More than a Storm in a Teacup? British Nationals in Poland in the Time of Brexit

Authors

  • Stephen Davies Polish Academy of Sciences
  • Małgorzata Kułakowska Jagiellonian University in Kraków

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.17.2020.68.13

Keywords:

Brexit, British nationals, belonging, social anchoring, Poland

Abstract

The paper will present and analyse the results of qualitative research conducted by Stephen Davies with British nationals residing in Poland. The research questions explore their attitudes towards Britain and Brexit, as well as their future plans connected with their place of residence. The dominant themes of the paper are the questions of belonging and attachment. The analysis is preceded by a short introductory section which presents the context of the Brexit processes, as well as the results of research into EU migrants in the United Kingdom and British nationals living in different parts of the European Union.

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Author Biographies

Stephen Davies, Polish Academy of Sciences

MA, is a 3rd-year doctoral student at the Graduate School for Social Research (IFiS PAN) in Warsaw. His PhD research is a case study of UK nationals living long-term in Poland. He is a member of the European Studies Unit and Zespół badań demonstracji at IFiS PAN and his research interests include intra-EU migration, social protest movements and sociology of education. Since coming to Poland in 1993, he has worked full-time in foreign-language teacher training and as a lecturer in academic skills. He is currently a full-time lecturer in academic skills at Warsaw University.

Małgorzata Kułakowska, Jagiellonian University in Kraków

PhD, is a political scientist currently working at the Institute of Political Science and International Relations of the Jagiellonian University. She holds an MA in both political science and sociology. She is an author of more than a dozen articles devoted to British politics and society, multiculturalism and migration, and a monograph on community cohesion project in the United Kingdom (Searching for community cohesion. British policies 2001-2010). She is also a co-editor of three books (Studies on multiculturalism, 2010; Facets of election campaigns in 2015, 2016 – both in Polish, and Political Science in Europe at the Beginning of the 21st Century, 2015) as well as an Editorial Assistant of an academic journal „Teoria Polityki”. Her research interests focus on two areas. Firstly, the analysis of contemporary transformations of British society, with particular emphasis on the relations between ethnocultural communities in the context of such political changes as devolution or Brexit. Secondly, broadly understood political anthropology, focusing on the analysis of the concept of culture and its significance in power relations. Consequently, she is also interested in related research methods, mostly of qualitative and interpretive character. Both areas of interest fall within the scope of political sociology.

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Published

2020-11-19

How to Cite

Davies, Stephen, and Małgorzata Kułakowska. 2020. “More Than a Storm in a Teacup? British Nationals in Poland in the Time of Brexit”. Politeja 17 (5(68):257-77. https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.17.2020.68.13.

Issue

Section

NATIONAL IDENTITIES, REGIONAL IDENTITIES, ETHNIC IDENTITIES