Migrants in the Cities of Eastern Poland – Settlement Processes and Relations with Intermediary Groups. Conceptualization of the Research Project

Abstract

The proposed analysis of settlement practices is to contribute to the current research on recent international migration. It takes into account the role of important groups that are culturally, ethnically and religiously close to migrants, which itself is innovative and the research will be carried out in locations which, due to their “tradition” of ethnic diversity and the process of “unfinished” urbanization, provide a unique social background for the analysis of factors that may influence the processes of settlement, including: the creation of social anchors, adaptation strategies, integration processes and identity transformations. The category of “intermediary groups” plays a key role in this project. We are interested in its impact on settlement processes and its theoretical relationship with other concepts used in this proposal. Moreover, we believe that research material collected in the field study will provide us with data that will allow us to construct a typology of settlement practices. We intend to find out whether the category of “intermediary group” is a factor helping us to explain settlement strategies and the development of other important processes related to the phenomenon of migration.