TRANSNARODOWOŚĆ W PRZESTRZENI DOMOWEJ POLSKICH RODZIN MIGRACYJNYCH W NORWEGII

Abstract

An already complex notion of home requires inclusion of a wide array of factors that determine what home is and is not. Understanding home necessitates crossing multiple nation-state borders and cultural boundaries, while also featuring negotiations within family traditions. In the article, we examine at which moment migrants create a home, and we outline determinants of geographic/material and emotional/spiritual facets of said home. We seek to show where home is equated more with house/building, locating it vis-à-vis an emotionally meaningful home as a safe haven and a place where migrants “feel at home”. We depict how various “homes” overlap in the sending and receiving countries. As such, home is understood here as a safe place, but also as a persistent symbol of ideas and values originating from the country of origin, as well as elements added, expanded and transformed through a migratory experience. By focusing on narratives pertaining to home in general, as well as specific practices linked to ways of celebrating and culinary practices that occur at home, we see home as a family identity project.

Keywords

• transnationalism
• family
• migration
• Poles in Norway
• cuisine
• celebrating holidays
• family food practices