Transnational divorce and remarriage between Pakistan and Britain: Intersectionality, harmful immigration rules and internal racism

Abstract

This paper examines marital instabilities in the transnational social field connecting Pakistan and Britain, distinguishing between first marriages and remarriages. In British Pakistani families, national statistics show transnational marriage to be the dominant practice, although there is significant differentiation in its popularity. I show that in their remarriages, participants reevaluate the merits of transnational marriage, based on their experience of their unsuccessful first marriage. Despite considerable ambivalence towards cross-border marriage, remarriage continues to be a channel for marriage migration because British nationality, citizenship and permanent settlement status can raise a participant's marital capital in a transnational social field, mitigating the devalued identity associated with divorce. Overall, the material raises concerns about internal racial discrimination and the harmful immigration policies that enable and support such processes. I show the necessity of adopting a combined intersectional and transnational approach to the study of transnational divorce.

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

“…In addition, it is evident that most studies focus on one specific social space of migrants, and often overlook the transnational dimension of their lives. In line with Al-Sharmani (2017), Urbańska (2016) and the articles in this Special Issue (Fresnoza-Flot, 2017;Gaspar et al, 2021;Qureshi, 2020;Sportel, 2021), this study analyses migrants' ability to negotiate with different issues and norms and to rely simultaneously on resources located in different countries. To gain deeper understanding of the link between migration and divorce, it adopts a global view on the process of migration by including the period before and after migration in the analysis.…”

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

“…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.…”

“…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.…”

“…Finally, Lèvy's study shows that in China where an intact family is highly valued, divorced women migrate abroad due to the combined effects of their gender (mother role for their stay‐behind children) and social class (limited economic resources). These categories – gender and social class – also interact sometimes with other axes of power such as filiation (Fresnoza‐Flot, 2021), religious belonging, and generation (Qureshi, 2020; Sportel, 2021). What influences the intersection of these categories appears to be the broader social context the divorcing couples inhabit.…”

Bakabuang Phenomenon in Minangkabau Society: a Covert Human Trafficking Action

“…Even the Prophet Muhammad emphasized in his hadith from Abdullah bin Mas'ud, which was later narrated by Imam Tarmizi, that "Allah shall curse the muhallil and muhallal lahu." Yet, many Islamic scholars state that the use of a muhallil lahu for a cina buta or bakabuang marriage is halal [permissible or lawful] and that this type of marriage utilizing a muhallil lahu is a tahlil marriage or halalah [legalizing or making something halal] (Blenkhorn, 2002;Bone, 2020;Dew et al, 2012;Putra, 2017;Qureshi, 2020;Sabiq, 1994;Salam, 2020;Uddin, 2018).…”