Contesting categories

Cross-Border Marriages From the Perspectives of the State, Spouses and Researchers

Bibliographic Data

ID3623967
AuthorsJoëlle Moret, Apostolos Andrikopoulos (0000-0002-4672-777X), J Dahinden (0000-0003-1806-3520)
Year2021
Volume47
Issue2
Pages325-342
Publication date2021-01-25
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueNew Community (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-9586 • E-ISSN: 1469-9451
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1369183x.2019.1625124
OpenAlexW2961259402
LanguageEN
Citations received67
References cited75

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

Criminology · Object (grammar · Political science · Politics · Reflexivity · Social science · Sociology · State (computer science · Gender Studies · Law · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Social Policy and Reform Studies