Home‐Making Through Deathscapes or How to Circumvent the Contradictions of Nationalism: The Case of Polish Far‐Right Activists in Britain

ABSTRACT Using the case of Polish far‐right activists in Britain, this paper explores how migrants joining far‐right groups in countries of residence reconcile their own transnational lives with nativist attachment to the national soil. The paper adopts an anthropological framework on discursive and performative strategies used to navigate this contradiction. Drawing on interviews with Polish migrants and observer participation in their political rituals, we identify their ways of political home‐making in Britain. Special consideration is given to the symbolic elements that have always been at the heart of far‐right political thought—the national soil, the dead ancestors, and the heroic past—and, for our respondents, are brought to life in the Polish cemeteries in Britain. We explore mythopoeic narratives and ritualised performances around these ‘deathscapes’, which help activists establish an organic connection with symbolically significant locations in the country of residence and claim a special place in its ethnic hierarchy.