Identity Awoken in Second-Generation British Poles in the UK—Personal Journeys

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

I would like to recommend that the three titles listed below be included in the bibliography: 

Thomas William, Znaniecki Florian, The Polish Peasant in Europe and America, Boston: Richard G. Badger. The Graham Press 1920. 

Sinatti Giulia, The Polish Peasant Revisited. Thomas and Znaniecki's Classic in Light of Contemporary Transnational Migration Theory, Sociologica, 2/2008.

Mucha Janusz, The Polish Peasant in Europe and America and the Missing Ethnic Leaders, Przegląd Socjologiczny 68 (4) 2019. 

Please make sure the spelling of the name Zubrzycki is correct. 

Author Response

We are grateful to the reviewer for these references and their content which are now included in a paragraph on page 8. Spelling of Zybrzycki also corrected

It is of interest that the seminal work introducing life history and biographical method to the topic of immigration should have involved Polish immigration to American at the turn of the 20^th century (Thomas and Znaniecki 1920) This was argued to use an exemplary use of personal records, effectively convincing sociologists to utilise qualitative methods, with a  focus on a period of social change (prior to WW1),in examining the relation between human behaviour and the broader situation in which it is set (Sinatti 2008).  In his critique, Mucha notes that little was made of the successes of the following generation (of American born Poles) in leadership, education and in their effective associations and media in the ‘Polish-American reality’ (Mucha 2019).

Reviewer 2 Report

Thank you for the opportunity to review this work. I found the article very interesting, and robust in nature. I recommend this paper be accepted for publication.

I do have a couple of suggestions for the authors:

- regarding intergenerational trauma, the work of Marianne Hirsch (2008) should be consulted. She explores this notion using the Holocaust as an example, and this inclusion would add to the paper. 

- I also think the authors should also consider the work of Alison Landsberg. She writes extensively on the notion of 'prosthetic memory' which would suit this work.

- At times I felt some of the quotes were far too long. Please complete a thorough copy edit to see where some of them could be shortened. Many could be more succinct, which would add to the readability of the paper.

The quality of language was good, but there were a few typos noted. In particular:

- line 15 reads as awkward

- typo line 173

- high rates of what on line 176

- lines 186-187 read as awkward

- should read "that were born" line 238

- Typo line 262

Author Response

Thanks to the reviewer. We very much welcome the additional references and their contents in adding to our background arguments. We have included page 6:

Hirsch discusses this in terms of ‘postmemory’ and the Holocaust. She writes ‘postmemory describes the relationship of the second generation to powerful, often traumatic, experiences that preceded their births but that were nevertheless transmitted to them so deeply as to seem to constitute memories in their own right.’ (p 103) ((Hirsch 2008). Her focus is on the potency of images and photographs given that the generation after those who witnessed cultural or collective trauma can “remember” only by means of the stories, images, and behaviours among which they grew up. She states, ‘these experiences were transmitted to them so deeply and affectively as to seem to constitute memories in their own right’. (p106-7) (Hirsch 2008). She quotes Eva Hoffman in noting that the first generation Holocaust survivors were not in fact silent about their past trauma, but their indirect communication to their families was rather through the language of the body, of symptoms, of nightmares and illness(Hoffman 2004).

Landsberg calls such memories ‘prosthetic memories’ and notes these are enhanced not only through family stories and photographs but also through cinematic media where individuals effectively ‘look through someone else’s eyes’ in a way not possible until the 20^th century film industry (Landsberg 2009). Such ‘reliving’ of historical war trauma further underlines potential impacts on second generation trauma ‘witnesses’.

line 15 reads as awkward – REWRITTEN

It can also lead to ‘event centrality’ whereby the second generation incorporate the knowledge of the original trauma experience as a central element into their own identity thus a mechanism for trauma transmission (Greenblatt-Kimron, Shrira et al. 2021).

lines 186-187 read as awkward REWRITTEN –

The fall of communism represented a liberation for the second generation of UK Poles in being able to travel freely to Poland similar to the recent Polish immigrants (Rabikowska and Burrell 2016). This enabled a strengthening of family ties.

Other typos corrected

Reviewer 3 Report

Fascinating and enlightening piece of work - subjective in places but the data is treated ethically and scientifically.

Author Response

Thank you!