Transnational Marriage

This study applies exchange theory to transnational marriages between descendants of migrants to Europe, and partners from their (grand)parents’ country of origin. Such marriages could offer socio-economic benefits for the European partner/family, if the opportunity of migration attracts a more highly educated spouse. The translation of educational capital into socio-economic benefits, however, is mediated by the labour market position of migrant spouses. In this study we explore the relationships between transnational marriage, education, and employment, by comparing the characteristics of spouses in transnational couples with those in intranational couples. Analyses are based on UK Labour Force Survey data (2004–2014) for two groups in which transnational marriage is common—Pakistani Muslims and Indian Sikhs. We find that educational homogamy is the dominant pattern in both intranational and transnational couples, and that migrant spouses have a disadvantaged labour market positio...

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes intercultural issues in marriages between Japanese men and women from former Soviet Union countries. Focusing on the differences in meanings and assumptions that guide couples in their marriages and the historical-cultural roots of these differences, the paper argues that spouses adapt, negotiate, and change their expectations to each other in response to the cultural encounters that deviate from their familiar cultural patterns. The data for the research was collected by the author between 2006 and 2014 in urban areas of Japan. It consists in-depth interviews with Russian-speaking women (48) and Japanese men (20), participant observation in couples’ homes, women’s gatherings, and communication in an online Russian-language community. The analysis reveals the effects of cultural differences on relationships between spouses in international marriages in Japan, discusses the fluidity and change of cultural notions over time, and explains how spouses justify these changes.

The paper addresses the recent and growing phenomenon of mixed sentimental
unions. It centers on heterosexual couples integrated by a Spanish man and a foreign
woman of Latin American or Slavic origin, wich are the predominant in Spain. The initial
hypothesis relates this phenomenon to transformations in the gender system in Spain,
and contextualizes it in the new global order, characterized by the increase and facility
for communication and mobility. Attention is drawn to the motivations expressed by the
social actors involved in these unions.

Seventy- three per cent of Mexican migration to Italy are women (Institute of Mexicans Abroad, 2016) and most of them have fallen in love with an Italian man. They said they had left a job, a house and a family to realize a kind of European dream. Unfortunately, sometimes the dream does not go as planned. Through a detailed analysis of 35 interviews with migrant Mexican women from different Italian regions and by using an ethnographic approach; this article argues that there is a love migration phenomenon in Italy. This kind of migration, which has not been motivated by a political or economical reason, is out of the Mexican migration studies for its apparently low numeri- cal consistency. As a result, the process of being a woman in another country is most of the times ig- nored. Hence to work with identity, love and migration some important questions may arise: How is it to be a wife, a mother or a widow when migrating? How does the identity have to change or adapt? What are the cultural heritage patterns that are followed and what are the ones that are lost? The study invites to explore this questions from a interdiscplinary approach to discover another side of the migration phenomenon.
Key words: auto representation, love and migration, identity, simbolic violence, bicultural relationship, narrative, gender.

Series Description:

We are eager to consider original scholarship on cutting-edge themes and issues for this series. The intention of this series is to fill a gap in research by examining the politics of marriage and related practices, ideologies, and interpretations, and to address the key question of how the politics of marriage has affected social, cultural, and political processes, relations, and boundaries. The series will look at the complex relationships between the politics of marriage and gender, ethnic, national, religious, racial, and class identities, and will analyze how these relationships contribute to the development and management of social and political differences, inequalities, and conflicts.

Traditionally in South-Asian culture, a bride moves to the groom’s household upon marriage. However, transnational marriages [a marriage between two people from different countries] can provide an exception to the norm since upon marriage, men can be seen to move into their wives’ households. These men are referred to as ghar dhamads [house son-in-law], a role reversal of the daughter-in-laws who would normally hold weak positions within their households. This study examines whether the weak position of the ghar dhamad can translate into domestic violence against him.

This paper draws on 2.5 months of fieldwork across five UK cities, where qualitative interviews were conducted with ghar dhamads and community member subjects (CMS). A total of 113 cases were presented which demonstrated that the weak position of the ghar dhamad can translate into domestic violence against him. The British-Pakistani family’s ability to provide the ghar dhamad with a wife and social identity, enables them to monopolise kinship and economic affairs, at both intra and inter-family levels in order to exercise the highest form of control: control over men. The study reveals that although izzat [honour] is usually seen to be involved with the excessive control over women, wives and their natal families exploit notions of shame and masculinity to subordinate and entrap the ghar dhamad.

It is therefore questioned whether the uxorilocal transnational marriage is safe. While the results indicate that importing a husband protects women’s interest and can serve to further the motivations of the patriarchal authority of the wife’s household, it places the ghar dhamad in a vulnerable position. Moreover, women formed the largest group responsible for committing domestic violence, suggesting that they have more agency than is normative in the British-Pakistani community. A ‘feminisation of marriage’ may thus be occurring. The dissertation concludes that the reality of the ghar dhamad suggests the British-Pakistani family system is not a rigid or static structure; rather marriage forms are diverse and complex.

This timely report sheds light on the little known phenomenon of transnational marriage abandonment, a problem involving the abandonment of foreign national wives in their country of origin by their husbands who are nationals or residents of another country.

L’article porte sur les parcours de femmes originaires de Russie, de Biélorussie et d’Ukraine, arrivées en France après 1991 et vivant ou ayant vécu en couple avec des hommes français. Basée sur des entretiens biographiques réalisés depuis janvier 2015, à Paris et dans différentes régions de France, notre étude s’intéresse à l’expérience des inégalités au sein du couple en prenant en compte l’articulation entre les trajectoires professionnelles et conjugales de ces femmes. Notre enquête montre que leurs parcours sont différenciés, ne se réduisant pas à des situations monolithiques de dépendance et de domination. Les  formes d’accomplissement personnel et conjugal sont relatées selon cinq modes, traduisant des configurations variées d’accommodement aux rapports sociaux de genre plus ou moins asymétriques au sein des couples : la normalisation, l’émancipation, l’ascension, l’autonomisation et le ressentiment.

This timely report sheds light on the little known phenomenon of transnational marriage abandonment, a problem involving the abandonment of foreign national wives in their country of origin by their husbands who are nationals or residents of another country.

This multidisciplinary collection investigates the ways in which marriage and partner migration processes have become the object of state scrutiny, and the site of sustained political interventions in several states
around the world. Covering cases as varied as the United States, Canada, Japan, Iran, France, Belgium or the Netherlands, among others, contributors reveal how marriage and partner migration have become battlegrounds for political participation, control, and exclusion. Which forms of attachments (towards the family, the nation, or specific individuals) have become framed as risks to be managed? How do such preoccupations translate into policies? With what consequences for those affected by them, in terms of
rights and access to citizenship? The book answers these questions by analyzing the interplay between issues of security, citizenship and rights from the perspectives of migrants and policymakers, but also from
actors who negotiate encounters with the state, such as lawyers, non-governmental organizations, and translators.

The Domestic Abuse Bill underwent its second reading in the UK Parliament on 28th April 2020. This briefing informed the debate by presenting detailed and nuanced research spanning 2013-2019 from Oxford University, and University College London. This research demonstrates that Muslim migrant men can also experience domestic violence and therefore, the bill should be inclusive of the experiences of invisible groups such as Muslim migrant men.

dentities in Practice draws a nuanced picture of how the experience of migration affects the process through which Sikhs in Finland and California negotiate their identities. What makes this study innovative with regard to the larger context of migration studies is the contrast it provides between experiences at two Sikh migration destinations. By using an ethnographic approach, Hirvi reveals how practices carried out in relation to work, dress, the life-cycle, as well as religious and cultural sites, constitute important moments in which Sikhs engage in the often transnational art of negotiating identities.

Laura Hirvi’s rich ethnographic account brings to the fore how the construction of identities is a creative process that is conditioned and infiltrated by questions of power. Identities in Practice will appeal to scholars who are interested in the study of cultures, identities, migration, religion, and transnationalism.

With the ever-increasing demand for English language education around the world comes an increase in the transnational mobility of individuals from English-speaking countries who choose to teach abroad. During their stay, some sojourning teachers have met and married locals becoming long-term residents. English being a language of cultural capital often implies that families want English to be passed on intergenerationally. Thus, family language policies privilege English, yet this choice can often come at the expense of the transnational English-speaking spouses’ investment in the local language. In this study, the narratives of two North American women married to South Korean nationals residing in South Korea share their experiences in their Korean language investment. Family language policy and Darvin and Norton’s (2015) model of investment were utilised to shed light on the language learning experiences of both women. The study found that language investment is not unidirectional; language ideologies affect language investment, practices, and the shifting identity of transnational spouses, while at the same time impact the language ideologies and practices of the home. Furthermore, investment as a theoretical construct helped to further explain how identity, capital, and ideologies in South Korea intersected on the individual level and influenced the transnational wives’ language investment.

Cosmologies of destinations investigates some commonly neglected dimensions of forced migration. It examines the key symbolic structures and social mechanisms which encourage and sustain the mobility trajectories of Eritreans from their home country to Ethiopia, Sudan, Italy and beyond. The central argument is that, in refugee-producing countries which suffer from protracted crisis and livelihood disruption, refugee movements become much more than a form of reactive mobility. Within these communities, becoming a refugee is not only a way to escape oppressive conditions but also the outcome of socially and symbolically embedded strategies aimed at personal realization and family well-being. Building on a multi-sited ethnography of the everyday life of Eritrean refugees in a number of settings (including homes, refugee camps, urban squats, and other settings of sociability) in their home country as well as in Ethiopia, Sudan and Italy, the thesis explores the range of social and economic resources needed to circumvent legal and geographic borders, and the moral and cultural norms that underpin these practices. It contributes to the theorization of refugee mobility, which is currently somewhat underdeveloped, by providing a framework to analyse high-risk forced migration, based on an emic understanding and systematic description of the living conditions, life aspirations and risk perceptions of Eritreans in their home country and in transit to Europe. The study feeds into the broader debate on the blurring boundaries between labour and forced migration by emphasising the social and cultural, along with the structural, determinants of mobility and immobility.
The thesis is divided into five chapters. The first analyses the conditions that make exit a widespread and legitimate, albeit controversial, option for young people in Eritrea. The second chapter provides accounts of refugees' everyday lives in the first safe countries (Ethiopia and Sudan), chronicling the dynamics that trigger secondary movements towards Europe. The third analyses the lives of Eritrean refugees in Italy, documenting the conditions that activate further mobility within Europe. The fourth chapter describes the migratory infrastructures that allow for these refugee movements, including the role played by transnational marriages, smugglers and family networks. The final chapter provides a micro-analysis of decision-making, aimed at explaining the willingness of refugees to take great risks at different stages of the migration process. A methodological note narrates how the research was carried out in the various sites and analyses the implications of multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork with refugees.

Spouses constitute the largest category of migrant settlement in the UK. In Britain, as elsewhere in Europe, concern is increasingly expressed over the implications of marriage-related migration for integration. In some ethnic minority groups, significant numbers of children and grandchildren of former immigrants continue to marry partners from their ancestral homelands. Such marriages are presented as particularly problematic: a 'first generation' of spouses in every generation may inhibit processes of individual and group integration, impeding socio-economic participation and cultural change. New immigration restrictions likely to impact particularly on such groups have thus been justified on the grounds of promoting integration. The evidence base to underpin this concern is, however, surprisingly limited, and characterised by differing and often partial understandings of the contested and politicised concept of integration. This project combined analysis of relevant quant...

This study applies exchange theory to transnational marriages between descendants of migrants to Europe, and partners from their (grand)parents’ country of origin. Such marriages could offer socio-economic benefits for the European partner/family, if the opportunity of migration attracts a more highly educated spouse. The translation of educational capital into socio-economic benefits, however, is mediated by the labour market position of migrant spouses. In this study we explore the relationships between transnational marriage, education, and employment, by comparing the characteristics of spouses in transnational couples with those in intranational couples. Analyses are based on UK Labour Force Survey data (2004–2014) for two groups in which transnational marriage is common—Pakistani Muslims and Indian Sikhs. We find that educational homogamy is the dominant pattern in both intranational and transnational couples, and that migrant spouses have a disadvantaged labour market position compared to non-migrant spouses with the same level of education—with variation across gender and ethnic groups. Our findings do not support a view of transnational marriage as socio-economic exchange but do suggest education plays a role in spousal choice in these marriages.

Open access (free for all) at https://academic.oup.com/esr/article/35/1/133/5116188

This book provides the first sustained empirical evidence on the relationships between marriage migration and processes of integration, focusing on two of the largest British ethnic minority groups involved in these kinds of transnational marriages – Pakistani Muslims and Indian Sikhs. In Britain, and across Europe, concern has been increasingly expressed over the implications of marriage-related migration for integration. Children and grandchildren of former immigrants marrying partners from their ancestral ‘homelands’ is often presented as problematic in forming a 'first generation in every generation,’ and inhibiting processes of individual and group integration, impeding socio-economic participation and cultural change. As a result, immigration restrictions have been justified on the grounds of promoting integration, despite limited evidence. Marriage Migration and Integration provides much needed new grounding for both academic and policy debates. This book draws on both quantitative and qualitative data to compare transnational ‘homeland’ marriages with intra-ethnic marriages within the UK. Using a distinctive holistic model of integration, the authors examine processes in multiple interacting domains, such as employment, education, social networks, extended family living, gender relations and belonging. It will be of use to students and scholars across sociology, social anthropology, and social policy with a focus on migration, integration, family studies, gender, and ethnic studies, as well as policy-makers and service providers in the UK and across Europe.

Tens of thousands of Eritreans make perilous voyages across Africa and the Mediterranean Sea every year. Why do they risk their lives to reach European countries where so many more hardships await them? By visiting family homes in Eritrea and living with refugees in camps and urban peripheries across Ethiopia, Sudan, and Italy, Milena Belloni untangles the reasons behind one of the most under-researched refugee populations today. Balancing encounters with refugees and their families, smugglers, and visa officers, The Big Gamble contributes to ongoing debates about blurred boundaries between forced and voluntary migration, the complications of transnational marriages, the social matrix of smuggling, and the role of family expectations, emotions, and values in migrants’ choices of destinations.

This paper analyzes intercultural issues in marriages between Japanese men and women from former Soviet Union countries. Focusing on the differences in meanings and assumptions that guide couples in their marriages and the historical-cultural roots of these differences, the paper argues that spouses adapt, negotiate, and change their expectations to each other in response to the cultural encounters that deviate from their familiar cultural patterns. The data for the research was collected by the author between 2006 and 2014 in urban areas of Japan. It consists in-depth interviews with Russian-speaking women (48) and Japanese men (20), participant observation in couples’ homes, women’s gatherings, and communication in an online Russian language community. The analysis reveals the effects of cultural differences on relationships between spouses in international marriages in Japan, discusses the fluidity and change of cultural notions over time, and explains how spouses justify these changes.

Spouses constitute the largest category of migrant settlement in the UK. In Britain, as elsewhere in Europe, concern is increasingly expressed over the implications of marriage-related migration for integration. In some ethnic minority groups, significant numbers of children and grandchildren of former immigrants continue to marry partners from their ancestral homelands. Such marriages are presented as particularly problematic: a 'first generation' of spouses in every generation may inhibit processes of individual and group integration, impeding socio-economic participation and cultural change. New immigration restrictions likely to impact particularly on such groups have thus been justified on the grounds of promoting integration. The evidence base to underpin this concern is, however, surprisingly limited, and characterised by differing and often partial understandings of the contested and politicised concept of integration. This project combined analysis of relevant quant...

As social and cultural contexts change and globalization spreads, the number of transnational-marriage migrants mainly from Southeast Asia has increased in Taiwan. Using institutional ethnography, this paper investigates the roles of local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and projects aimed at helping foreign spouses to adapt to their new life. I mainly elaborate that NGOs emerge as important actors in assisting and empowering transnational spouses to ‘become locals’. In empowerment projects, foreign spouses are given a voice to elaborate themselves. However, this paper elaborates that these projects are a scheme of education to shape each such migrant into a proper ‘Taiwanese wife/mother/daughter-in-law’. Also, these projects particularly promote ‘exoticism’ of migrants and become key sources of how local people understand the images of ‘foreign spouses’. As a result, though NGOs play positive roles in empowering foreign spouses, we need to be aware that NGOs’ efforts may ironically become a mechanism to strengthen transnational spouses’ gender roles and cultural stereotypes.

The paper addresses the recent and growing phenomenon of mixed sentimental unions. It centers on heterosexual couples integrated by a Spanish man and a foreign woman of Latin American or Slavic origin, wich are the predominant in Spain. The initial hypothesis relates this phenomenon to transformations in the gender system in Spain, and contextualizes it in the new global order, characterized by the increase and facility for communication and mobility. Attention is drawn to the motivations expressed by the social actors involved in these unions.

This article examines the marriage of Jorge de Lencastre and Ana Doria Colona, the first duke and duchess of Torres Novas, by focusing on its context, negotiations and celebration. It recalls the family strategy of the duke and duchess of Aveiro to contextualize the matrimony that their firstborn son celebrated in the early seventeenth century. It also examines the negotiations leading up to this union to enquire whether the Crown intervened in this border-crossing marriage and to identify the benefits it produced for the House of Aveiro. The article pays attention to the ceremonial dimension of the event through a close analysis of a manuscript description of the festivities. In approaching the marriage from those perspectives, the intention is to evaluate the several layers of meaning for this marriage celebrated at a time when Portugal was incorporated into the Hispanic monarchy. Aside from its dynastic and material significance, the article discusses the political and identity discourses performed in the wedding celebrations and reproduced in the written report. Despite being short-lived, the marriage (and its related festivities) did achieve multiple goals, from serving the interests of the Habsburgs and earning valuable benefits in return for the family, to evoking the ‘grandness and royalness’ of the House of Aveiro.