Multiple masculinities of Polish migrant men

Justyna Bell , Paulina Pustułka

Abstract

This paper examines the negotiation and re-shaping of multiple mobile masculinities among recent Polish intra-European migrants. It explores the impact of family and cross border relationships with other family members and friends on men’s identities and the enactment of masculinities. Drawing on the data collected for five thematically linked qualitative research studies, we consider voices of men, as well as juxtapose them with the reflections shared by their partners. One of the questions leading the analysis is whether the hegemonic masculinity still holds for the Polish men abroad. While we suggest that it dominates the men’s narratives, we seek to highlight its limitations and the emergence of stories pointing to divergent and plural masculinities. We explore how the alternative nonworker roles of migrant men as husbands, fathers, sons and friends figure into the picture.