MOBILITY TO THE EDGES OF EUROPE: The Case of Iceland and Poland

Although there are many ways in which tourism and migration are interconnected, current research focuses mainly on either one or the other. Tourism is commonly linked to leisure and business, while migration is generally associated with work, politics, and culture. In fact the boundaries between tourism and migration are not often clear cut and the consequences of different kinds of mobility are not obvious. This book emphasizes the importance of blurring the boundaries between different kinds of mobility in social research and broadens our understanding of migrants and tourists as interconnected social categories, placing Poland and Iceland at the centre of the inquiry. Based on a collaborative project carried out by researchers from these two countries, it examines leisure and tourist activities of migrants, their perceptions of nature in Iceland and the UK, the changing image of migrants and tourists in Iceland, and the evolving attitude towards Iceland as a tourist destination. Dorota Rancew-Sikora, is a sociologist and anthropologist, Associate Professor at the University of Gdansk, and chair of the Section of Social Anthropology in the Polish Sociological Association. She is the author of two books (in Polish): Conversation analysis as a research method of everyday talk (2007) and Understanding big game shooting (2009); and the editor or co-editor of four others: A travel and a place from the perspective of anthropology (2009); Creations and nostalgia: Anthropological view on traditions in modern contexts (2009); A city or not a city: Notes about a town as a socio-cultural hybrid (2010); and The social meanings of identity, place, and time of life (2013). She is interested in qualitative research, conversation and discourse analysis, social and cultural theory, human-nature relationships, quality of life, and mobility studies. Unnur Dís Skaptadóttir is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Iceland. Her main research interests include mobility, integration processes, transnational ties, and questions of borders and boundaries. Skaptadóttir has conducted research among different groups of migrants in Iceland in recent years, such as Poles and Filipinos. She has mostly focused on work migration, family reunion, and transnational relations, applying multi-sited ethnographic field work. She has published articles and book chapters on these topics. Other authors: Anna Wojtyńska, Harald Schaller, Kristín Loftsdóttir, Anna Karlsdóttir, Gunnar Þór Jóhannesson, Małgorzata Irek, Anna Horolets, Magdalena Gajewska, Karolina Ciechorska-Kulesza, Agata Bachórz.