Do we need other “posts” in migration studies? Polish migration to the UK through a postdependence lens

Abstract

In this paper, I discuss postdependence as a compelling new lens to study Polish migration to the UK and Poland as a migratory context. Revisiting existing critiques, I argue that neither postcolonialism nor postsocialism sufficiently reflects on the complicated geo‐historical situatedness of Poland and its distinctive migratory circumstances. Postdependence, on the other hand, advocated by Central and East European scholars, opens up new avenues for exploring dependence, oppression, and the politics of difference, offering a decolonial perspective on migration from/to/within the area. In the paper, I draw on a study of encounters with difference conducted with Polish nationals in England and Poland. In this study, participants utilised orientalist and essentialist discourses to make sense of sameness and difference, and to reflect on England and Poland. I propose that the employment and circulation of such discourses should be understood and explored against the overarching framework of postdependence. In doing so, I address a wider question of whether new conceptual frameworks (new “posts”) are needed and why. The paper contributes to the fast‐growing body of work on East–West migration in Europe and the emerging scholarship on decolonising migration studies.