Materialising the Border: Spaces of Mobility and Material Culture in Migration from Post-Socialist Poland

Using post-socialist Polish migration to Britain as a case study, this article analyses the 'furnishing' of journey and border times and spaces by recent Polish migrants - a theme which has been neglected in most migration studies research. Four key intersections between movement and materiality, and their significance for migration, are considered: passports, car and coach journeys, suitcases, and laptops in airport lounges. Set against a backdrop of shifting mobility dynamics in Europe, these overlapping examples demonstrate the different ways in which Polish migrants have filled the spaces of international borders and performed the experience of mobility since 1989. The article finds that the physical practice of journeying and border crossing is not an empty act, suspended in space and time between two realities, but is a highly materialised and emotional undertaking, and a real, tangible space in its own right.