Poles as ‘Others’ in the UK: The Genealogy of a Migrant

Since Poland’s accession to the EU in 2004, the sizeable community of Polish migrants in one of the top destination countries – the UK, have been subject to growing discrimination and hate speech in the context of negative media coverage and populist political discourse. Moreover, the historically constructed image of Poles as inferior and different has been linked to the vulnerability of Polish migrants to unequal practices in low-paid sectors in particular. To trace the nexus between the past process of “othering” of Poles in the UK and the recent lived experiences in the post-2004 context, the paper aims to address the following questions: how was the image of a Polish migrant in the UK constructed historically as the “other” and how does this affect the present experiences of Poles? In an attempt to address these questions, the paper is structured as follows: the first part provides a brief overview of the history of Polish migration to the UK in the 20th century. Second, drawing on Foucault’s method of genealogy and the idea of “the history of the present”, I explore the process of the historically conditioned reproduction of the image of Poles in the UK as inferior “others” during the mentioned historical period, followed by the landmark event of Poland’s accession to the EU and the establishment of a free mobility regime. Finally, I conclude by emphasising the role of the othering of Poles in reproducing their vulnerability to discrimination and exploitative practices in the post-2004 context.