Negotiated belonging

Abstract

The chapter provides an overview of the practices and strategies of three migrant communities in Poland (Vietnamese, Muslim, and Ukrainian) that negotiate their belonging to urban space through their religious institutions. It shows how pagodas, mosques, and Orthodox and Greek Catholic churches become loci of debates and conflicts focused on belonging to and exclusion from the metropolitan setting of Warsaw; the Polish society and politics; and the broader category of Europe. Overall, the chapter shows the double role of migrant religious institutions. On the one hand, they deviate from the homogenous scenery dominated by the omnipresence of the Roman Catholic Church and contribute to the alleged “otherness” of migrants. On the other hand, as we argue, exposing the cultural diversity of migrants contributes to the heterogenization of the society and therefore is perceived as an asset of the “Europeanization” of Poland.