Disrupture, Reconstruction, and the Insecure Place:
Multiple Temporalities of Chechen Immigrants in Lublin
Michal Šípoš, Goldsmiths College, University of London, Department of Anthropology
E-mail: Michal.Sipos@gmail.com
Introduction
Expected Results
Pict. 1: David welcomes his
relatives at the train station
in Terespol, where they’ve
just crossed the Polish –
Belarusian
border.
Intensive immigration of
Chechens to Poland can be
dated from 1999, when
Russian forces started a
military
campaign
in
Northern Caucasus. At the
end of 2007 the number of
Chechens
coming
to
Poland reached its peak:
the arrival of more than
9000 people is commonly
explained as their reaction
to their fear of isolation
following the inscription of
the new Schengen border
in Eastern Poland, as well
as of the dangerous sociopolitical situation, and the
precarious economic situation, in Northern Caucasus.
In my project I co-operate with people who were affected by marginalization, war, and violence. After forced emigration from their
homeland, these people attempt to rebuild their lives in a context of
general insecurity (see von Benda-Beckmann, F., & von BendaBeckmann, K., 2000) that dominates the daily existence of marginal
groups in contemporary Eastern Europe. It is highly likely that their
previous experiences, together with their current insecurity, impinge
on their lives, and influence the ways they approach their past,
present, and future. Drawing on these ideas, the research aims to
answer the flowing questions:
(1) When the old cycle of continuity in a life course changes
dramatically as a result of war and forced migration, what is the
impact of this on refugees' new lives in the new place?
(2) How do refugees in Lublin reconstruct and sustain a new cycle
of continuity in a context of local institutionally, economically and
historically generated insecurities or, indeed, are they able to do
so?
Discussion
During the last 8 years more than 40.000 Chechen immigrants have
applied for asylum in Poland. However, many Chechens don’t
perceive Poland as their new and prospective home, but rather as a
kind of bus stop in the middle of the road to the future they dream of
in some of the Western European countries. Generally, it can be
argued that the presence of many Chechens in Poland is temporary
and invisible.
Scientific Approach
This research sets out to explore the issue of temporality, as related
to the presence of new refugee population in Poland.To approach
the issue theoretically, the project acknowledges a human demand
for continuity (see Marris, 1974) that is being built through meaningful and predictable relationships with surrounding contingencies. A
forced emigration is then understood as a form of critical event (see
Das, 1996) that disrupts such continuity, and that shifts people into
new and unprecedented social, geographical, and political terrains.
By taking this into account, the research focuses on the process of
the reconstruction of continuity among Chechen immigrants in a
specific socio-economic environment in Lublin, Eastern Poland.
Pict. 3: Mairbek (on the right) came to Poland with his father and two brothers. His
dream is to become a world champion boxer. Mairbek’s daily schedule is ruled by
an exacting training regime, that helps him to face better numerous troubles in his
life. The Centre appeared to be a small world on its own inhabited by various
people who have various lives, dreams, and memories - some Chechens choose
self discipline as a way to face lived insecurity; some of them, led by their needs
and imaginations of better future, resign from their Polish lives and emigrate onwards; others spend most of the time in their rooms, and can only barely escape
to their traumas and memories.
By using the methods of participant observation and informal interviews, my ethnographic research primary focuses on individual life
paths (see Hareven, 1982) of people who have experienced a
critical event. Since August 2007 I have incorporated myself into the
community in the Lublin centre as a researcher, English teacher,
and a boxer/ sportsman. During our regular meetings with Chechen
men and women, I have been recording their narratives, and observing struggles and strategies in their daily lives.
References
Pict. 2: Most of Chechens in Lublin live in a state-rented accommodation centre in
the industrial neighbourhood of Bronowice. In January 2008 the centre was
inhabited by nearly 250 immigrants from Northern Caucasus. Urbanized and
industrialized during socialist times, present Bronowice suffers from a socioeconomic deprivation. The regress in the neighbourhood was caused mainly by
bankruptcy of many local factories during post-socialist transformation.
Nowadays, for many Polish inhabitants of Lublin the area around the
accommodation centre represents a dark space on the city map, that is sadly
known for its criminality, dirt, and danger.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/mariecuriesocanth/
Benda-Beckmann, F., von, & Benda-Beckmann, K., von (2000). Coping with insecurity. In F. von
Benda-Beckmann, v. B.-B. Keebet & M. Hans (Eds.), Coping with Insecurity. An Underall
Perspective on Social Security in the Third World (2nd ed.). Netherlands, Indonesia: Pustaka
Pelajar & Focaal Foundation.
Das, V. (1996). Critical Events: An Anthropological Perspective on Contemporary India. Delhi, New
York: Oxford University Press.
Hareven, T., K. (1982). Family Time & Industrial Time. The Relationship between the Family and
Work in a New England Industrial Community. Lanham, New York, London: University Press of
America.
Marris, P. (1974). Loss and Change. London: Routledge.
Acknowledgement
Acknowledgement
Thisresearch
researchproject
project has
has been
been supported
supported by
by a
This
a Marie
Marie
CurieEarly
Earlystage
Stage
Research
Training
Fellowship
of
Curie
Research
Training
Fellowship
of the
the European
Community’s
Sixth Framework
ProEuropean
Community’s
Sixth Framework
Programme
gramme
under
contract
number MEST-CT-2005under
contract
number
MEST-CT-2005-020702
within
020702
within
the project
European Partnership
for
the
project
European
Partnership
for Qualitative
Qualitative
Research
Training
(Social
Anthropology).
Research Training (Social Anthropology).