When men migrate for marriage: negotiating partnerships and gender roles in cross-border marriages between rural Kosovo and the EU

Leutloff‐Grandits, Carolin

doi:10.1080/1369183x.2019.1625133

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Block (2019) carefully analyses how German legislators and policymakers mobilise gender equality and women's emancipation in the construction of 'good' and 'proper' marriages, scrutinising cross-border marriages to make sure that they are not 'forced' or 'arranged'. Leutloff-Grandits (2019) demonstrates that imaginaries of cross-border marriages as potentially patriarchal neglect the fact that marriage migrants are often men whose power in marriage is undermined: in contrast to the common rhetoric that women are subordinated in cross-border marriages, she shows that it is the migration experience itself and the restrictive state regulations involved that impact gender relations in marriages between men from rural Kosovo and their wives living in Europe. Jashari, Dahinden, and Moret (2019) document the impact of state categories on the positioning of so-called third-country prospective migrants waiting to receive their family visa to join their spouse in Europe: the authors show how, for instance, these prospective migrants build on alternative class hierarchies to counter national (and culturalist) categories that legitimise the hurdles they encounter.…”

Section: Beyond State Categories: Alternative Epistemologies Methodomentioning

confidence: 99%

Contesting categories: cross-border marriages from the perspectives of the state, spouses and researchers

Moret

Andrikopoulos

Dahinden

2019

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

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Marriages that involve the migration of at least one of the spouses challenge two intersecting facets of the politics of belonging: the making of the 'good and legitimate citizens' and the 'acceptable family'. In Europe, cross-border marriages have been the target of increasing state controls, an issue of public concern and the object of scholarly research. The study of cross-border marriages and the ways these marriages are framed is inevitably affected by states' concerns and priorities. There is a need for a reflexive assessment of how the categories employed by state institutions and agents have impacted the study of cross-border marriages. The introduction to this Special Issue analyses what is at stake in the regulation of cross-border marriages and how European states use particular categories (e.g. 'sham', 'forced' and 'mixed' marriages) to differentiate between acceptable and nonacceptable marriages. When researchers use these categories unreflexively, they risk reproducing nation-centred epistemologies and reinforcing state-informed hierarchies and forms of exclusion. We suggest ways to avoid these pitfalls: differentiating between categories of analysis and categories of practice, adopting methodologies that do not mirror nation-states' logic and engaging with general social theory outside migration studies. The empirical contributions of the Special Issue offer new insights into a timely topic.

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Section: Beyond State Categories: Alternative Epistemologies Methodomentioning

confidence: 99%

Contesting categories: cross-border marriages from the perspectives of the state, spouses and researchers

Moret

Andrikopoulos

Dahinden

2019

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

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“…The fight against 'sham marriages' and the policing of other non-acceptable marriages (e.g. 'forced', 'arranged', 'polygamous') in the Netherlands and many European countries have been presented as measures to protect women (Block, 2021;Leutloff-Grandits, 2021;Muller Myrdahl 2010;Carver 2016). Marriages with Dutch women are more likely to be suspected by immigration authorities as 'sham' than marriages with Dutch men (De Hart 2003;Kulu-Glasgow, Smit, and Jennissen 2017).…”

Section: Who Fears Love? Gender Inequality and Romantic Lovementioning

confidence: 99%

Love, money and papers in the affective circuits of cross-border marriages: beyond the ‘sham’/‘genuine’ dichotomy

Andrikopoulos¹

2023

Cross-Border Marriages

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In the name of women's protection, Dutch immigration authorities police cross-border marriages differentiating between acceptable and non-acceptable forms of marriage (e.g. 'forced', 'sham', 'arranged'). The categorisation of marriages between 'sham' and 'genuine' derives from the assumption that interest and love are and should be unconnected. Nevertheless, love and interest are closely entwined and their consideration as separate is not only misleading but affects the exchanges that take place within marriage and, therefore, has particular implications for spouses, especially for women. The ethnographic analysis of marriages between unauthorised African male migrants and (non-Dutch) EU female citizens, often suspected by immigration authorities of being 'sham', demonstrate the complex articulation of love and interest and the consequences of neglecting this entanglementboth for the spouses and scholars. The cases show that romantic love is not a panacea for unequal gender relations and may place women in a disadvantaged positionall the more so because the norms of love are gendered and construe self-sacrifice as more fundamental in women's manifestations of love than that of men's.

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“…Cross‐border marriages are not necessarily fit into the ‘patriarchal’ category. For example, men from rural Kosovo migrated to Austria or Germany as they married a bridge from a ‘Kosovan’ background and their gender roles are subject to negotiation (Leutloff‐Grandits, 2021). These male marriage migrants may be doubly marginalized by their ethnic communities as well as by the majority society.…”

Section: Assortative Mating and Cross‐border Marriagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cross‐border marriages in pre‐ and post‐handover Hong Kong

Lui¹

2022

Population Space and Place

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Given the ever‐increasing economic and social ties with the Mainland, Hong Kong‐Mainland cross‐border marriage patterns experienced significant changes after the handover. The proportion of cross‐border marriages only accounted for 2% of marriages registered in Hong Kong in the pre‐handover period but jumped to 34.7% after the handover. This study examines the impact of stronger economic ties and weakened social and cultural boundaries on the patterns of assortative mating in cross‐border marriages. As most of the cross‐border workers from Hong Kong are males, they have increasing opportunities for social interaction with Mainland women in communities and social circles in the Mainland. After the handover, the language skills of residents on both sides showed significant improvement and this can enhance the possibility of finding a marriage partner across the border. Empirical results suggest a weaker positive assortative mating in respect of age and educational attainment among Hong Kong husband‐Mainland wife couples after the handover. Previous studies suggest that marital partner selection reflects the strength of social boundaries and the strength of these boundaries should be stronger for cross‐border marriages. The results of this paper support the view that stronger economic ties and weakened social and cultural boundaries do promote cross‐border marriages and negative assortative mating in these marriages.

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When men migrate for marriage: negotiating partnerships and gender roles in cross-border marriages between rural Kosovo and the EU

Cited by 8 publications

References 21 publications

Contesting categories: cross-border marriages from the perspectives of the state, spouses and researchers

Contesting categories: cross-border marriages from the perspectives of the state, spouses and researchers

Love, money and papers in the affective circuits of cross-border marriages: beyond the ‘sham’/‘genuine’ dichotomy

Cross‐border marriages in pre‐ and post‐handover Hong Kong

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