Intersecting categories in the dissolution of transnational marriages: A socio‐legal perspective

Abstract

As divorces take place increasingly across national borders, many former partners find themselves in complex situations entangled in more than one state during which some categories of difference intersect, (re)creating inequalities and precarity.Through a socio-legal perspective combined with transnational and intersectional approaches, the present study elucidates the link between these intersections and the legal aspects of divorce. Examining Filipino migrant women's divorces in transna-

Migrate to divorce, to overcome divorce, or to avoid divorce? Divorce and migration nexus among Chinese (wo)men migrants in Paris

“…The cases of Filipino female migrants illuminate migrants' agency: they circumvent the legal interdiction of divorce in their home country and divorce abroad; some even remarry legally, even if their new matrimonial status might not be recognized in the Philippines (Constable, 2003; Lauser, 2008). Fresnoza‐Flot (2018, 2019, n.d.) focuses on the process of divorce of European‐Filipino couples, showing how spouses navigate the laws and might succeed or renounce to take advantage of their ‘limping divorce’.…”

Divorce in transnational families: Norms, networks, and intersecting categories

“…Concerning the literature on divorce in transnational families, our Special Issue takes part in the ongoing development of the concept “transnational divorce” (see Constable, 2003; S. Quah, 2018; I. D. A. Sportel, 2014). This concept has been understood in the divorce literature as “a marital dissolution transcending national borders, [that] concerns individuals and/or groups beyond the couple, and involves multiple interacting categories from which to glean power dynamics and their implications” (Fresnoza‐Flot, 2021 in this Special Issue: 3). We uncover the inequalities that such divorce entails using an intersectional approach, which illuminates state policies and social norms shaping an individual's divorce experience.…”

“…Five empirical research‐based papers comprise the present special issue, and all of them adopt qualitative data‐gathering methods. These contributions examine the experiences of transnational couples and involve migrants from Asia (Fresnoza‐Flot, 2021; Lévy, 2022; and Qureshi, 2020), Africa (Sportel, 2021; see also Gaspar et al, 2021), and Latin America (Gaspar et al, 2021). They engage in meaningful dialogue with one another by bringing to the fore the dominant elements and forces that shape the lives of the separating or divorced couples in their transnational social spaces: social and legal norms, social networks of support, and categories of difference.…”

“…Fresnoza‐Flot shows that Filipino migrant women may end up in an economically disadvantaged situation after a marital breakdown in Europe but find themselves in legal advantage over the former husband relating to marital properties in the country of origin. The above studies (Fresnoza‐Flot, 2021; Gaspar et al, 2021) exemplify that law is not a neutral system externally working on social relations, but part of a normative order working together with hierarchies of power and producing meanings of what “proper” families, “proper” wives (Bonjour & De Hart, 2013) and “proper” divorces (I. D. A. Sportel, 2011) are or ought to be.…”

“…The earlier mentioned discourses on transnational marriages, as a legal gateway to migration – “marriages of convenience” (D'Aoust, 2013; see also Gaspar et al, 2021 and Lèvy, 2022) and bezness (Sportel, 2021) – and as a way to access the nation (Qureshi, 2020), run counter the continued legal precariousness of migrant partners in transnational families after a marital break‐up in their receiving countries (Fresnoza‐Flot, 2021; Gaspar et al, 2021; Lévy, 2022), or in their cross‐border social spaces (Kim et al, 2017). Whether and how migrants can address this legal precariousness also depends on their transnational family networks.…”