Becoming part of a divided place : narratives of Polish migrants living in Northern Ireland

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Becoming part of a divided place

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Narratives of Polish migrants living in Northern Ireland

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Master thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the

Erasmus Mundus Master in International Migration and Social Cohesion (MISOCO)

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By

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Zwaantje Margot Lakmaker zwaan@outlook.com

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Date of submission: 08 May 2015

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Dr. Seán L’Estrange, University College Dublin - sean.lestrange@ucd.ie

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Dr. Gunther Dietz, Universidad de Deusto - guntherdietz@gmail.com Dr. Anja van Heelsum, Universteit van Amsterdam - a.j.vanheelsum@uva.nl


ABSTRACT

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Northern Ireland poses a particular challenge to immigrants. Because the society they arrive in has high degrees of residential, occupational, cultural and political segregation along ethnoreligious lines, migrants in Northern Ireland are confronted with intense and acute problems: how do they settle in this deeply-divided society? As immigration into Northern Ireland is a relatively recent and small numbered phenomenon when compared to other regions of Europe, little resources, support structures or ready-made ‘pathways of integration’ exist. In order to better understand what happens when a new group enters a society with a violent and divided history, this thesis examines the experiences of Polish migrants, the largest ethnic minority group in Northern Ireland. This study draws on narrative inquiry of life-stories of Polish migrants in Belfast, Derry/ Londonderry, Moira and Bangor. Amongst the main findings are that Polish migrants not only must learn to navigate their way in the particular social and historical context of Northern Ireland, but also are confronted with different attitudes towards them from both local Protestants and Catholics. Alongside economic, social and cultural capital, this research indicates that the migrants’ life-course and household positions also play a role in how they adjust to and interpret their re-settlement.


PREFACE

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This thesis marks the end of a two-year process of thinking, writing, reading and talking about two subjects completely new for me: Polish migrants, and Northern Ireland. The highlight was to finally go up North and do my own fieldwork - I would like to thank everyone who has helped me ‘snowball’ and showed me the warmth of Belfast. Special mentioning goes to Jenny McCurry, friend and mentor, and Catherine McCurry, my Northern Irish mom. I cannot express how much I am touched by your hospitality and friendliness.

In addition I’d like to thank my thesis supervisor Seán L’Estrange, whose enthusiasm about what I was doing gave the project wings. I am grateful for your insightful comments and support.

Also, I’d like to say thanks to my readers, Dr. Gunther Dietz who inspired me in the initial stage of my research, and Dr. Anja van Heelsum, for sharpening and structuring my thoughts.

It is hard to imagine how this program, this life-time would have been without my fellow MISOCO students. I will never forget this friendship experience – and I will miss all of you.

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Many, many thanks to my home front for being there for me: Jet, Anna and Sander.

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Dublin, 8 May 2015

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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2.1 The structures of Northern Ireland as a host society 9

2.1.1 Background 9

2.1.2 Northern Ireland in the body of migration literature 13

2.2 Immigration into Northern Ireland 15

2.2.1. Background numbers 15

2.2.2. Perspectives on multiculturalism

after the Good Friday Agreement 16

2.3 Polish migrants in Northern Ireland 19

2.4 Conclusion 21

2.5 Conceptual Framework 22

2.5.1 Theological fallacy and sectarianism 22

2.5.2 Cues/embodiment 23

2.5.3 Racism and sectarianism 24

2.5.4 Integration and the neighbourhood 24

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3. METHODOLOGY 27

3.1 Narrative research and phenomenology 27

3.2 Open interviews 28

3.3 Location of the participants 30

3.4 Additional activities 31

3.5 Field access and sampling 32

3.6 Language and insider/outsider position 33

3.7 Data analysis 34

3.8 Ethics 34

PART II 36

4. WHERE AM I? 37

4.1 Introduction 37

4.2 Traces of the Troubles 39

4.3 Getting to know the neighbourhood 46

5. AM I PART OF THIS? 52

5.1 Introduction 52

5.2 The Twelfth of July Parades 53

5.3. Education matters 58 5.4 Attacks 61

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6.3 The importance of making up your mind 70

6.4 The next generation’s sense of belonging 73

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7. WHY ME? 79

7.1 Introduction 79

7.2 Explaining Attacks Against Polish Migrants 80

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8. CONCLUSION 85

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9. BIBLIOGRAPHY 90

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ANNEX I - CONSENT FORM & INFORMATION SHEET 95

ANNEX II - MAPS AND FIGURES 97

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PART I

1. INTRODUCTION

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This thesis researches the experiences of Polish migrants in the divided social space of post-conflict Northern Ireland. Since the beginning of the peace process of 1998 and the extension of the European Union in 2004, Northern Ireland has become an immigration destiny with Polish nationals forming the largest migrant group (Nolan 2013). The imagery of Northern Ireland as a polarised society obscures that there are others who do not fit under the traditional categories of Catholic and Protestant. Migrants face particular challenges when arriving in this society, which knows no single social, political or legal dominant culture and a fragile peace process (Coulter and

Shirlow 2014). National identity is highly contested, therefore leaving it unclear what

newcomers are ought to become part of and where to 'integrate' into. On top of this, the

legacy of the Troubles provides a social landscape of micro-communities segregated

along ethnoreligious lines, with high social cohesion within but sharp divisions between

neighbourhoods. At times, sectarian violence still sparks up and inter-community

tensions are not limited to the two main traditions; hate crime against ethnic minorities

is on the rise. As largest ethnic minority community, Polish migrants are found to have

interesting migratory trajectories in which notions of sectarianism, racism and class come together (McVeigh and Rolston 2007, Coulter 2014, Kempny 2010, Svašek 2009). Most Poles are Catholic, which makes them part of the discussion about the dynamics of ethnoreligious identifications. As such, it is of interest how Polish migrants find a place in Northern Irish social space and how the particularities of this society shape their experiences.

This thesis aims to give an insight in the new ‘Northern Irish’ lives of Polish migrants. Life stories of Polish migrants will bring the issues at stake to the fore, while understanding the specific position of individual migrants into account. Their narratives give insight in the processual character of settling down in a divided, post-conflict society. Patterns in the saliency of Northern Irelands’ configurations of sectarianism and racism are found alongside lines of socio-economic class, residential areas, the migrants’ life-course stages and household positions.

Accordingly, the following research question has been formulated:

How do Polish migrants in Northern Ireland experience living in a post-conflict divided society?

The findings of this research are based on a series of life story interviews with Polish migrants who have been living in Northern Ireland (Belfast, Derry/Londonderry , Moira 1

and Bangor) since two to ten years.

The thesis commences by giving the reader an insight in the background of Northern Ireland as a host society. The literature review further discusses the topics of immigration into Northern Ireland and Polish migrants in Northern Ireland. A conceptual framework follows in order to highlight notions that are important to understand the particular configurations of Northern Ireland as an immigration destination. After this, the methodology of the research will be outlined in chapter 3.

The second part of the thesis forms the presentation and analysis of the findings

The name of the city is entwined with the Northern Ireland question. In general, people who associate

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of this research. Four chapters will discuss the different stages which are found to represent the experiences of Polish migrants in their new social environment: ‘Where am I?’, ‘Am I part of this?’ ‘Where am I going’ and ‘Why me?’. First, chapter 4 discusses the ways in which Polish migrants start to make sense of Northern Ireland as a divided, post-conflict society. Secondly, chapter 5 looks at the personal involvement of migrants in sectarian expressions and events. Chapter 6 gives an insight in the Polish migrants’ sense of belonging, through their plans for and expectations of the future. Chapter 7 presents the interpretations of the Poles for their relations with local people - both Catholic and Protestant - and the prevalence of hate crime. In closing, the concluding chapter of this thesis summarises the findings, answers the research question and discusses recommendations for further research.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

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This chapter will place the present study within the wider context of immigration in Northern Ireland. Firstly, the structures of Northern Ireland as a host society are discussed, beginning with the background of the Northern Irish conflict and followed by a description of the current societal makeup. Consequently, the literature on immigration into Northern Ireland, and on Polish migrants in specific, in Northern Ireland will be reviewed.

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2.1 The structures of Northern Ireland as a host society 2.1.1 Background

In 1922, the six predominantly Protestant counties in the north of Ireland opted out of the Government of Ireland Act which gave the rest of the – Catholic - island political independence from the United Kingdom. Thus, this region remained part of the UK and enjoys limited sovereignty as one of four federal ‘countries’ (Tonge 1998). 2

Ever since Ireland became a sovereign state, the island’s northern region has been marked by conflict between Protestant and Catholic communities. Simply put, this

sectarian conflict is about opposed ethnoreligious but also national affiliations: to stay

in the United Kingdom or to become part of the Republic of Ireland. In particular between 1968 and 1998, a period which became known as ‘The Troubles’, the conflict aggravated. Catholics and Protestants became increasingly segregated, and street

The UK exists out of four countries; England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Wales, Scotland

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and Northern Ireland have their own parliament and independent legislations with exception of ‘reserved’ matters among which issues such as international relations, taxation, immigration law and defence, which

violence and bombings became part of the daily life of the Northern Irish population (ibid.). So-called loyalist Protestant paramilitaries and the republican Catholic ‘Irish Republican Army’ (IRA) fought for their, with more moderate Protestants called

unionists and Catholics nationalists. The Troubles officially ended in 1998 with the

Belfast Agreement (more commonly known as the Good Friday Agreement), although violence have continued to flare up. In the Good Friday Agreement it is acknowledged 3

that although the majority in the country wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom, a substantial part of the population wants to belong to the Republic of Ireland and therefore both citizenships, identities and ethos should be respected (ibid.). As such it is for instance possible to maintain both passports of the Republic of Ireland and the UK.

Currently, the Catholic and Protestant populations of the region are similar in size; in the 2011 Census, 41% of the population identified as Roman Catholic, and 42% percent identified as belonging to one of various protestant churches (NISRA 2012). The majority of Catholics identifies as Irish or Northern Irish (53% and 27% respectively), whereas Protestants and other Christians largely identify as British (68%) (ibid.). These populations are not evenly spread out over the region however: most Catholics live in the western part of the region that is colloquially referred to as ‘West of the Bann’. Also in terms of education, housing and employment a divide exists along ethnoreligious lines.

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To distinguish the post-Good Friday Agreement period from the Troubles, the term ‘post-conflict’ is

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used in this thesis However, this does not mean that the conflict between the two communities is over, but rather points at the process of reconciliation.

It has been argued that the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 has not stopped or transcended the sectarianist divide, but instead has been transformed and institutionalised (Geoghegan 2008a, 2008b, McVeigh and Rollston 2007). As such, preferred political and social identities continue to centre on the two main labels, “Catholic” and “Protestant”, connected with the national identities of Irish and British (Muldoon, Trew, Todd, Rougier & McLaughlin 2007). To ensure a power balance, Orange and Green identities are recognised at the expense of all others, as Geoghegan puts it (2008a: 175). This is also reflected in the education system, in which primary and secondary schools are managed separately following religious lines: state-controlled schools – known as “controlled” schools – and most grammar schools have a protestant denomination, whereas other schools are maintained by the Catholic Church but financed by the state as well - the so-called “maintained” sector (Hayes, McAlistair and Dowds 2013: 68). This dual denominational system has become more fragmented due to a third school sector, of integrated schools. Between 2010 and 2014, this sector has grown from 6 percent to 6.8 of the total pupil population – a steady, but slow growth (ibid.: Nolan 2013: 125-127). Besides the formally integrated sector, which deliberately seeks to be without any ethnoreligious divides, there is a small number of mixed schools, where particularly Catholic pupils of one religion join a school with a different denomination than their own (Hayes, McAlistair and Dowds 2013: 68).

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The peace process, started with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, is expected to lead to the end of sectarian violence, as well as to bring a socioeconomic “peace dividend” in the areas most involved in the Troubles (Coulter

2014). Yet, since 1998, socioeconomic inequalities in Northern Ireland have increased (ibid.), which supports the argument that social divisions cannot solely be explained ‘horizontally’ - between the different ethnoreligious traditions. Instead, inequalities are also determined ‘vertically’. Coulter shows: ethnoreligious tensions differ in strength along class lines. In socially deprived areas, which formed the centre of the Troubles, the peace process is most fragile (Coulter and Shirlow 2014). This fragility became clear when the conflict flared up in 2012 and 2013 around the decision to fly the union flag at the Belfast City Hall only at designated days (BBC 2014). Also, there have been few economic benefits for those working-class communities during peace time (Coulter 2014). Class divisions are becoming stronger: inequalities in Northern Ireland are on the rise compared to the rest of the United Kingdom (ibid.: 767). Official statistics from 2011 show that 23 percent of people in the working age are dependent on at least one social benefit, versus 15 percent in the rest of the UK (ibid.: 768). With these increased socioeconomic divisions and the slow decrease of ethnoreligious segregation in lower strata of society, it is important to acknowledge this heterogeneous character of Northern Irish society. This should also be reflected in discussions on the peace process as well, as Coulter and Shirlow stress (2014: 718):

“These intense and enduring material divisions not least suggest that we should take care not to talk about the Northern Irish peace process in singular terms. There is, in a sense, more than one

Northern Ireland and indeed more than one peace process.”

The importance of looking at class rather than only ethnoreligious divisions in Northern Ireland when discussing integration pathways of Polish migrants becomes clear: it does not only matter how immigrants relate to people from the two main

traditions in Northern Ireland, but also how they relate socioeconomically. For more information, see Appendix II.

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2.1.2 Northern Ireland in the body of migration literature

The body of studies on migration to Northern Ireland is growing, but the subject has long remained understudied when compared to other places in the United Kingdom or immigrant destinations in the European Union (McGarry 2001, Hainsworth 1998). According to Hainsworth this is a consequence of the Troubles (1998: 3):

“[T]he tendency to neglect, ignore or minimise ethnic minority problems, such as individual or institutional racism, as the preoccupation with traditional socio-political matters has left scant room for other agendas.”

This has been connected with the absence of a large group of black people in Northern Ireland. McVeigh (1998) states that this has led to a public denial of racism, despite accounts from people with a minority ethnic background who experience systematic racism. This denial – based on a narrow interpretation of racism as having to do with people’s phenotypes only - is structural in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, he states (1998: 14):

“[I]t is not the absence of racism but rather the relative absence of discussion of racism which makes Ireland different from most European countries.”

The influx of immigrants in the last decade has made migration a much heated public debate as in other parts of the United Kingdom (Knox 2011). In migration studies, however, an underrepresentation of studies on Northern Ireland can be found as well. Gilligan notes that academic studies discussing race and ethnicity have the tendency to overlook Northern Ireland. If Northern Ireland is mentioned at all in texts on ethnicity, it is merely compared with other (post-) conflict societies, rather than as a multi-ethnic

space (ibid.:4):

“(….) the reference points for comparison are not between Belfast and Birmingham or Brighton, but Belfast and Durban or Sarajevo or Jerusalem.”

Gilligan’s comparison of course literature at universities in Northern Ireland and England on race and ethnicity shows the difficulties of discussing Northern Ireland in this context. Gilligan and Ball point out that comparing divided societies with each other, sui generis, reinforces the idea that divided societies are exceptional and untouched by or even immune for external forces (2011: 165). This underrepresentation of Northern Ireland in studies on migration, race and ethnicity in the United Kingdom – and therefore also in the wider European literature - leads to a false understanding of ‘normal’ migrant-host society relations. Therefore, ‘difficult’ locations such as Northern Ireland should be subject of research pre-eminently, as Gilligan argues (2008: 8-9):

“It is by studying abnormality that the mechanisms of normal function are most clearly revealed. In analyses of society and examination of abnormality [sic] also helps to reveal the ways in which normality is a construction. In Northern Ireland many of the contractions inherent within UK society are most apparent and most intensely manifested. Treating Northern Ireland as exceptional conveniently obscures these contradictions and presents the UK as a normal place.”

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The study of the Northern Irish case contrasts, and thus challenges, the tradition of studying migratory processes which seems to be based on monocultural states, guided by ideas of how immigrant integration or incorporation takes place, and leaves researchers with the task to study to what extent this is successful or not. The underlying presumption of this majority literature, is that success implies becoming part of the host society’s middle class, to integrate into mainstream life – despite the common phenomenon of ‘segmented assimilation’, or the incorporation of migrant communities in (marginalised) working class areas of society (Portes and Zhou 1993).

The current heated debate in Europe about the integration of ethnic minorities comes forth out of a preoccupation with reaching a consensus in society, Gilligan and Ball argue (2011). Rather than an issue of cultural differences in themselves, this reveals an anxiety about the capacity of the state to provide for the desired level of social cohesion. As such, international migration and immigrant integration have become the lens through which this issue is looked at (ibid.: 162-163). Thus, when trying to understand this topic from the angle of social cohesion, researchers of migration and ethnicity can learn a lot from studies analysing integration process in divided, (post)conflict societies, to look at more local processes of meaningful relationships and the absence of inter-community hostilities (Gilligan and Ball 2011: 163).

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2.2 Immigration into Northern Ireland 2.2.1. Background numbers

On a population of 1.8 million people, Northern Ireland has an ethnic minority population of 57.800 people according to the census from 2011, Travellers not included (NISRA 2012). The census clearly shows that Poles form the largest ethnic minority group with 19,658 people. Secondly come Lithuanians (7,341), then Indian (6,198) and Chinese (6,303). Indian and Chinese communities have been in Northern Ireland since the 1950s and 1960s (Hainsworth 1998). Since the enlargement of the European Union in 2004 with the A8 countries , the influx of Polish migrants to Ireland has rapidly 4

grown. The majority of Polish immigrants resides in Belfast (see Appendix II).

The term ‘A8 countries’ refers to the ten countries that joined the EU in 2004. They include the Czech

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2.2.2. Perspectives on multiculturalism after the Good Friday Agreement

Studies on immigration, ethnicity and race relations on a societal level in Northern Ireland primarily focused on a discussion of the implications of the Good Friday Agreement. The politics of recognition in Northern Ireland are “the recognition of Orange and Green identities at the expense of all others”, Geoghegan states (2007: 175). Despite the acknowledgement of the equality of all individuals in the Agreement, it is the oppositional unionist and nationalist political identities which are legitimated institutionally and structurally, based on the sharing of power and the fostering of cooperation between these two groups (ibid.: 175-176). Since the Agreement, multiculturalism has gained recognition as a political idea. Yet in practice, Geoghegan concludes, ‘awkwardness’ characterises multicultural events, in which ethnic minority groups have to perform stereotypical identities to be recognised (ibid.: 174-176). Paradoxically, this multicultural discourse includes the ‘sectarianizing’ of some migrant groups takes place based on the markers of religion in advertisements for events, information pamphlets and “cultural” murals, Geoghegan states: Polish Catholics versus Protestant Latvians (ibid.: 177-178). This is not surprising, taken into account that expressions on multiculturalism and anti-racism are guided by sectarian historical narratives, Geoghegan states in another study, on anti-racist republican and loyalist murals (2008). With one anti-racist mural being an exception, republican murals call upon anti-racism by laying parallels with experienced discrimination against the own - Catholic - community, while Loyalist murals depict loyalism as an anti-racist ideology

through references to the First and Second World War. However, connections between anti-racist initiatives of the two communities seem absent (ibid.).

McVeigh and Rolston (2007) agree with Geoghegan, that the Good Friday Agreement did not stop or transcend sectarianism, but rather has reworked and institutionalised it. To counter the pre-Agreement dominance of unionism in politics, the political system now is stooled on a balance between the two traditions. No decision can be made without a majority of votes of both Catholic and Protestant politicians. This is by the same token for the police force, which has to be fifty-fifty Protestant-Catholic. Thus, being thoroughly institutionalised, this division has remained in place (2007: 10-11).

The concept of ‘meaningful contact’ regarding community relations between

Catholics and Protestants also influences the line of thought of social policies regarding

racism (Knox 2011: 388). The between ‘good relations’ strategies and racial equality

strategies is another reflection of this (McVeigh and Rolston 2007). In practice,

however, the connection between racism and sectarianism remains a sensitive matter,

McVeigh and Rolston (2007) state. Many loyalists perceive that their side of the

Agreement was not fair. Therefore, many politicians are reluctant to cause further

alienation by pointing at loyalist’s relative high involvement in racist incidents,

McVeigh and Rolson state (ibid.: 2007). As such, in Northern Ireland, both sectarianism

and racism are dealt with inadequately. This outcome of the Good Friday Agreement,

plus the influx of migrant workers after the end of the Troubles, has led to a “context in

which new levels of racism were to flourish” (ibid.: 12). Besides the increase in

welcoming) loyalist working class areas. McVeigh and Rolston sum up what this results

in (2007: 12-13):

“[P]ost-Good Friday Agreement, new communities of colour found themselves situated in the midst of this volatile situation and became key targets for loyalist rage’. (…) as the concentration

of racist attacks in loyalist areas reveals, being sectarian is an advantage in being racist. But the

state’s approach to racism fails to name the problem, avoiding the obvious and problematic

correlation between loyalism and racism to focus on the problem being that of two generic

camps: ‘them’ and ‘us’.” [emphasis added, ZL]

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Remarks by McVeigh and Rolston (2007), such as “being sectarian is an advantage in being racist” have not thoroughly been discussed empirically, Knox points out (2011: 404). Theoretical literature suggests the inter-relatedness of racism and sectarianism through roots and expression, and the presumption that sectarianism can lead to less receptive attitudes towards ethnic minorities (ibid.). Knox tests this empirically and finds there is indeed a significant association between sectarian and racist attitudes (ibid.: 404-405). Her statistical analysis shows that people who mind a relative marrying someone of a different religion are less likely to be willing to accept a relative marrying someone from an(other) minority ethnic group, which empirically underpins McVeigh and Rolston’s theoretical reasoning (ibid.). Whereas Knox does not find a significant difference between the attitudes towards ethnic minorities of sectarian Catholics and Protestants, another study at attitudes towards immigration shows that

Catholics in Northern Ireland are significantly more likely to welcome immigrants in their social network than Protestants (Hayes and Dowds 2006: 473).

The demonstrated association between sectarianism and racism is an important factor in the context of reception of immigrants in Northern Ireland. With sectarian values and expressions still present – especially in deprived areas (Coulter 2014) – it

seems inevitable that new migrants are responded to negatively, whether because of a categorisation of migrants as siding with ‘the other community’ or not. As a majority of Polish migrants live in loyalist – sectarian Protestant - working class areas (Kempny 2010), this leads to the question if they are likely looked down upon by loyalist people because they share their Catholic religion with “the republican other”, or if it is merely about being ‘the other’. How Polish migrants interpret this question themselves, will be discussed in Chapter 7.

A study by Biggert et al (2013) in rural areas in Northern Ireland shows that all minority ethnic children feel more excluded and have a lower sense of belonging than the White, settled Northern Irish children. Despite the clear finding of exclusion, this study fails to take into account the divisive element of Northern Ireland, and treats the context in which these ethnic minority children find themselves in as one ‘White hinterland’ space.

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2.3 Polish migrants in Northern Ireland

A different take on notions of inclusion and exclusion is the study on the participation of Polish migrants in a project on shared history in Belfast (Svašek 2009). It focuses on Polish migrants’ perceptions on inclusion and exclusion rather than the experiences which have led them to this matter. More important than Svašek’s conclusions on the different ways Polish migrants reflect on Northern Ireland’s history of sectarianism and violence and their place within this, is her focus on the importance of divisive spatial dynamics and its influence on emotions (ibid.: 130):

Memories of past and present aggression influence the emotional dispositions of local residents as well as their use of space, characterised by spatial strategies that involve, 'complex mapping practices, whereby space is carved into safe and unsafe zones, where both macro and micro-territorial considerations exist, involving respectively the "other side of town" or "the other side of the street".

This take on immigrant experiences of living in a divided society is very useful to understand the dynamics of larger patterns of racialisation in the lives of people. It corresponds with Knowles’ approach of connecting what happens in the neighbourhood and the “global order of things” (2003: 8-9), which she argues is “grounded in what people do and in the ways in which the world works (ibid.9, emphasis in original).

Other research on Polish migrants in Belfast discusses notions of identity of Polish migrants in Belfast (Kempny 2010, 2013). Of notable interest is connection of religion and sectarianism and the notion of victimhood in Polish national discourse (ibid). Among others, this comes across in the sermons of a priest during Polish Sunday Mass, which depicts a fixed dichotomic division between Polish Catholics and the local Protestant community among which many Poles live (2010). Frequent references to violent acts committed by loyalist people towards Poles places Polish victimhood in the context of Northern Ireland’s sectarian conflict, and as such induces a feeling of belonging among migrants, Kempny states, "through weaving the story of the local martyrology" (ibid.: 142). Another participant in the study, however, expresses an image of the local community where they, essentialised as Catholics, are treated as out of place – drawing parallels with Douglas’ Purity and Danger (1966). There seems to be a discrepancy between the feeling of non-belonging in their everyday lives in a Protestant environment, and belonging in the conflict-full society of Northern Ireland as a whole. Kempny concludes that the contradictions found in some participants' narratives can be

explained for the different levels of people’s thinking, referring to Berger and Luckman’s observation that stereotypes are useful tools for individuals to interpret general social situations, and as such order the world (1966). In more personal interactions human thinking is more complex, leading to the deconstruction of stereotypes (Kempny 2010: 156). These conflictive stories can be seen as part of the constant search for symbol closure, described by Van de Port as “the total capture of experience in a structure of meaning” (2011: 256): to be able to make complete sense of experiences of the past, in order to build future narratives on top of them (ibid.: 176, 219).

Kempny’s work is very useful to learn more about the Polish community in Belfast. However, what makes participants express certain opinions, the experiences on which they base their narratives, remains largely unanalyzed. When quoting participants, for instance, only a brief description of this person is added, e.g. “mother of a two year-old Patryk” (Kempny 2010: 152-153), which maintains anonymity, but fails to place the participant’s words in a broader context or elaborating on the persons’ life-course and or household-position regarding the role of motherhood.

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2.4 Conclusion

This literature review identifies existing academic literature on Northern Ireland as a migratory place, and the experiences of ethnic minorities (especially Poles), and where there is room for further research. The literature in the first part indicates how understanding the experience of immigrant settlement, multiculturalism and (anti-)racism cannot must consider the sectarian, divisive character of the Northern Irish

state and society; however, the connections made to the impact that this has on the lives of immigrants, is weak. Studies which focus on immigrants’ experience of living in Northern Ireland either dismiss the influence of dynamics of division and fragile peace, or do not go beyond an almost anecdotal account of influence of sectarianist events on migrant’s lives, not taking into account the relative social and economic capital of individuals in the space of Northern Ireland. The following section will discuss the conceptual framework that arises from this literature review.

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2.5 Conceptual Framework 2.5.1 Theological fallacy and sectarianism

When discussing the conflict in Northern Ireland, there is the risk of the ‘theological fallacy’ - the idea that the conflict is predominantly about religion (McVeigh 1995). However, there is more at stake than just religion -it is a sectarian conflict. The use here of the term ‘sect’ points at the fanaticism and intolerance central to the way religion is practiced, while the concept of sectarianism includes a set of relationships involving nationality, culture, politics, ‘race’ and boundary maintenance, with religion as the key marker of identity (ibid.) McVeigh discusses theories of sectarianism, pointing to the historical development in the Irish context. Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, as the colonial relation between Britain and Ireland evolved, religion became intertwined with ethnicity and politics in Ireland (ibid.: 625-628). As such, it has become the main signifier of ethnic difference on the whole island, McVeigh states. Most salient in the six counties of Northern Ireland, ‘Protestant’ and ‘Catholicism’ are umbrella terms which can involve ethnoreligious, as well as

national, identifications. While faith and religious organisations play a role in Northern Ireland, the issues behind the conflict are not based on theological debates, but on matters such as social justice, physical security, citizenship, and cultural rights (Coulter 2014: 55). While it is important to understand the ways in which sectarianism is expressed, it is also important to underline the material realities which are at its base, Coulter stresses (ibid).

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2.5.2 Cues/embodiment

Studying the structural character of sectarianism sheds a light on how inter-community tensions are produced and reproduced both on a daily basis and

institutionally. On a daily basis, , sectarian cues – showing someone’s ethnoreligious

identity – are passed on and changed from generation to generation, and people learn how to ‘read’ this in interactions in everyday life (McVeigh 1995). These cues refer to someone’s area of residence, which schools they have attended, which football teams they support, and what other sports they practice or follow. Language also plays a role. Both first and surnames embody meaning, just like pronunciation. This ‘telling the 5

difference’ by drawing on a complex system of signifiers to tell someone’s ethnoreligious background is something everyone in Northern Ireland is involved in, Burton states, regardless of someone’s attitude towards one or the other (1978, as referred to by McVeigh 1995: 633). As McVeigh states that the function of ‘telling’ is to gain information to secure one’s own safety (ibid.), it is the question of how this relates to Polish immigrants.Moreover, it is important to note that McVeigh’s analysis dates How to say the letter ‘H’ in the alphabet is taught as ‘aitch’ at Protestant schools - like in Great Britain -

three years before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, which marked the beginning of the peace process. Therefore, the need of collecting and sharing information in first-time encounters may have decreased in some geographical or social places in Northern Ireland.

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2.5.3 Racism and sectarianism

When looking at sectarianism, other social structures and processes cannot be left out of that analysis - it is intersected with race, gender and class (Knowles 2003, Alexander and Knowles 2005). Racism and sectarianism, in particular, share many similarities.Both includes processes of ‘othering’, the prevalence of discrimination and violence and the feature of unequal power relationships (Knowles 2003, McVeigh 1995). Racism exceeds the narrow interpretation of having to be centred around the importance of people’s phenotypes, as studies on negotiations of whiteness show (Garner 2007, Parutis 2011, Roediger 2005). Although frequently seen as different phenomena in the Northern Irish public debate, McVeigh and Rolston consider sectarianism as a form of racism, with ethnoreligious markers of difference (2007). However, ethnic minorities in Northern Ireland experience discrimination differently, as it comes from the white majority, which consists of both Catholic and Protestant communities (ibid.: 188).

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2.5.4 Integration and the neighbourhood

As will become evident in the findings, the neighbourhood is a meaningful setting for social integration and social cohesion for some migrants, but insignificant for

others. For whom does the neighbourhood matter, and what is the significance of personal relations within this residential area? To answer this question , other factors of opportunity and constraints have to be taken into account, including individuals’ social positioning, as Forrest and Kearns derive from Fischer (1982). To sum it up, in Fischer’s words: (Fischer 1982: 253, cited in Forrest and Kearns 2001: 2136):

(….) people’s position in the social structure- their educational and financial resources, status in the labour force, ethnic membership, family commitments, residential locations, and so on- expose them to varying opportunities for forming personal relations and provide them with varying means for taking advantage of those opportunities.”

The time spent in the neighbourhood seems likely to play a role in the importance of the neighbourhood in people’s social network – making social cohesion at a neighbourhood level stronger.

However, the existence of socially cohesive neighbourhoods does not necessarily translate into social cohesion at a larger city or regional level. Neighbourhoods in a city could be socially cohesive themselves but more and more divided between each other. Forrest and Kairns describe this situation, which seems very applicable to Northern Ireland (ibid.: 2134):

“There may be ethnic or religion-based cohesive communities living side-by-side. In such circumstances, the stronger the ties which bind such communities the greater may be the social, racial or religious conflict between them. Social cohesion at the neighbourhood level is therefore by no means unambiguously a good thing.”

This points at the complexity of the relationship between wider societal cohesion and that of local communities. Robust and deep-rooted neighbourhood networks could be situated in a wider unbalanced or unstable and conflict-rich social structure. On the other hand, these phenomena cannot be discussed separately, Forrest and Kearns stress the neighbourhood can play an important role in how people are socialised into the

wider social order (ibid.). This happens through internal dynamics, as well as and through external perceptions from residents from other neighbourhoods and the actions of institutions and agencies such as the housing executive or the police. (ibid.).

3. METHODOLOGY

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3.1 Narrative research and phenomenology

In order to answer the research question how Polish immigrants experience the process of settling down in Northern Ireland, this thesis is based on narrative research. Narrative is the everyday practice of storytelling, in which the storyteller voices experiences or events and as such puts forward its significances (Lewis and Adeney 2014: 163). To gain an understanding of the process of immigration, rather than simply focusing on how an immigrant perceives her or his situation on the given moment of research, the method chosen is narrative inquiry [need more references]. Narrative inquiry, as opposed to narrative analysis, does not attach fixed meanings to a text but takes into account the meanings that are brought by readers or listeners to the text and acknowledges the fluidity of stories (ibid.: 162). It enables to gain an understanding of matters which are important to people but which might be overlooked when they using deductive methods. Lewis and Adeney explain (2014: 166):

“Narrative inquiry often concerns itself with notions of social change; the work is possessed with the potential to raise awareness and questions around practices, both institutional and every day, that are taken for granted; studying what is unremarkable, routine and ordinary.”

As Connelly and Clandinin stress in their piece on narrative inquiry from 2006, “narrative inquirers structure a self-narrative through living, telling, re-telling and reliving” (Lewis and Adeney 2014: 163). This can be approached both through open interviews in which participants who tell their story, or through participant observation in order to begin unfolding the participants’ lives (ibid.: 162).

to grasp the meanings that people attach to phenomena. Madison describes the advantages of a phenomenological approach as such (2006: 4-5):

“Phenomenological approaches endeavour to comprehend the full experience of an individual life by making ‘a methodological discipline of the everyday communicative experience of understanding oneself and others,' (Habermas, 1972: 163) (…) not as some fixed perception to be studied objectively, but as forward moving understandings, obscuring and clarifying moment by moment”. As such, in-depth interviews in which participants share their narratives provide the opportunity for a retrospective reflection of someone’s lived experience (Polkinghorne 1989).

In a life story one tries to make sense of his or her life. A coherent narration of the self is constructed, showing, as Bryman puts it (2012: 489): “(…) a clear commitment to the processual aspects of social life, showing how events unfold and interrelate in people’s life”. The quality of the biographic narrative interpretive method, as Wengraf (2004) calls it, is its potential as a foundation for grounded theories on the topic addressed.

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3. 2 Open interviews

This study is based on in-depth open interviews with 19 Polish nationals who have migrated to Northern Ireland and who resided in Northern Ireland at the moment of research (January and February of 2015). As the aim of this study is to gain an understanding of experiences of Polish migrants over a longer period of time - from the moment they decide to go to Northern Ireland to their expectations of the future – conducting reflective narratives proves an effective method of data gathering. As such, the thesis is based on analysis of these life stories. Each interview started with the same

opening question:

Could you tell me how your life has changed since you have moved from Poland to Northern Ireland?

This open question ensured an interview in which the participant could reflect on aspects which matter for how his or her life has unfold since arriving in Northern Ireland. Follow up questions followed the course of the conversation, sometimes with questions depicting at reflection added such as “Could you tell me about your first impressions of Northern Ireland” – which would also prompt for observations of matters which have changed and therefore give an insight in the processual character of integration.

When I reflected on the first five interviews, I decided to add a topic list. This because the balance between keeping on asking on relevant themes and directing towards certain answers is fragile. While this research is bound to find out how it matters for a Polish migrant to live in a highly segregated, post-conflict society, it is of crucial importance to first get to know if it matters at all – and secondly: if not, why not. This topic list set off the initial way of maintaining this balance, which was based on my intuition, checked by constant self-reflection. From now on, half way through the interview when the natural course of following up questions came to an end, the participant got to read the topic list. The participant was welcome to discuss any of these matters, if at any all, which he or she felt were of importance in his or her life and which had not been talked about yet or on which he or she wished to elaborate. The participant would not discuss all topics, only those meaningful to the participant.

‘immigratory’ or Polish ‘emigratory’ experiences: and contained the following topics: Neighbourhood, housing, neighbours

Language Work

Social network Education Religion

Safety and discrimination Family

Leisure activities

Politics and history in Northern Ireland Politics and history in Poland

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This method proved fruitful, since it not only shone a light on the saliency of certain topics but also the different meanings they contain. For some migrants the topic religion did not hold any meaning at all, for instance, while others interpreted it in a strictly personal way and some saw it as a lead to talk about their position as a Catholic person in a social space marked by the ethnoreligious conflict between Protestant and Catholic communities.

At the end of the interview, which took between one and two hours, the participant was encouraged to talk about anything else which came to mind and to ask any questions to me as a researcher. Two questions were posed frequently, which continued the length of the interview: why had I chosen this topic, and what are my findings so far?

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3.3 Location of the participants

Most of the fieldwork took place in Belfast, where most Polish migrants live. Moreover, the high numbers of activities organised in Belfast for or by ethnic minorities

contributed to accessibility. 17 of the 19 participants live in Belfast, with some having lived in other towns in Northern Ireland before: Bangor, Moira and Derry/Londonderry. The other two participants lived in Derry/Londonderry and Bangor. Participants could choose the location of the interview themselves. As such, most took place in a café in the city centre or the university area in Belfast, with three interviews conducted at people’s home and two at work. During the interviews at home sometimes family members joined. The location of these interviews might have had a positive influence on the rapport, as they took place in people’s own, safe environment.

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3.4 Additional activities

On top of conducting interviews I have attended additional activities when possible. This did not deliberately serve to gather data through participant observation, 6

which was out of scope of this research because of the limited time available for fieldwork. The goals were more indirect: 1. to gain insight in the social activities organised by and for Northern Ireland´s ethnic minority population 2. to see what is happening in the civil society with regard to Northern Ireland’s ethnic minority population, 3. to find more participants, whether directly or through snowball sampling and 4. to exchange ideas with and learn from other people working in the field of migration, integration and conflict prevention in the Northern Irish setting.

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Most notable activities were: joining an participant in his English class provided by a Protestant church,

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repeatedly visiting weekly social gatherings in two cafés in Belfast where new inhabitants of the city and anyone who wishes to make new friendships are welcome for a chat and a cup of coffee, participating in workshops on hate crimeness.

3.5 Field access and sampling

To be able to describe different patterns in Polish migrants’ experiences, it has been the goal to capture as much diversity in participants as possible. The reason for this was rigor rather than generalizability. As such, the sample consists of Polish people who have been in Northern Ireland for different length of times (from two till ten years), who have different ages (early twenties to early fifties), and are in different life-stages and household formations (from single and living alone to students in shared accommodation and parents living with their partner and children). The participants have different class positionings, as expressed through level of education, type of job and area of residence and are involved in the Polish community to different extends. Ideally, the sample would have been balanced with a fair share of male and female participants. However, it turned out to be easier to get in touch with women, both through other contacts and through impersonal inquiries on online social network pages. Perhaps this says something about a gendered willingness to talk about one’s own life: despite attempts to reach a gender balance by looking for extra male participants, the final sample consisted of 5 male and 14 female participants. This imbalance has been taken into account when analyzing the data.

I gained access to the field through participating in events organised by the civil society throughout Northern Ireland, via online groups for international people in Belfast on the social networking website Facebook and via a Polish connection of my in Northern Ireland residing supervisor. Snowball sampling method led me from initial participants to a range of other participants: colleagues, housemates, friends and family. As most participants were thinking along with me about what other people would be

useful to speak with, their colleagues, friends have introduced me to other Polish migrants. While getting access to migrant support organisations via e-mail was more challenging, the method of getting to know migrant support workers personally through participating in events resulted in numerous interviews with Polish migrants working in this sector themselves. Many participants brought me into contact with other people they thought would be interesting for me to interview – sometimes people I had already spoken with. Especially those migrants who had been living in Northern Ireland for around ten years turned out to know each other: this shows how small the circle is of active ‘older generation migrants’ as they called themselves in the Polish community.

Although these people often have not encountered the problems of their clients – also Polish migrants – personally, their knowledge about the broader Polish community and personal reflexivity regarding this was insightful. The participants found through online social network pages formed a more diverse group than these migrant support workers.

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3.6 Language and insider/outsider position

As I do not speak any Polish, and time and resources prevented me from finding an interpreter, the sample was limited to English-speaking Poles. This resulted in a sample bias, most notable excluding people who had just moved to Northern Ireland or who are completely immersed in a Polish social network and have not acquired any English during their stay in Northern Ireland. However, English speaking Poles might be more ‘aware’ of their position in the migrant community, McDermott suggests: his English speaking participants often played an central role in their migrant community,

as a cultural broker who could fill the researcher in on experiences of non-bilingual migrants (2012: 190).

Coming from the Netherlands, I am no part of any national or ethnoreligious community discussed in the interviews. As such, participants could freely speak about other Polish migrants and inhabitants of Northern Ireland – which they often did. Moreover, I believe not being an insider enhances the ability to observe closely. This leads me to the believe that my outsider status was contributing to the research. Moreover, having lived abroad for the last year and a half myself I could share some migratory experiences which contributed to a relation of rapport.

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3.7 Data analysis

All interviews have been recorded, transcribed and coded with coding program ATLAS.ti. Starting from the topic list used during the interviews, the coding was used to ‘break down’ the participants’ narratives and to find patterns and aspects which could account for different experiences. However, most of the analysis took place during the writing process.

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3.8 Ethics

All participants agreed to take part in the research voluntarily and have read and signed a consent form which informed them about the research. As doing social research means to use people’s stories to produce knowledge, it is important to be aware of the possible harm that this might cause participants, even with informed consent. All participants indicated to wish to receive the thesis the thesis, which shows their

enthusiasm of taking part in this research. However, psychological harm cannot be excluded, as it might be confrontational or uncomfortable for participants to read about their own lives. As it is unknown what the reach of this research will be, making them anonymous will prevent any social harm. During the whole research process it has been important to think about narrative privilege: will my participants have the possibility to read and comprehend what has been written? Is it fair if that is not the case?

Despite these ethical concerns, there are no reasons to believe that the conducting of interviews as such has done any harm. All participants were helpful, whether expressed through stating the possibility to always come back to them for more questions or through connecting me with other (possible) participants. Also, reflecting on the rapport during the interviews and the fact that most interviews were closed with a ‘chatty’ conversation shows their willingness to take part. Even when talking about sensitive or unpleasant topics, the openness of the participants to share their stories – sometimes even right after the start of the interview – makes me grateful and feel even more responsible for a delicate treatment of the gathered data.

PART II

In the following chapters, the narratives of the participants will be explored. These narratives will be presented along the lines of four thematic questions that came to the fore in the interviews, and which reflected the questions which arose as the migrants made their way in a new and strange land. In the fourth chapter of this thesis, the participants’ reflections upon their arrival in a new and ethnoreligiously divided place will be discussed, while paying particular attention to their initial experiences when discovering Ireland’s violent past. Here, their experiences when adapting to the new environment, and the participants’ reflections on their place of living are presented. The chapter captures participants’ reflections on the question ‘Where am I?’. The fifth chapter will discuss the participants’ narratives of how they position themselves within the Northern Irish conflict. This chapter covers the broader question ‘Am I part of this?’, which was mainly discussed in participants’ descriptions of their experiences during the marching season, within religiously affiliated educational institutions and, perhaps most strikingly, the participants’ experiences with anti-immigrant hate crime. Chapter six addresses the question ‘Where am I going?’, and describes immigrants’ imaginations of themselves of as increasingly permanent migrants and the perspectives they have for the social mobility of themselves and their children. This section will bring to the fore the role of good social contacts in migrants’ willingness to stay in the receiving country, but also the importance of making a final decision about permanency. Finally, migrants’ children play an important role in shaping parents’ perspectives of belonging in Northern Ireland. 


4. WHERE AM I?

“Two things. I think the weather was actually the main culture shock for me. The other

thing was, still the conflict between Catholics and Protestants.” (Wojtek)

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4.1 Introduction

The major motivation for Polish emigrants to live abroad is work, whether because of a job itself, better career possibilities or higher wages. The selection of where one emigrates to is often made pragmatically. Common reasons are pre-existing personal connections at or the language of the place of destination. This entails that except for a lead of what work sector an emigrant might end up working in, more specific expectations prevail. The majority of the Polish migrants who participated in this research came to Northern Ireland with the first step already made - either a recruitment agency had a job ready for them or an acquaintance, friend or family member would provide support with finding work and/or accommodation. Despite the prevalence of chain migration, few had concrete ideas about how their lives would unfold. As Wojtek, one of the participants, puts it: “Most of the [Polish] migrants move, escape, go abroad, after joining the European Union.” To speak in Bourdieusian terms, after arriving, the ease with which these people have found a place to live and work and start to gain an understanding of their surroundings depends on their social, economic and cultural capital. In this case, social capital refers to the skills to become surrounded by people who can support the migrant not only practically but also regarding the sharing of useful knowledge on the migrant’s new society. Economic capital is a major determinant in the selection of place of residence and the possibility for mobility later

on. Concerning cultural capital, it appears that not only language skills mater; that is, the initial knowledge of English, the ability to put it into practice, as well as understanding of local accents. The ‘cultural sensitivity’ of understanding the Northern Irish situation has also to be taken into account. Most migrants were surprised when they discovered or even experienced Northern Ireland’s violent history’s saliency in daily life, including those migrants who already had previous knowledge of and/or interest in it. Polish migrants gain this understanding in a more or lesser extent through cultural brokers such as colleagues who tell stories, explain events or experiences or provide “guidelines” to situations migrants are puzzled about. The common used descriptor ‘different’ or ‘specific’ seems to refer to a complex set of relations in which people in society a) respond to a rise in immigration b) are optimistic about good community relations, fifteen years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement and c) are met with segregation along ethno-national lines in many areas of life, such as education, work and area of residence.

Below are a few comments of participants in which they use these descriptive terms: “Belfast is different because of the Troubles, with the past all the time, and really everything, a mixture of people which are welcoming and who are really hostile. And they even don't know why they are hostile. (…..) It's a very specific place for specific people.” (Klaudia)

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“Belfast and Northern Ireland are really specific kind of places, peculiar (…..) Just generally, just different, even than Europe, even maybe than say the rest of the UK, this is certainly different than anything else. But definitely specific and in that sense that it's a small town, and it has its history.” (Agata)

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“Northern Ireland is a really good place to live, at the same time it's - here is very specific in terms of Community Relationships. You have to have at least a limited level of knowledge about what is happening here and what has happened here and what sort of community dynamics are there on the ground, to be able to survive and to have a normal life.” (Wojtek)

The first steps Polish migrants take in this social space and their reflections on this indicates that there is no one single pathway of integration - just as there is no one single peace process, or one single Northern Irish society (Coulter and Shirlow 2014). With class divisions becoming sharper, the initial experiences of Polish migrants depend more than anything on what strata of society they arrive into. However, what is also of importance is the life-stage and the household or family position of the individual migrant (King et al. 2006). To unravel how Polish migrants gain an understanding of how the particularities of Northern Ireland provide an extra layer to their general immigration and integration trajectories, this first data analysis chapter looks at how migrants become passively aware of the – direct or indirect – legacy of the Troubles. This takes place through the stories of other people, local and Polish, and through personal observations. The second chapter is an examination of how Polish migrants transition from observers to participants of Northern Ireland’s divided society.

4.2 Traces of the Troubles

When Krystian decided to leave Poland, he followed his cousin to Belfast. Emigrating right after finishing high school, his pathway of integrating in the Northern Irish society is very much akin to the process of coming of age:

“Essentially from [being] a young adult, if I can even say that, with a lot of fears, worries and complexes of “I am a foreigner, I am Polish in a different country”, now I can say that in seven years, maybe [I have become] an adult young man who knows his values more or less”.

These fears he speaks about are mainly centred on the issue of language. During his early years in the country he experienced difficulty with understanding Northern Ireland’s different accents which had an impact on his self-confidence. The ‘syndrome

of the migrant’, as he calls it:

“You're afraid to speak up, to say whatever you may think because you don't think that your English will be as good as [that] from the natives. You're also a bit worried - I would be - of my accent sounding foreign”.

On his journey to overcome his ‘syndrome’ Krystian speaks with a multitude of people he meets at his jobs and university. Krystian is struck by the divided worlds people live in. He names the separate worlds that Catholic and Protestant people in Belfast can live in:

“[You find] a trace of the Troubles whenever you meet people which are Catholic and Protestant, in their forties or fifties, and haven't been to the other part of Belfast, despite the Troubles are over, they haven't been for so many years, never, to the other part of the city. The city they are from.”

This wonderment resembles the feeling Ania, who works at a migrant support organisation in Derry/Londonderry, felt after observing the rigid border between the Catholic and Protestant parts of this city. After having studied about Northern Ireland’s history in Poland, Ania came to Derry/Londonderry ten years ago for the first time. Alongside the culture shock of barely finding any fresh vegetables in supermarkets, the hardest thing in the first weeks was understanding the local slang - especially if people already had drank a pint or two. However, soon she started to learn about the divided nature of the city:

“(…) stories of you should not walk across the bridge, you should take a bus or a taxi, or you shouldn't go there, you shouldn't do this, or you shouldn't say that, and with Derry being called Londonderry depending who you talk to, and those kind of things.”

Ania had not expected the situation still to be like this, she says:

“I was reading about it and was like; “can't be true, this can't be right”. I came and yes, it was right.”

However, she stresses that small things have changed for the better in these ten years, for example she spoke a new walkway along the quay: