F INDING AN I DENTITY

When a migration decision is made at a more mature age, it creates issues specific to their emotional loyalties. Older people have more lasting attachments to their homeland and are not going to become as fully integrated into a new society as young adults (Treas, 2008a). These attachments make it more difficult for them to adapt to a new country and a changing identity. Ng et al (2009) find that older age at immigration is a significant indicator of ethnic identity and that those who migrate earlier in life are more likely to take on a bicultural identity.

It is now considered that people ageing are much more self-reflective about their identities and lives (Hockey & James, 2003) than in previous times: they feel the need to fulfil their potential within their new lifestyle (Hockey & James, 2003: 107) and this may be having an influence on their feeling of satisfaction with life. The ideal of a change in life brought about through migration may not live up to expectations.

Agata agrees that her life has changed but this change is not making her happier than she was before. She admits that some improvements have been made as living in the UK is better than living in Poland, and she plans on staying here, even though she goes back to Poland whenever she can. Agata’s problem is that she cannot find an identity which fits. She is still caught between the two countries, despite having been in the UK for five years, speaking good English and making lots of English friends.

It is recognised that a sense of belonging reinforces identity. Markova (2009) found in her study of Bulgarian migrants in Brighton that there was a real lack of identification with the neighbourhoods in which they were living, and one of the factors was possibly the more deprived neighbourhoods in which they lived. It is suggested that their sense of belonging may increase over time (Markova, 2009:

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123), but Agata has already been living in Leicester for five years. While there is considerable space for having more than one national identity, especially within a transnational context (Vertovec, 2010), it seems that in one way Agata is rejecting both her Polish identity and her new British identity. She did not want to leave Poland, she has not settled in Britain, she is not happy, and yet she does not want to return to Poland. Unlike many of the older migrants, Agata has tried to integrate, and she has moved into an English environment, where she speaks English at work and at home. She has consequently constructed a local identity for herself, but it is possible that the complete separation of one identity from the other has been too much, and that she may have been better keeping part of her Polish identity in England. If there had been more integration, and she had found some Polish friends in England, perhaps the transition may have been easier for her and made her happier with her life. Whilst it is laudable from a social and political point of view that she has succeeded so well in integrating into an English society, it has not been so successful on a personal level. At the age of forty when she migrated, Agata was already bound to her Polish identity. This was something which should have been recognised and celebrated.

Zygmunt has retained his Polish identity, although he has been in the UK for eight years. He has settled well in an English environment, even aspiring to buying his own house at the age of fifty nine; he lives with Polish people and has made lots of friends in the Polish church, whom he appreciates as they were there to support him in the early days of his arrival in Leicester. He has also learnt English, watches English television, and is happy to live in a multicultural society. For him there is no question about his sense of where he belongs, and he is very proud of his Polish identity:

I don’t know Poland as well as a Polish person should but I think you should get to know your own country mainly as a young person...because when you are older and you are working, there are too many problems. You can’t take time off to travel. I do know Poland but not well enough. I haven’t been to Krakow, Bieczczady, the Tatry mountains...I know a bit but not all.

He has regrets that he did not take advantage of the time he spent in his homeland, and now he feels it is too late for him to visit the places he has never seen.

Rizvanoglu et al (2010) find that homeland idealism is a significant factor in migrant communities, and this is a way of reinforcing a sense of belonging and identity with

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the homeland. However, there are certain times in the life course when opportunities are there but neglected, and Zygmunt is aware of these. He travelled to England as a tourist before Accession, as he recognised that there would be an opportunity for him to find work in Britain as soon as Poland joined the EU, and he wanted to be the first to find work here. It was the right time for him to migrate, despite having to leave his wife and two children, his Polish home and surroundings, which he admits was very difficult. Nevertheless, by forming his own community in Leicester, Zygmunt has been able to maintain his ethnic identity (Rizanoglu et al, 2010).

Ethnic identity is reinforced by an awareness of being different from other cultures (Ryan, 2010b) and the nature of migration allows groups to perceive their cultural differences. This is especially relevant to the older age group, who have deeply embedded Polish traditions, and who have not grown up against a backdrop of a more global environment available to the young through music, films, and the internet. Ryan (2010b) suggests that the sense of being Polish is defined through migrants’ relationship to Poland and, as previously mentioned, many of the older migrants still had strong attachments to the homeland and were very nostalgic about the country they had left behind.

Leuner’s (2010) study of Polish migrants in Melbourne finds that first generation migrants are more likely to identify themselves as completely Polish, whereas the second generation tend to identify themselves as part-Polish and part-Australian.

Language skills also play a part in defining identity (Leuner, 2010) and it is likely that those with more developed English language skills are more receptive to cultural diversity and more accepting of dual identities. The older Polish migrants have to contend with the acquisition of another language when they move to the UK, alongside a different culture, and this creates a further barrier to creating a sense of belonging.

The research also reflects the way that current migration trends enable migrants to retain their own identity, and not to feel forced into accepting a new persona. These are European citizens, free to travel, to work, and to live anywhere within the EU.

They are not economic refugees, compelled to take on a new citizenship to give them the right to stay in the host country. The narratives imply that they have been readily accepted in the UK, and have felt welcome. With easier and cheaper

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transport links and communication networks now available, migrants can keep contact with family and friends in the homeland, whilst living and working in a culturally diverse environment. These transnational connections help migrants stay close to family at home; communication technology compresses time and space (Parrenas, 2001) and frequent visits home are both possible and implemented (Senyurekli et al, 2008) thanks to low cost airlines. As Beata (51) comments, the journey between Poland and the UK takes just two hours, whereas travelling across Poland to visit family can take much longer. Lourenco et al (2012) argue that family ties are one of the foundations of transnationalism and both virtual communication and periodical visits help maintain cultural identity.

3.11 Summary and Conclusion

An early exposure to the contrast between Western material culture and their own colourless lives may have had an influence on later migration decisions made by the older migrants; the enticement of a place where dreams may come true cannot be underestimated. Images of this ideal world full of colour and excitement, in contrast to their own drab and uneventful childhood, would have been embedded in young minds. It was unattainable to them at the time, but somewhere in the world people were living this dream. Those memories of an ideal world may never have been true, but they represented an aspirational lifestyle that was lacking in their own lives.

Perhaps it was possible that one day they too would be able to benefit from this promise of a better way of life; it was a childhood dream.

Perceptions of this ideal world can only have been reinforced in the 1980s when many of these participants were young adults. The shortages experienced in the shops and the poor living conditions meant that standards of living dropped.

Although people were aware that people in other countries lived a different life, they still had hopes that things were going to get better for them as well. They wanted to believe that they were the ones who could make a difference; they were prepared to make sacrifices so that they could aspire to this ideal world in their own country.

Although they had the option of migrating at this stage, they still wanted to stay and help to create a place where they could realise their dreams.

It seems that the greatest challenge to the realisation of these dreams came in the 1990s. Despite the initial excitement of a market economy being introduced, and

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people thinking that they were finally creating that ideal world based on Western principles, the reality set in motion the circumstances leading to their eventual migration. These circumstances were a combination of unemployment and debt, fuelled by the transfer of the labour market from state to private ownership. The change from socialist to capitalist society was rapid and harsh and the participants in this study were among those most affected. They had thought they were about to achieve their ideal world, but instead they lost their jobs; the protective environment they knew was no longer there for them. Although they tried to adapt, it progressively became more difficult as they were growing older, and the new privatised companies were looking for younger employees. Their lack of employment also resulted in an accumulation of debt as prices in the new capitalist economy were rising. Migration offered an opportunity to find work and make money.

The expectations of the migratory journey may have been built on the deeply embedded perceptions of the dream world offered by a Western material culture, but they were also influenced by the broken dreams they had experienced in their own country. While many of the participants express satisfaction with their new life, there is also a sense of underlying regret; it is understandable that they may have a feeling of rejection but that could be overcome by finding work and reinforcing the perception of self-worth. It is indeed seen that most of the participants are grateful for the possibilities the UK has given them of fulfilling their potential through work. This regret, however, is an emotional reaction which comes from the realisation that their own country is never going to be that ideal world they have created in their minds.

They waited and hoped, but the act of moving countries has meant that it is now the end of that dream.

Their position in the life course has made them re-evaluate their lives; those who are in their forties and have young families are aspirational for their children, whilst those who are older may still be aspirational for their adult children but also for themselves.

They can see that they are midway through their lives and they need to secure their future; the only way they can improve their lives is through migration. The lifestyle they have in the UK is better than what they could attain in Poland; they are more prepared to consider the benefits as they have already experienced disappointments. Their age and their life stage make them more pragmatic about their expectations and encourage them to have a more positive approach.

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Nevertheless, some of the participants have difficulties in accepting this new migrant identity, indicating that the emotional reaction to leaving their own country is unresolved; in their case, age and life course are creating a barrier to satisfaction with their migration experience. They have more memories to draw upon, but these memories tend to be turning to nostalgia for an ideal world that no longer exists.

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