Everyday Politics of (In)formal Marital Dissolution in Cambodia and Indonesia

Abstract

Placing contemporary marriage and its dissolution at its heart, this paper explores rural women's experiences of customary and legal unions in Cambodia and Indonesia. We contend that women's navigation in-between 'informal' ethics and morals versus 'formal' state-sponsored legal doctrine constitute a form of 'everyday politics' that has been unduly neglected. Critiquing the taken-for-granted nature of marriage in academic scholarship, we show how the axiomatic notion that marriage registration is inherently beneficial to women is complicated by the nonlinear and mobile trajectories of conjugality in our two case study communities. In turn, we call for marriage and its breakdown to receive more sustained and nuanced analysis as the primary unit of Southeast Asian life.

In the Case of Union Dissolution of Couples with Children. Who Decides to Avoid the Courts and Why?

“…The literature addressing the factors that contribute to the avoidance of legal option is almost non-existent and mainly consists of qualitative studies conducted in countries where legal procedures coexist with other informal strategies regulating union formation and dissolution (Brickell & Platt, 2015). We, therefore, present a review of the literature that examines the role of certain factors contributing to union dissolution in shaping couples’ decisions to avoid legal proceedings.…”

Parenting Practices and Child Mortality in Remarried/Repartnered Families in Cambodia

“…The Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey data from the year 2000 indicate that genocide, the resulting gender imbalances, and rapid changes in development, including increases in women’s education and employment, are some of the factors associated with divorce (Heuveling & Poch, 2006; National Institute of Statistics and Directorate General for Health, 2001). Due to the sanctity of marriage, divorce has only recently become an appropriate response to cases of spousal abuse (Brickell, 2015) and, even so, courts and village leaders consistently have shown a preference for reconciliation over divorce, even in the case of domestic violence (Brickell & Platt, 2015; CAMBOW, 2007). The stigma related to divorce is embedded in cultural values that encourage women to seek harmony in the family and resolution to marital discord above all else (Brickell, 2014).…”

Islam, legal geography and methodological challenges in Indonesia

“…The implications of the legal pluralism resulting from entwinement of adat, different interpretations of Islamic law and state law (Geertz 1971;Brickell & Platt 2015), resonate with feminist legal geographies (Brickell & Cuomo 2019) that investigate the bodily connotations of law. Researchers working on Indonesia have analysed the consequences of such legal pluralism and its potential injustices in relation to children and women in legal regimes relating to marriage and divorce (Butt 2008;O'Shaughnessy 2008;Bedner & Van Huis 2010), sexual identities (Blackwood 2005) and the counter-agency of women's groups (Aisyah & Parker 2014;Eidhamar 2017) resisting patriarchal readings of Islamic texts (Van Doorn-Harder 2006).…”