Anna Wojtynska

The employment-driven migrations from Poland to Iceland have largely been pioneered by Polish women. They outnumbered men among Polish residents in this country until the economic boom since 2005 triggered large-scale male immigration. This trend slowed down with the outbreak of the financial crisis, as the recession severely affected the male-dominated construction industry. The analysis of Polish female migrants’ working experiences shows that recent inflows are mainly shaped by the nature of labour demand as well as the social policies and care services in Iceland. Although economically integrated, compared with native women Polish women tend to occupy rather disadvantaged positions. They seem concentrated in a few low-skilled occupations that bring little prestige and low income. On the other hand, they were less affected by the financial crisis, in the sense that many of them maintained work, though some experienced lowering of salaries or reduction of working hours.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a case study which analyses the ambiguous relationship that Icelandic charities and NGOs have with the formal social welfare services they collaborate with as well as the clients they serve. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based upon the combined work of both authors and drawn from a number of projects spanning the years immediately preceding the Icelandic economic crisis of 2008, through to the years of crisis and recovery, and into the present context. This contribution is a combination of a re-analysis of older material combined with new data and emergent issues. Findings The contribution argues charities and NGOs in Iceland operate within an ambiguous space, not part of the formal welfare authorities yet in practice in collaboration with them. One danger is that the charitable environment offers no clear legal protections concerning client rights or entitlements to assistance, or grievance redress mechanisms typical of the formal social assistance schemes. Further, the ways in which charities exclude certain segments of the population is troubling, particularly in consideration of the lack of protections and the willingness of governments to download the costs of and responsibilities for services to non-professional and private charities and NGOs. Social implications The findings are intended to contribute toward encouraging critical discussion about the appeal of charity as a service alternative in the context of governmental cutbacks and austerity measures. Originality/value The findings are based upon limited but original case studies in Iceland.

Following the economic crash in 2008, many migrants in Iceland lost their jobs and experienced deteriorating working conditions. In 2011, four years after the onset of the recession, the unemployment rates among the foreign population remained significantly higher than among Icelanders. In this article, we discuss experiences of unemployed migrants concerning their changed position on the labour market in order to highlight the different mechanisms of labour market exclusion. On the basis of research among registered unemployed foreign citizens, we analyse the main reasons for their difficulties in finding new employment. The main obstacles as reported by survey respondents and focus groups participants were limited knowledge of Icelandic, increased reluctance among Icelandic employers to hire foreigners and insufficient social networking with the native population.

Based on fieldwork among unemployed Polish migrants in Iceland, this chapter examines how they negotiate and adapt to the social risks and changing circumstances encountered in the countries of emigration and immigration as well as how they navigate the available ‘resource environments’ emerging in conjunction with different welfare regimes. We particularly look at the European Union (EU) regulations for social-security protection vis-à-vis national welfare-protection policies on unemployment in Iceland and Poland and their possible ramifications for the mobility and immobility of Polish workers. Furthermore, we highlight some problematic interactions between the internationalisation of the labour market and concomitant transnational livelihoods, EU social policy and the welfare-assistance environment of member states. In so doing, we apply a critical approach to the commonly assumed high flexibility and extensive geographical mobility of migrant workers that tends to overlook count...

This chapter addresses the initiation of RDS, and examines the selection and role of the seeds: the first respondents in the surveys using RDS methodology. It is organized around three main questions: Who are the seeds? How do they work? Why are they important? We address these questions paying particular attention to the strategic selection of seeds, their training and role in the day-to-day sampling process. Therefore, although the selection of seeds takes place at the beginning of a survey, this process needs careful consideration, as it is likely affect data collection and analysis.

The paper presents a narrative perspective on Polish migration to Iceland based on one example of a woman, called Irena. Her biography served for an anthropological analysis used in biographical approach in social sciences with the assumption that the story of one life of a particular person can give some general knowledge – in this case about migration patterns and experiences. The story of Irena presented in this article is also an interesting example of the narrative journalism, since the biography is presented like a non-fiction essay, written by a journalist who accompanied Irena for several months during her stay in Iceland and was actually a part of her migration experience.

WPŁyW KRyZySU GOSPODARcZEGO NA PROcES MIGRAcyJNy POMIęDZy POlSKą A ISlANDIą WSTęP Ostatni globalny kryzys systemu finansowego i bankowego, ma daleko idące konsekwencje ekonomiczne, społeczne, a także polityczne. Wiele państw prze-chodzi obecnie okres recesji, któremu towarzyszy wzrost poziomu bezrobocia, i związane z tym pogarszanie się kondycji finansowej społeczeństwa. W litera-turze przedmiotu można spotkać dwa nurty analiz. Pierwszy dotyczący wpływu, jaki kryzys miał na sytuację na rynku pracy w poszczególnych sektorach za-trudnienia, z uwzględnieniem relacji między kobietami i mężczyznami (gender relations) (Seguino 2009, Antonopoulos 2009). Drugi, poświęcony dyskusji na temat oddziaływania kryzysu na ruchy migracyjne i sytuację migrantów w kra-jach przyjmujących (Martin 2009, castles i Miller 2010, Green i Winters 2010). Rzadko jednak oba zagadnienia poruszane są jednocześnie. Inaczej jest w tym artykule, gdyż omawiając wpływ kryzysu na proces migra-cji pracowniczych z Polski ...

This chapter discusses the Black Protest demonstration organized by Polish migrants in Iceland in October 3, 2016 to support women striking that day in Poland against a proposed abortion ban. As an expression of migrants’ continued social embeddedness in the sending society, the event provides an interesting example of diaspora politics, or what is otherwise called long-distance nationalism. Although intended to influence domestic politics in Poland, due to the universal character of women’s reproductive rights, the demonstration in Iceland can be perceived as a manifestation of transnational activism and as part of the general feminist movement. Furthermore, the generous involvement of the local population shows how migrants’ transnational practices enhance Iceland’s transnational entanglements. Finally, Black Protest exposes a process of growing global interconnectedness and relates it to cross-border flows of meanings and ideas.

Global and transnational perspectives are increasingly challenging earlier conceptions of places as stable culture units inhabited by people who share a common identity and are bound by solidarity. In times of liquid modernity it is more difficult than before to sustain such a stance (Bauman 2000). There is a growing literature that deals with the complex relationship between culture, place and belonging (Appadurai 1996; Bauman 2000; Gupta and Ferguson 1997a; Gupta and Ferguson 1997b; Hannerz 1997; Keamy 1995; Savage ...