Hvem er de polske kvinnene i Norge?

Abstract

Sammendrag

I denne masteroppgaven undersøker jeg hva polske kvinner forteller om sine erfaringer og opplevelser fra migrasjonen til Norge, samt hva de forteller om seg selv. Oppgaven er basert på egen empiri fra seks dybdeintervjuer med polske kvinner som har migrert til Norge. Datamaterialet fra intervjuene presenteres i fire analysekapitler hvor analysegrepet som tas i bruk er tematisk og narrativ analyse.

I det første analysekapittelet analyserer jeg fram kvinnenes selvrepresentasjon som polske kvinnelige migranter på bakgrunn av narrativ om migrasjonsprosessen og motivene for å flytte og bosette seg i Norge. Forskningsspørsmålene jeg stiller i dette kapittelet er: «Hva var kvinnenes motivasjoner for å migrere?», «Hvordan snakker kvinnene om seg selv som migranter?» og «Hvem er historiene konstruert for?».

I det andre analysekapittelet analyserer jeg frem motstanderne i kvinnenes fortellinger og ser på innholdet i det som trer fram som kategoriene den gode morderne polakk og den dårlige tradisjonelle polakk. Spørsmålene jeg stiller her er: «Finnes det en motstander i historiene til kvinnene?», «Hvem er motstanderen ifølge kvinnene?» og «Hva kan fortellingene om motstanderne fortelle oss om kvinnene?»

I analysekapittel tre ser jeg på kvinnenes fortellinger om migrasjonen som en frigjøringsprosess. I kapittelet er funnet at kvinnene kjenner på økt frihet i Norge.

I det fjerde og siste analysekapittelet ser jeg på fortellinger om tilhørighet og ensomhet, og her peker jeg på at kvinners tilhørighet ikke burde ses i sammenheng med om kvinnene bor med mannen sin eller ikke.

Abstract

In this master thesis I investigate the narratives of Polish women regarding their migration experiences before and after moving to Norway, as well as their experiences, both personally and regarding other individuals. The main objective of the thesis is to examine the composition of the female Polish population in Norway, with an emphasis on gender and intersectionality. The thesis is based on empirical data gathered from six indepth interviews that I conducted with Polish women who decided to migrate to Norway. The empirical data from the interviews is presented through four chapters of analysis. The analysis method used is thematic narrative analysis.

In the first chapter of analysis, I analyze the women's self-representation as Polish female migrants. My findings are that love, adventure, and family - not an existing Polish husband, but parents - are the main motivators for migrating, despite the fact that female motivations for migrating must be seen as complex. Here, I also discuss the message in the narratives for motivations, and I find female agency to be an important trait throughout. My research questions in this chapter are: 1. What are the motivations for migrating? 2. How do the women talk about themselves as migrants? And 3. Who are the narratives constructed for?

In the second chapter of analysis, I examine what the women see as their opponent against their narratives of self-representation. I examine the content and the message of the narratives which are presented as the categories: ‘The Good Modern Pole’ and ‘The Bad Traditional Pole’. Intersectionality was a useful analysis technique in exploring the women's constructed categories, as well as in discovering what the women disclose when distancing themselves from the category ‘The Bad Traditional Pole’. Here, my research questions are: 1. Is there an opponent in the narratives? 2. Who is the opponent, according to the women? And 3. What can the stories about the opponents tell us about the women themselves?

In the third chapter of analysis, I examine narratives of migration as emancipation, and if migration is leading the Polish female migrants closer to western feminism. My findings are that the women in this study experience freedom in different ways, but that motivations of freedom are not usually linked with motivations in the decision to migrate.

In the fourth and final chapter of analysis, I explore narratives of belonging and loneliness. Despite the fact that Statistisk Sentralbyrå describes the Polish population residing in Norway as feeling relatively little loneliness, I point out that belonging doesn’t always revolve around living together with your husband, and that more research has to be done on ‘all the single ladies’ who have different migration motivations other than family.