Complexities of Polish migrant's citizenship attributions in the context of Brexit and the Scottish Independence Referendums

Abstract

This article focuses on the experiences of Scotland's largest foreign-born minority group, namely Poles, in the run-up to the Scottish Independence Referendum in 2014 and subsequently the UK's EU Referendum. Through exploring Polish migrant residents initial responses and experiences with regard to both referendums, this article (1) outlines perspectives on blurred and contested boundaries and formations of citizenships and (2) the implications of complex and changing relations between citizenship attributions (e.g. political participation, legal status of citizenship and sense of belonging) on the process of citizenship formation. This article therefore offers a greater understanding of the transformation of traditional state-centric concepts of citizenship rights into the shifting borders and character of citizenship formation during the times of political uncertainties.

Brexit, acculturative stress and mental health among EU citizens in Scotland

“…Firstly, theories of acculturative stress and structural stigma predict that Brexit would harm EU citizens' mental health (Berry, 2006, 2009; Hatzenbuehler, 2016). Although other qualitative studies refer to mental health problems, including anxiety (e.g., Pietka‐Nykaza & McGhee, 2020; Rzepnikowska, 2019) and panic attacks (Trąbka & Pustulka, 2020), as yet, none have examined this issue specifically (Heald et al, 2018). Our first aim was therefore to elicit EU citizens' own accounts of Brexit‐related stressors and mental health.…”