Place Belonging in a Mobile World :A Case Study of Migrant Professionals

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to discuss the impact of spatial mobility on international professionals’ experience of place belonging. Drawing on qualitative research carried out in the Wroclaw subzone of the Walbrzych Special Economic Zone in Poland, the article explores the question of the identity of migrant professionals in the context of their connection with places. It analyses how migrant professionals perceive both their place of origin and the place they currently inhabit and considers the specific practices migrants engage in to strengthen old bonds and establish new ones. Despite their high mobility, migrant professionals cannot always be described in terms of placelessness belonging. On the contrary, migrant professionals show a relatively strong connection to their place of origin and some of them attempts to form ties with their current place of stay.