Migration and (Im)Mobility: Biographical Experiences of Polish Migrants in Germany and Canada

Abstract

In her endeavour to overcome the established methodological, conceptual, and empirical dualism of mobility and migration, the author develops a "mobilities perspective" by combining migration studies theories with approaches of the mobility studies. With the help of rich empirical data gathered among young adults of Polish heritage in Germany and Canada, she conceptualizes three patterns of (im)mobility which illustrate the diversity of immigrants' geographical movements after their initial migration. She thus reveals the different social configurations promoting or hindering the development, maintenance or shifting of each pattern in migrants' biographical trajectories.