Stories of conflict: Ethnicity, social class, and difference in transnational divorce narratives

Abstract

Based on a study of transnational divorce in Dutch-Moroccan and Dutch-Egyptian families, this paper will analyse the role of ethnicity, social class and difference in transnational divorce narratives. It will show how public narratives on marriage migration, fraudulent marriages and cultural difference influence the stories people tell about their marriage and subsequent divorce and how they make sense of their experiences. These public narratives are not limited to a national context but move across borders, circulating in transnational social fields. By studying at both intraethnic and inter-ethnic relationships, this paper also aims to further complicate notions of ethnicity in transnational relationships. By studying these two categories of transnational marriage together, it becomes clear how ethnicity intersects with other social inequalities such as social class as well as how differences ascribed to regional origin can produce ethnic differences even within inter-ethnic marriages.

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.…”