Fragments, Voids and Repetitions: strategies of ambiguity and histories of migration on the Polish border with Belarus.

Description

This ethnographic paper explores the looping history of migration (forced and chosen) along the southernly border of Poland and Belarus. Focusing on the stories of migration that are narrated and those embedded in local material culture, it traces repeated motifs and silences. This study of gaps and reiterations reveals firstly how people along the Polish side of the border articulate an ambiguous stance toward contemporary migration. Then, secondly, how speaking of migration through repetitions and silences also reveals a local understanding of the border as unsettled. The paper asks why such ambiguity might be a preferred strategy for participating in larger national conversations on migration. The paper concludes by framing this strategy within other local modes of existence, which aim to find ways of living with and alongside tumultuous history and unresolved tensions.

Period	17 May 2025 → 18 May 2025
Event title	Shifting Borders : Oxford Migration Studies Conference
Event type	Conference
Location	Oxford, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International