The Church and Mobility: Dealing with the Exclusion of Eastern European Migrants in Rural Scotland

Abstract

The paper explores theoretical and practical issues related to mobility and integration of Eastern European migrants in rural Scotland. Regionalized structure of socio-political organizations and dominant ‘sedentary’ thinking (Cresswell, 2001) often lead to exclusion of Eastern European migrants in the British countryside. The church and other key rural institutions often do not take into account complex mobility practices of migrants including affective relationships with existing immigrant communities, family support strategies, unpredictable travelling behaviour and cross-border social links. To address this gap, the paper, first, considers opportunities within the church to attend to affective dimension of movement in order to facilitate migrants’ inclusion in the rural communities. Second, the paper argues for development of pro-mobility thinking within the church and other rural institutions which appreciates different forms of movement and empowers marginalized itinerant groups. It concludes with theoretically informed observations about the new ways of conceptualizing ‘mobility’ and ‘integration’ of Eastern European migrants in the British rural communities.