Crossing boundaries of cultures and identities: Polish migrants in Belfast

It proposes an understanding of identity as a multidimensional and multilayered entity, and focuses on the processual nature of shaping of one’s sense of belonging, where different kinds of identities are in dialogue. My study then centres on the array of possible identities that migrants in Belfast tend to embrace: Polish,regional (representative of small homeland), Slavic, European, and cosmopolitan self.

In relation to the emphasis on the dynamic nature of one’s belonging, the thesis also tackles the issue of dialectics inherent in migrants’ attempts to maintain their culture. It focuses on the dialectics between people’s efforts to preserve rigid boundaries of their culture and the tendency to transgress them, present both in everyday life, and in religious holidays and ethnic festivals. Furthermore, the thesis examines the role of religion as an important factor in shaping ethnic identities of Poles, focusing also on the migrants’ perceptions of the Catholic-Protestant conflict in Northern Ireland.