Taking Private Life Seriously: Marriage and Nationhood

Abstract

In her path-breaking book, Public Vows: A History of Marriage and the Nation , Nancy Cott notes how although marriage is commonly viewed as part of private life, assumptions about marriage have been an integral part of public policy and had implications for citizenship. 1 A number of American colonies passed laws that aimed to prevent intermarriage between white and Negro or mulatto persons, in order to retain the dominance of the white race. Marriage and the nation are, therefore, intimately entwined, and histories which explore the intimate ties created by marriage are likely to throw new light on the evolution of nationhood.Marriage, as a public institution, was the place where the state most directly shaped gendered authority. Monogamy and heterosexuality have been traditionally upheld in British colonies, whereas bigamy and homosexuality were proscribed. Unlike other contracts, Cott points out that the terms of marriage partnerships were not written by the partners but were inscribed in law. 2 Stability was often seen to reside in the homes of the nation and, at its heart, was the married couple. Studies of marriage, therefore, have the potential to link private life and the aspirations of individuals with the wider history of the state.In the imperial context, feminist scholars such as

Ngāi Tahu Historiography

“…Marriage is an important area of study, because as a public institution, it 'was the place were the state most directly shaped gendered authority' and family life. 13 Studies of intimacy, or the 'tense and tender ties' of colonialism, provide models of how narratives of colonial power and authority can be married with personal stories of encounter. 14 New Zealand has not experienced any formal legal prohibitions as to intermarriage between M-ori and European.…”