How immigrants find their place in Czech society
A new study shows how different groups of immigrants in Czechia use distinct cultural strategies to negotiate their place in society—and why some succeed more than others.
IRIS International Conference 2024: Our Team Unveils Research on Racialization and Othering in Czechia's New Immigration Landscape
Bernadette Nadya Jaworsky
At the IRIS International Conference held from September 4-6, 2024, themed “Bordering Society: Understanding and Reimagining Migration, Displacement, and Diversity in an Age of Rapid Transformations,” our team, led by Nadya Jaworsky from Masaryk University, presented groundbreaking research titled, “‘People Like Us?’ Tensions and Transformations in Racialization and Othering in a New Immigration Context.”
We explored the lived experiences of migrants in Czechia, a country grappling with a recent surge in anti-immigrant sentiment. Using an innovative “reverse sociology of migration” approach that centers migrant voices, we combined a critical cultural sociological lens to reveal how migrants from the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, Slovakia, Vietnam, and Ukraine negotiate tensions and reshape racialized boundaries in their new social environment. Our findings offer a fresh perspective on how immigrants interact with cultural repertoires, both from their homelands and their host society, to redefine their identities in response to “unspoken” societal questions: Are they “people like us?”
Our study not only highlights the resilience of migrants but also provides invaluable insights into the symbolic boundaries and cultural processes shaping identity, belonging, and transformation in Czech society. This exciting research is just the beginning, and we look forward to deepening our understanding of these dynamics in the future.
