Скачать или смотреть ‘Brexit’, Eastern Europeans and tactics of belonging (Russell King)

Paper presented by Russell King (University of Sussex and University of Malmö) - co-authored by Aija Lulle (University of Sussex and University of Eastern Finland) - at 'The spectre of ‘Brexit’: Free movement and European citizenship in question' seminar. Part of the research seminar series 'A sociology of "Brexit": citizenship, belonging and mobility in the context of the British referendum on EU membership', funded by The Sociological Review Foundation.

Seminar abstract:

The upcoming referendum on whether the United Kingdom should remain a member of the European Union is one of great social significance, yet sociological research has not engaged with the question in any depth. This one-day seminar attempts to fill this gap by debating the observable and expected consequences of a radically changed relationship between the UK and the EU, focusing specifically on those whose lives are most directly affected by the referendum and the spectre of ‘Brexit’: EU citizens living in Britain, and British citizens living in other EU countries. Scholarly contributions to the seminar will discuss the experiences of such ‘mobile citizens’, and citizenship will be the core theoretical concept addressed in the context of the anticipation and possible outcomes of the EU referendum.

Presentation abstract:

This paper is a critical exemplification of the concepts of ‘liquid migration’ and migrant political agency, based on new empirical research on young-adult Eastern Europeans who have migrated to Great Britain since 2004. Against the backdrop of ‘Brexit’, we interrogate one of the defining characteristics of what has been called ‘liquid migration’ – its ‘intentional unpredictability’, meant as intentional openness to future migration trajectories under the open border regime – and further develop its linkages to the tactics and temporality of migrant agency. Our research data derive from two sources. The first is netnography – analysis of English, Russian and Latvian language blogging and social networking sites where Eastern Europeans have been advising each other on the issue of the referendum. Through critical discourse analysis of netnographic material we reveal migrants’ own conceptions of their positionality, preparedness for future uncertainties and tactical (voice-less) struggle to prove their belongingness to Great Britain. Our second source of data is an ongoing interview survey of 60 Eastern Europeans (Latvians, Slovakians, Romanians) aged 18–35 living in London and the South-East Region. The respondents are equally divided between students, high-qualified (graduate-level) workers and lower-skilled workers. From the interview transcripts and from off-the-record conversations, we will apply the same discourse-analytic and thematic approach as for the netnography. Through this dual-method analysis we aim to contribute novel understanding of the role of everyday tactics in the meta-concepts of belonging and migrant political agency.