Open access
THE PERMANENCE OF IDENTITY VERSUS/AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION: TWO ARMENIAN DIASPORAS IN POLAND
Ewa NOWICKA1, Wojciech POŁEĆ2
Publication language: English
scientific paper
Transformations No. 4(123)2024, Publication date: 30 December 2024
Keywords: Armenians, diaspora, migration, return migration, integration
Abstract The community of Armenians living in Poland has been marked by great diversity in life trajectories and fates. That ostensibly homogenous community is divided into two groups (the Polish Armenians who have constituted a legally recognized national and religious minority in Poland for centuries, and, the more recently arrived (and still arriving) immigrants from Armenia) which differ socially, historically, and culturally. Although both identify with the ethnonym “Armenians” and proudly declare their belonging to this ethnonationality, it would be difficult to call them a single diaspora community. Our research has concentrated precisely on this unique multidimensionality. Our analyses have adopted the general theoretical perspective of relational sociology. This research primarily constitutes an anthropological fieldwork study. Empirical material has been collected using classic qualitative techniques, and the main tool has been in-depth, extended, personal interviews. Analysis of the Armenian community(ies) in Poland is a challenge providing possibilities to augment knowledge in certain key areas: identity theories at the collective level, migration theories, the concept of cultural contact, the adaptation of migrants, the functioning of diasporas, return migrations, and religious minority issues. The Armenian community(ies) in Poland can be treated as two fundamentally distinct social, cultural, and religious diaspora communities: the Polish Armenians who have constituted a legally recognized national and religious minority in Poland for centuries, and, the more recently arrived (and still arriving) immigrants from Armenia. Although both identify with the ethnonym “Armenians” and proudly declare their belonging to this ethnonationality, it would be difficult to call them a single diaspora community
Collegium Civitas, Warsaw, Poland
ORCID: 0000-0003-0170-0845
E-mail: ewa.nowicka@civitas.edu.pl
Warsaw University of Life Sciences,Warsaw, Poland
ORCID: 0000-0001-7353-9785
E-mail: wojciech_polec@sggw.edu.pl