‘When I think home I think family here and there’: translocal and social ideas of home in narratives of migrant children and young people

Moskal, M. (2015) ‘When I think home I think family here and there’: translocal and social ideas of home in narratives of migrant children and young people. Geoforum, 58, pp. 143-152. (doi: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2014.11.011)

Abstract

This paper offers theoretically informed empirical insights into migrant children’s experiences of mobility and home. Drawing on research into the first-generation children of Polish labour migrants in Scotland, the paper explores the meanings that children attach to home and other specific places. In particular, it focuses on questions of the translocal and social nature of migrant children’s sense of place and construction of home. The spoken narratives, subjective maps and drawings analysed here reflect children’s multiple and intersecting relationships and identifications, with both their country of origin and the host country, in addition to how their notion of home is grounded in social attachments. Emphasising the continuing importance of ‘place’ in migrant children and young people’s everyday experiences, the research concludes that subjective homemaking practices are just as important as objective educational attainment and other traditional social indicators in providing an understanding of the outcomes of migrant settlement. It also suggests that there is an emerging translocal identity among some young Polish migrants, whose changing understanding of home incorporates images and emotions from both their locality of origin and their current place of residence.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Geoforum. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Geoforum, [58, (2015)] http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2014.11.011
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Moskal, Dr Marta
• Authors: Moskal, M.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Education > Social Justice Place and Lifelong Education; College of Social Sciences > School of Education > Culture, Literacies, Inclusion & Pedagogy
• Journal Name: Geoforum
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 0016-7185
• ISSN (Online): 1872-9398
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
• First Published: First published in Geoforum 58:143-152
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher