Invisible Poles: a Book of Interview Extracts

At this event, researchers Anne White and Kinga Goodwin will launch the ‘Invisible Poles’ webpage and present the outputs and main findings of their project. Invisible Poles, which was part-funded from the UCL European Institute’s Jean Monnet Centre grant, looked at how British-born people of Polish descent have experienced the recent increase in the Polish population of the UK, as well as easier access to Poland since Poland joined the EU. The twenty-eight interviewees came forward because they had stories to tell about becoming more ‘visibly’ Polish – visible to Polish-born Poles in the UK and Poland, but also to their families and friends. Their stories are gathered together in Invisible Poles: a Book of Interview Extracts, an open access book available via the webpage. Invisible Poles is a tribute to anthropologist Keith Sword and his research, which began at SSEES in the 1980s and 1990s, but was cut short by Sword’s untimely death. The Invisible Poles transcripts are housed in SSEES Library, alongside the Sword archive. The presentation and questions will last for about one hour and be followed by a social event, with Polish cake.