Anchors and thresholds in the formation of a transnational sense of belonging of migrant children in Poland

ABSTRACT

The formation of the sense of belonging is a lifelong process, which has no precise patterns and depends on individual experiences and feelings. For migrant children, it becomes central during transnational transitions and socialisation. To study the anchors and thresholds that shape a transnational sense of belonging of migrant children in Poland, this paper adopts the concept of social anchoring proposed by Grzymała-Kazłowska [2016. “Social Anchoring: Immigrant Identity, Security and Integration Reconnected?.” Sociology 50 (6): 1123–1139]. The study derives from child-centred qualitative research with migrant children, their parents and their teachers. The analysis introduces the four dimensions of belonging formation, namely the formal, social, emotional and symbolic, which determine how migrant schoolchildren negotiate their sense of belonging during transnational transitions. This research stresses the significance of all four dimensions for children's socialisation and underlines that belonging becomes key in children's wellbeing and sets the priorities in multiple spheres, like education, friendship, interests, leisure, or future life plans.

KEYWORDS:

• A transnational sense of belonging
• social anchors
• thresholds
• migrant children
• transnational transition

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank all the interviewees for their participation in the research. The author also thanks the reviewers for their insightful comments. Besides, the author wishes to thank Dr hab. Paula Pustułka and Dr hab. Aleksandra Grzymała-Kazłowska for their useful comments on the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Note that this article reveals the issues of children's belonging formation prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and distance learning. Therefore, the pandemic issues were not included in the analysis. However, they are addressed in our other articles.

2 The two state programmes provide families with children 500 PLN per child/month, and 300 PLN for schoolchildren at the beginning of each school year

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by National Science Center Poland [grant number 2019/35/N/HS6/03682] and University SWPS [grant number SUB/INS/2019/24].