Migration and Immobility ― Biographical Experiences of Polish Migrants in Germany and Canada

In her endeavour to overcome the established methodological, conceptual, and empirical dualism of mobility and migration, Anna Xymena Wieczorek develops a “mobilities perspective” by combining migration studies theories with approaches from mobility studies. With the help of rich empirical data gathered among young adults of Polish heritage in Germany and Canada, Wieczorek conceptualizes three patterns of (im)mobility that illustrate the diversity of immigrants’ geographical movements after their initial migration. She thus reveals the different social configurations promoting or hindering the development, maintenance, or shifting of each pattern in migrants’ biographical trajectories.

Anna Xymena Wieczorek obtained her PhD in sociology within the International Research Training Group "Diversity: Mediating Difference in Transcultural Spaces" at the University of Trier. Her research project included several stays abroad at the collaborating Universite de Montreal as well as in Toronto and Berlin for field activities. Her research interests are migration, mobility and transnational studies as well as cultural, diversity and gender studies.