattern in migrants' biographical trajectories.

Publications

Wieczorek, Anna Xymena (2018): Migration and (Im)mobility. Biographical Experiences of Polish Migrants in Germany and Canada (Bielefeld: transcript)

Wieczorek, Xymena (2016): “Biography en route: Investigating Mobility Experiences through Biographical Research”, in: Ursula Lehmkuhl et al. (eds.), Spaces of Difference: Conflicts and Cohabitation (Münster: Waxmann), 101‐123.