Abstract

How do people form social ties? Reflecting on this fundamental question, Marta Kindler will provide a general introduction to network perspectives in migration studies. Zooming in on her own work, Kindler will trace the intellectual trajectory that brought her to the conclusion that migration is intrinsically connected not only to the character of social networks, but also to how these networks are formed. This in turn is connected to the context of interaction and intersections, such as gender, class and nationality, and ethnicity of the persons involved. The talk will include a theoretical discussion of scholarship on how institutional contexts (both formal and informal) and routine interactions influence the formation of social ties (Small 2009; 2017), as well as how network perspectives allow to examine the mechanisms behind symbolic and social boundaries drawn during migration (Dahinden 2012; 2013). Kindler will share concrete examples of how these theoretical insights helped her make sense of her empirical research into migration studies. To illustrate her work, Kindler draws primarily on data from qualitative fieldwork carried out in the years 2013-2023 in Poland, analysing the mechanisms behind everyday interactions of Ukrainian men and women with a variety of class backgrounds and how these change within institutional and migrant community contexts. Analysing practices of tie formation and boundary-drawing, she deconstructs concepts such as 'cultural proximity' often attributed to Ukrainians’ facility of forming ties in Poland and 'socio-cultural integration', including the meaning given to Ukrainian’s having ties to Poles.