Kamila Fiałkowska

• PhD
• Professor (Assistant) at University of Warsaw

Since the early 1990s, large numbers of Polish Roma have emigrated, mainly to Germany and Great Britain. Unlike the migration of Polish (non-Roma) citizens there was an intriguing silence regarding the migration of this ethnic group. The absence of Roma in the grand narrative of migrations from Poland, as we argue, suggests that the notion of belon...

Hundreds of thousands of forced migrants from Ukraine have arrived in Poland and other countries following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Their smooth reception in the host countries did not obscure the fact that Ukrainian Roma were among those who did not receive the same welcome. In this chapter, the authors use Elias and Scotson’s mode...

The article focuses on a lesser-known aspect of the history of Polish migration to Sweden, considering the consequences of the 1981 pogrom in Oświęcim, which resulted in the eviction of a group of Polish Roma from Poland and their simultaneous deprivation of {Polish citizenship. This littleknown migration episode, analysed using documents gathered...

This article is a review of Karolina Bielenin-Lenczowska’s book Koloniści z Rio Claro: Społeczno-językowe światy polskich osadników w południowej Brazylii [Colonists of Rio Claro: Socio-Linguistic Worlds of Polish Settlers in Southern Brazil], published in 2024 by słowo/obraz terytoria; ISBN: 978-83-8325-092-2.

This article, authored by a group of Romani and non-Romani academics, examines the assumptions behind researching Romani communities in Poland. Current Romani studies in Poland are often limited by a colonial essentialist paradigm, perpetuating stereotypes and excluding Romani history from the broader Polish narrative. We argue that as knowledge pr...

Roma ethnicity presents scholars with plenty of conceptual and methodological challenges, which in the light of the increased mobility of that largest European minority after EU enlargements has additionally perplexed academics and policymakers alike. This article presents our fieldwork data derived from encounters and conversations with Roma indiv...

Over a year into the COVID-19 pandemic (we write this chapter in late summer 2021), it is now obvious that the pandemic has affected us all, but not to the same extent. Many of the ongoing policy and social debates have revolved around the issues of mobilities and immobilities: why we move, why we should not move, who can move, who should stay in p...

The Polish chronicles focus on the experiences of Polish Roma living in Poland, Britain, and Germany as they navigated, negotiated, and resisted mobility restrictions during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic. While not essentially different from non-Roma Poles in their abilities to resist hostile migration regimes, Roma, due to their disadv...

This paper, based on ethnographic fieldwork the authors conducted among seasonal migrant farmworkers in Poland, discusses the impact of the COVID-19 fast track solutions adopted in the sector on the general situation of migrant farmworkers in agriculture. Based on the evidence from the field as well as policy analysis conducted in recent months, we...

In this issue, two CMR members who have been conducting research at the Polish-Belarusian border reflect on how research in crisis situations should be done. Mateusz Krępa and dr Kamila Fiałkowska are part of the Researchers at the Border collective, constituted to facilitate the collaboration of researchers covering the ongoing humanitarian crisis...

This paper focuses on the occupational safety and health (OSH) of migrant farmworkers in two quite distinct socio-political contexts: Polish farmworkers in Germany and Ukrainian farmworkers in Poland. The authors apply the structural vulnerability concept to shed light on structural factors influencing migrants’ vulnerabilities in the workplace and...

The article discusses the case of academic silence with regards to the migration of Roma from Poland – both in Polish Romani studies and in migration studies. The absence of Romani migration in migration research in Poland is contrasted with the absence of the subject of migration in Romani studies, offering a glimpse into fundamental assumptions,...

This chapter explores comparatively two cases of Polish labour migration in two different national and rural contexts of migration. We draw on ethnographic data from two projects which respectively looked at a once widely popular seasonal migration by Polish workers in German agriculture, and a more recent non-seasonal migration to the Norwegian sa...

Introduction: pandemics, community life and cyberspace Historically speaking, epidemics and pandemics have always impacted culture, the economy, modes of governance and – since the association of the disease with death – religion. In this respect, Covid-19 appears as no different than for instance the mediaeval Black Death which has been deeply imp...

The almost immediate closing of the borders in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in panic mobility of those returning home to Bulgaria, Moldova, Poland, Romania and Ukraine. Many of them work in so-called unskilled jobs (which usually ties in with low wages, long hours of work, high precarity due to often informal work arrangements, and ma...

To date, the literature on gender and migration continues a longstanding bias towards female over male experiences. Similarly, research on Polish post-EU accession emigration has not sufficiently addressed the male experiences of migration. Drawing on 20 interviews with migrant men, this paper contributes to the existing research on the variety of...

Until recently, the migration of Polish Roma has not been a subject of an academic inquiry. This article aim is to shed light on some issues related to transnational living and identity of Polish Roma in anthropological perspective1. The findings of our research suggest that Roma migrations from Poland are not categorically different from non-Roma...

ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE MIGRATION OF POLISH ROMA: FILLING THE GAP IN THE MIGRATION AND ROMA STUDIES The article discusses the main findings of a two-year long pioneering research project on Roma migration from three localities in Poland (Czarna Góra, Mława and Nowa Huta) to the UK. The authors notice the peculiar academic silence around migration of Ro...

Seasonal migration from Poland to Germany has a long history, yet, there has been a lack of research which would discuss the perpetuating seasonal migration and its entanglements with the family relations. Drawing from the research on seasonal migrants in Germany and in the local community in Poland I look at the situation of male migrants and thei...

This chapter* explores the relationship between masculinity, migration-related issues and super-diversity (Vertovec, 2007), with Polish migrants in the UK as a case study. The research question refers to how being a man shapes the migratory experience of migrants who come from a considerably more conservative and patriarchal society and now live in...

This report presents the main findings from a research project which explored international migration of Polish Roma since 1989. For many observers it may come as a surprise that a group stereotypically associated with mobility and nomadic lifestyle has never been the subject of interest from Polish migration scholars. Also, despite its rich tradit...

The relationship between masculinity and migration is attracting growing academic attention. However, the scope for investigation is vast, given the fact that in the existing research the gender–migration nexus has to date been largely female and/or family oriented. In the context of emigration from Poland after 2004, a plethora of studies concerni...

Konwencjonalne wyobrażenie o migracjach tradycyjnie niesie ze sobą przekonanie o pojedynczej zmianie miejsca zmaieszkania i osiedleniu w nowym miejscu. Jest ono jednak w coraz większym stopniu podeażane przez rosnące znaczenie migracji międzynaroodwych zasługujących na miano "czasowych". Charakteryzują się one różna długością oraz sąnaznaczone prze...

Not all migrants from Poland are ethnic Poles – in fact, this is one frequently held misconception in migration studies. National or ethnic minorities from a given country also migrate and their mobility patterns, settlement, transnational living may be different from the majority population – take the example of the migration of Germans from Roman...

Not all migrants from Poland are ethnic Poles – in fact, this is one frequently held misconception in migration studies. National or ethnic minorities from a given country also migrate and their mobility patterns, settlement, transnational living may be different from the majority population – take the example of the migration of Germans from Roman...

This article discusses the phenomenon of academic silence in regard to Romani migration from Poland—both in Polish Romani studies and in migration studies. The absence of the subject of Romani migration in migration research in Poland is contrasted with the absence of the subject of migration in Romani studies. Paradoxically, the group most associa...

The article discusses the case of academic silence around migration of Roma from Poland – both in Polish Romani studies (romology) and migration studies. The absence of Roma migration in migration research in Poland is contrasted with the absence of the subject of migration in Romani studies. Paradoxically, the group associated in the social imagin...

In the plethora of studies on post-1989 and especially the post emigration from Poland, Polish Roma migrants have been remarkably absent. Also only recently we can observe the growing interest in research of the religious life of Polish migrants abroad. Filling that scholarly gap we shed light on the religious continuity and change (conversions) of...

Książka jest owocem przeprowadzonych w Polsce i w Niemczech badań terenowych. Autorzy, naukowcy z Polski i Niemiec, zatrudnili się jako pracownicy sezonowi w niemieckich gospodarstwach rolnych. W ramach obserwacji uczestniczącej zbadali sytuację życiową polskich pracowników. Przeprowadzili również wywiady z bliskimi pracujących w Niemczech, z naucz...

This article reviews seasonal migration from Poland to Germany from the perspective of functioning of the Polish-German agreement on seasonal work. The title calls for attention to two issues – firstly, the new agreement which was – as compared to other signed by EU member states with third countries – of outstanding relevance due to the scale of m...

Ausgerüstet mit Tütensuppen und Schmerzmitteln begeben sich Jahr für Jahr polnische Erntehelfer nach Deutschland. Welche Beweggründe sie veranlassen und wie sie ihren Arbeitsalltag organisieren, ist in Deutschland kaum bekannt. Dieses Buch dokumentiert eine ethnografische Forschung, in der polnische und deutsche Wissenschaftler die Lebenswelt der S...