Contesting categories: cross-border marriages from the perspectives of the state, spouses and researchers. Issue 2 (25th January 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Moret, Joëlle; Andrikopoulos, Apostolos; Dahinden, Janine
• Is Part Of: Journal of ethnic and migration studies. Volume 47:Issue 2(2021)
• Page Start: 325
• Page End: 342
• Publication Date: 2021-01-25
• Subjects: Cross-border marriages -- reflexivity -- nation-states -- marriage migration -- categories; Ethnic relations -- Periodicals; Race relations -- Periodicals; Emigration and immigration -- Periodicals; Assimilation (Sociology) -- Periodicals; 305.8005
• DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2019.1625124
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1369-183X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: 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 non-acceptable 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.