E.european migrant cultural output

Submitted by wojtek on September 5, 2016

Has there been much cultural production (primarily literature) from post 2005 eu migrants? I remembering listening to a R4 podcast and a Polish lady guest saying that most of her compatriots were similar to German guastarbeiter and therefore not inclined towards to this area.

Ed

7 years 7 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Ed on September 5, 2016

Yeah, I've heard similar things from Polish people but not sure I really buy that explanation (the underlying assumption seems to be that proles aren't interested in or can't write literature)..

I'm no expert in this stuff but there's a bit kicking around the internet: AM Bakalar seems to get a lot of love, though never read her myself..

You'd probably be interested in this article from the Literary London journal as well: Rubble or Resurrection: Contextualising London Literature by Polish Migrants to the UK..

Hope that's a start..

wojtek

7 years 7 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by wojtek on September 6, 2016

It was a BBC Radio 3 podcast, my mistake. Other reasons were given too.

I thought of two episodes of 'Run' when that Polish factory worker was killed in Harlow recently.

That journal article was really interesting, thanks ^^. Why do you think those books haven't been translated into English?

I know of this graphic novel by a former(?) hotel maid:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/sep/20/hotel-cleaners-graphic-novel-unite-union-conditions

What about from other nationalities like Latvians or Czechs? Or Poles in other Western European countries like France or Germany?

Steven.

7 years 7 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Steven. on September 6, 2016

Ed

Yeah, I've heard similar things from Polish people but not sure I really buy that explanation (the underlying assumption seems to be that proles aren't interested in or can't write literature)..

..

yeah I don't agree with that explanation. However I guess if you were a Polish writer it wouldn't make that much sense migrating to the UK where your job prospects would be no better (in fact they would probably be worse) and there would be a much higher cost of living

Dyjbas

7 years 7 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Dyjbas on September 6, 2016

I can’t think of any particular cultural scenes created by recent Eastern European migrants, but like with any other nationality, you will too find musicians, poets, writers, etc. from that demographic (even if they're not well known). There are also newspapers and cultural centres in the UK run by Eastern European migrants, but often within their own community.

While it's not true that proles aren't interested in or can't write literature, inevitably it does limit your time and energy. Also, let's not forget the language barrier, which makes cultural production for an English audience more difficult.

One Polish migrant writer who springs to my mind right now is Agata Pyzik, she wrote a short article on this actually (it mentions the whole gastarbeiter thing too, maybe she was the one on that podcast you listened to): https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/dec/12/poles-britain-cultural-splash

There's always the slav squat though! ;) [youtube]64WBNa6Jl0w[/youtube]

Steven.

7 years 7 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Steven. on September 6, 2016

Dyjbas

There's always the slav squat though! ;) [youtube]64WBNa6Jl0w[/youtube]

that is amazing!

wojtek

7 years 1 month ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by wojtek on March 23, 2017

This from 1994:
http://www.wordswithoutborders.org/article/gastarbeiter?src=fb

wojtek

7 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by wojtek on April 1, 2017

David Vujanic again lol even if he is Serbian:
https://youtu.be/ysPeI6eojeY