New Directions in Researching Migration of Children and Youth

Abstract

The field of research focused on migrant children seems to be well established (e.g. Ni Laoire et al. 2013, Tyrell 2011, Tyrell et al. 2013, Ensor, Goździak 2010, Pareñas 2005), also in regard to Polish migration (Slany et al. 2016, 2018, Slany, Strzemecka 2017, 2018). Rather than offer an extensive review, this Introduction teases out some of the linking themes of the articles published in this Special Issue. Through investigating our collection in the context of the broader research, we sketch out the contemporary importance of (transnational) socialization and introduce a concept of transnational transitions. Importantly, this Introduction and the entire Special Issue continue the commitment of the Migration StudiesReview of Polish Diaspora to the topic of migrant children and youth, building on the knowledge base gathered in the similarly scoped volume edited by Grzymała-Moszczyńska and Trąbka (2014). In the Introduction to the 2014 issue, the editors highlight the importance of the shift from researching children of migrants (perceiving them as a “luggage” carried by migrating parents) to focusing on migrant children as independent subjects, whose experiences of mobility are unique and worth exploring. Articles in this volume indicate that this trend evolves and the migrant children have become fullyfledged research participants.