Agnieszka Bielewska

Abstract

The paper discusses the settlement patterns of Polish immigrants in Manchester as an exemplification of the changes in the understanding of place and spatially rooted identity in the last 50 years, namely its shift from the modern understanding of place as being closed and limited to the postmodern one, which can be understand as being open and consisting of networks. The paper is based on a study carried out in Manchester in the period 2005–2009 on two groups of Polish immigrants: Poles who had settled there after the Second World War and immigrants who arrived there after Poland joined the European Union.

Keywords: place, national identity, migration, ethnic identity.