Marriage Migration Research Articles

Reena Kukreja. Why Would I Be Married Here? Marriage Migration and Dispossession in Neoliberal India

Reena Kukreja. Why Would I Be Married Here? Marriage Migration and Dispossession in Neoliberal India

여성결혼이민자 가정 유아의 또래 간 상호작용에 대한 보육교사의 경험

This study was to analyze day care center teachers’experience for peer interaction of infant from female international marriage migrant. Fourteen teachers who take care the infant in day care center were interviewed in-depth for more than an hour. The collected data were analyzed by procedures of Bogdan and Biklen(1992) after the transcription. The resulted showed that peer interaction pattern of the infant were categorized into 5 patterns, included solitary play pattern, aggressive pattern, non-dominant obey pattern, interaction with only younger pattern, and pro-social pattern. Also, the resulted showed that non-dominant obey pattern and interaction with only younger pattern were for infant from female international marriage migrant only. And the basic etiquette, speech ability, personality, and interaction with teacher were factors that influenced peer interaction. Also the basic etiquette and speech ability were for infant from female international marriage migrant only. The findings can be used to increase the positive peer interaction.

대구지역의 일본인 디아스포라에 관한 질적 연구

This paper is a qualitative study of the Japanese diaspora in Daegu Metropolitan City. To this end, the purpose is to analyze storytelling using an autoethnography thesis method. Data collection was preceded by reflective background, educational experience, graduate coursework, and field investigation from critical thinking about the world of the self. Analysis results: First, it was analyzed as a researcher's self-realization, a common history, second, a marriage migration community excluded from the community, third, It was analyzed as social capital. In this study, a series of research processes and results suggesting changes in the perspective of the nature of diaspora were an extension of diaspora research, and it is meaningful in that it derived diaspora autoethnography thesis method based on practical experience.

Transnational marriage networks for intra-Asian circuit of mobilities, investment and development: Vietnamese marriage migrant women’s investments in Vietnam

This article was published open access under a CC BY licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/ This paper introduces the case of marriage migration into the debate on the intra-Asian circuit of capital flow, human mobilities and urban and regional development. While intra-Asian marriage migration lies at the intersection of governmental policy, increased capital flow and human mobilities, it has been absent from the discussion on capital flows within the global East. Employing ethnographic research methods, we explain how Vietnamese marriage migrants in South Korea and their Korean husbands restyled their remittances to invest in land and businesses in hometowns, the Mekong Delta area and big cities through transnational marriage networks. Explanations for what caused marriage migrants’ position to evolve include a discussion of macro-politics of political and economic reforms in South Korea and Vietnam and the micro-politics of transnational networks. By demonstrating the roles of transnational marriage networks, this research contributes to the debates on migration-developmentmobility circuit.

Remarriage migration of women in Asia: The case of Japan

AbstractThis study aims to confirm the diversity of intra‐Asian female marriage migrants in Japan with comprehensive statistics. Methodologically, I used quantitative method, collecting appropriate data from local demographic and immigration statistics in Japan. Simultaneously, I reviewed related empirical studies on the various factors affecting marriage migration, including those written in the local language (Japanese). Results indicate that 42.9 per cent of intra‐Asian female marriage migrants in Japan were middle‐aged women whose marriages to Japanese men were their second. Beyond a simple development–migration nexus perspective on marriage migration in Asia, middle‐aged women entering Japan for their second marriage often aim to escape social stigmatization and poverty and to overcome the difficulties of marrying late or remarrying in their own countries. A more complex intersectionality of gender–class–age stigmatization should be considered to understand marriage migration. The findings have important policy implications for both origin and destination countries.

A Narrative Inquiry into Educational Decision-Making in Thai-Japanese Families in Thailand

In the past decades, marriage migrants in Asia, including Thai-Japanese couples, have increased. Previous literature predominantly focused on issues related to adaptation and integration for foreign wives into the host society underlining the hypergamous (marrying a spouse of a higher status) nature of their marriage, which renders the majority of husbands and non-hypergamous marriages understudied. Therefore, the current study focuses on a population that includes husbands and wives, Japanese migrants, and Thai spouses. This study is exploratory and employed a qualitative approach with snowball sampling, which resulted in the inclusion of five Thai nationals and three of their Japanese spouses raising children in Thailand as participants. The study aims to examine their educational decision-making, including the language used in each family and school choice, since the parenting process is a succession of adjustments in response to the conditions of society, where values are explicitly manifested. Data were collected through face-to-face or online interviews, and content analysis was used to clarify themes. Analysis revealed factors that relate educational decisions to preconditions, such as the place of the first encounter, socioeconomic status, and location of their home. Another prominent issue is the strong belief in the English language. All participants claim that their decisions were made unanimously, while their characteristics, high levels of education and overseas experience, the preference of Japanese spouses to live in Thailand, and their lack of knowledge about educational options in Thai society contribute to the rational recount of their decision-making process.

Book Review: Why Would I Be Married Here? Marriage Migration and Dispossession in Neoliberal India by Reena Kukreja

Book Review: <i>Why Would I Be Married Here? Marriage Migration and Dispossession in Neoliberal India</i> by Reena Kukreja

Emerging Cross-Cultural Marriage Between Indonesian Brides and Turkish Grooms

Marriage migration is a phenomenon that has been increasing recently. This includes cross-cultural marriages between Indonesian brides and Turkish grooms. This study aims to prove how the marriage migration phenomenon results in increasing cross-cultural marriages. Using quantitative demographic data collected from the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Türkiye, this study explores the patterns of cross-cultural marriages between Indonesian brides and Turkish grooms with descriptive methods. In 2022, data shows that out of 87 cross-cultural marriages, 82 Indonesian brides were the leading actors in marriage migration and settled in Türkiye with their husbands. This study aims to give an early understanding of factors that encourage Indonesian brides to marry Turkish grooms and migrate from their host country. This study also examines how the potential crosscultural couple meets for the first time. Additionally, it examines Indonesian brides educational background and the Turkish language proficiency of brides who decide to migrate, including how these factors might affect their marriage. This study’s results provide details about the cross-cultural marriage landscape between Indonesia and Türkiye.

Multiculturalism in South Korea: putting migrant wives in their place

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the role of Multicultural Family Support Centers (MFSCs) to explain the gender, race and cultural hierarchies inherent in South Korea’s system of multiculturalism. Since the 1990s the South Korean state has played an active role in facilitating marriage migration and influencing the reproductive and caregiving decisions of female marriage immigrants. This is reflected in immigration and welfare policies that incentivize migrant wives to have children and provide disproportionate power to Korean husbands. Over the past decade the Korean government has invested heavily in MFSCs. These centers cater exclusively to migrant wives with courses focused on the acquisition of the Korean language and culture. The teachers are generally older Korean women while students are migrant wives from developing countries. The version of Korean culture taught to migrant wives emphasizes traditional Confucian family roles and that a wives’ role is to focus on managing the home and supporting her husband and children. I present two case studies of cultural and cooking classes provided by a MFSC where I volunteered. The classes illustrate that multiculturalism in South Korea is focused on assimilation with limited expectation that Korean husbands and in-law families should adapt to migrant wives. Instead, migrant wives are expected to acquire a strong understanding of how to behave and understand their place in a traditional Korean family structure. I provide migrant wives’ perspectives on these classes and explain why they have limited opportunity to influence or respond to the expectations of the Korean state and in-law families.

City size, family migration, and gender wage gap: Evidence from rural–urban migrants in China

Finding suitable employment in a city is more challenging for married than unmarried migrants. This paper provides empirical evidence that the denser and more diversified labor markets in large cities help alleviate the colocation problem of married couples. Using data from China, we show that the gender wage gap among married migrants is significantly smaller in larger cities, and this is mainly because large cities have higher employer and population densities. Large cities make married women more likely to be employed and to secure suitable jobs after family migration. We find no evidence for alternative explanations for the correlation between city size and married women’s relative wages.

FAKTOR-FAKTOR YANG MEMPENGARUHI PENGIRIMAN REMITAN MIGRAN NON PERMANEN DI DESA ADAT KEDONGANAN – BALI

This study aims to analyze effect of income, number of family members covered in the area of origin, length of employment, marital status simultaneously and partially on non-permanent migrants' remittances in Kedonganan Traditional Village, and analyze the differences in remittances between non-permanent migrants who are married and unmarried. Data collection through structured and in-depth interviews. A sample of 148 people was taken through purposive sampling. The data analysis technique used multiple linear regression. Based on results, simultaneously income, number of family members covered in the area of origin, length of employment, marital status have significant effect on non-permanent migrant remittances. Partially income and number of family members covered in area of origin have positive and significant effect, length of employment has no significant effect on remittances for non-permanent migrants. Remittances for married migrants are no different from those of non-permanent migrants with unmarried status.&#x0D; keyword: remittances, income, number of family members covered in the area of origin, length of employment, marital status

Integration of Marriage Migrants in Korea and Japan: A Comparative Analysis of Ethnic Nationalism and Citizenship

Multiculturalism has been a relatively recent trend in Korea and Japan. Since the 1990s, both countries have been witnessing a rising influx of immigrants, the majority of whom were labor migrants and marriage migrants. Labor migrants have been accepted only as temporary residents. Contrary to this, marriage migrants have been seen as permanent residents, who need to integrate into the family and society. Both the Korean and Japanese governments have been providing them with relatively easy access to permanent residency and naturalization. Despite this effort, marriage migrants experience legal vulnerability, and they experience prejudice and discrimination with their families and society. This problem, even though highlighted by politicians and academics, has been persisting in society, and it has usually been researched as a policy problem or phenomenon that happens independently of its societal surroundings. However, because unequal treatment of migrants is related to social conditions as well as legal and policy issues, this study approaches the problem by examining marriage migrants' citizenship on three levels: legal, social, and identity. The study elaborates the causes behind their mistreatment through national identity and related nationalism. Both Korea and Japan possess an ethnic sense of belonging; they are perceived as ethnically homogeneous, monocultural nations. Therefore, the integration of ethnically different migrants presents a significant challenge. Ethnic nationalism in both countries manifests also in its subform, nouveau‐riche nationalism. It is responsible for deep‐seated beliefs in cultural superiority and evaluating people based on their country of origin and skin color. The study demonstrates the impact of ethnic nationalism on the legal level of citizenship in both countries and elaborates that this impact has been more restrictive in Japan than in Korea. Furthermore, nouveau‐riche nationalism is shown to have a negative impact on the social and identity levels of citizenship in both counties, whereas in Japan social stigma and prejudices are shown to be more serious than in Korea.

A Qualitative Study on Married Migrant Women’s Experience of Participation in Self-help Groups from the Perspective of Transformative Learning

This study examined self-help groups for married migrant women which have not been discussed from the viewpoint of learning from the perspective of transformative learning and tried to suggest the direction of self-help groups. For this, the research question was set as 'What does married migrant women's experience of participation in self-help groups from the perspective of transformative learning?'. For the study, data were collected by arranging in-depth interviews with 7 married migrant women who participated in self-help groups for more than 2 years in the B Family Center in A City. And based on this, the in-depth meanings in the experience were analyzed. Based on the collected data, each three central meanings were drawn from the categories of experience by conversion stage, the level of conversion and introspection, and the results of the conversion. Married migrant women planned and attempted a meaning life by experiencing dilemmas and experienced problem solving through sympathy and cooperation in their self-help groups. It has found that the level of conversion and introspection appeared in the form of self-awareness, professional competency development, and introspection as migrant women and the results of the conversion appeared in the domain of individuals, families, and society. The above research results show that self-help groups promote the shift in married migrant women's perspectives and become the learning center that they can be expanded to indivisual and social growth. Based on the results of the study, it found educational implications of self-help groups for married migrant women and sought the direction for their development.

Working “With” or “On” Moroccan Migrant Mothers

Abstract In the context of marriage migration, women are believed to be held back or constrained by their husbands, family and religion from integrating and partaking in (regular) citizenship and Dutch courses, which denies their agency as both wives and citizens. Additionally, their personal choice to become mothers is believed to exacerbate their position as passive citizens: becoming a mother supposedly leaves little time to invest in integration courses, especially since day-care services are an important threshold. As these representations and policies are often not based on rigorous research that consults these migrant women, this research aims to fill this gap by bringing together the gendered representations and policy views on marriage migration, and lived experiences and desires as articulated by migrant women themselves. Another aim is to find out how exactly Moroccan migrant women navigate these structures as affective migrant mothers, and the role of religion in this.

이혼한 결혼이주여성의 재영토화 과정에 관한 내러티브 생애사 연구

According to the National Statistical Office’s 2020 Marriage and Divorce Statistics (2021.3.18), the average marriage period for multicultural divorced families in 2020 is 8.7 years. the average marriage period of Korean divorced families is 17.4 years. In addition, the divorce rate of multicultural families in 2021 is 6.2%, with 4.3% of wives being foreigners and 1.9% of husbands being foreigners. In this study, to explore the reasons for divorce of multicultural divorced families when their wives are foreigners, the factors of conflict and the process of overcoming them were examined in The Re- Territorial Process of three women who divorced after migrant marriage. The research participant A tried to connect to Korea, but was frustrated by her husband’s attitude of treating her as a ‘money- buying person’, and divorced, and worked to recognize herself. The research participant B showed active reactions such as marrying her husband who worked together at the factory despite the dissuade of her mother, but she divorced her husband who changed violently. The research participant C endured husband’s violent for the child, but rather was divorced by the husband. Marriage migration is a move to a completely different territory, so Re-Territorialization is inevitable, and awareness of this Re- Territorial Process is necessary for both Korean residents and migrant women coming to Korea.

Limiting Multiculturalism Discourse by Legislating Support for Multicultural Families in Korea

Abstract Drawing on the Foucauldian theoretical concepts of governmentality and genealogy as a method for grasping the unconventional reality of multiculturalism discourse in South Korea, this paper aims to go beyond ahistorical accounts of multicultural policy. The article offers an analysis of policy discourses relating to multicultural families in South Korea, and it examines the strategies utilized by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family to maintain and expand its ministerial jurisdiction. Such analyses reveal how policy discourse has shifted away from Korean blood-based ethnicity and the “mixed-blood” category of people in favor of focusing on female marriage migrants and their families. Furthermore, the examination highlights how legislation that supports these families conceptualizes female migrants as apolitical, family-oriented, and maternal beings. This conceptualization is legitimized by the ministerial strategies adopted by “femocrats,” government officials affiliated with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.

Peasant Mobility and Migration Strategies in Early Modern South Bohemia

Abstract This article focuses on migration strategies as exemplified by the Bohemian estate of České Budějovice in the second half of the eighteenth century. Formally, until 1781, the peasant population in Bohemia was bound by serfdom, which has until recently been believed to have considerably curtailed its mobility. The research in this article is based mainly on letters releasing people from serfdom and on registers of births, marriages and deaths. The article seeks to explain the migration strategies of the inhabitants of villages located near a major urban centre. It examines the migrants’ motivations and how they sought to migrate while complying with legal constraints. It devotes particular attention to work and marriage migration, and discusses migration strategies against the background of how Early Modern Bohemian society functioned.

Religiosity dynamics among recently arrived Turkish marriage migrants in Germany

ABSTRACT Using mini-panel data from the SCIP (Causes and Consequences of Early Socio-Cultural Integration Processes among New Immigrants in Europe) project, this article contributes to the literature on marriage migration by investigating the dynamic role played by the religiosity of migrating partners. Specifically, we assess (1) how migrating partners differ from those who migrate for reasons other than marriage, in terms of their religiosity, to discuss the benefit system that the marriage migration offers to receiving partners and (2) how religiosity changes over the years for both migrating wives and husbands. Results from a series of linear mixed effects models reveal that, net of all controls, migrating wives are more likely to be religious than migrating husbands upon resettlement, as receiving husbands may prefer more traditional wives, and that receiving wives may prefer the opposite, to secure more self-dependence and power in the household. At the same time, it is found that migrating husbands become more religious than migrating wives two years after the resettlement, presumably as a way to reaffirm and restore their status loss as a result of various resettlement challenges and strain domestic relations. These findings suggest a nuanced image of the mechanisms behind marriage migration and religiosity.

Designing new Korean mothers, daughters-in-law, and wives: an analysis of Korean textbooks for newly arrived marriage migrants in South Korea

Abstract Textbooks are sociocultural materials, reflecting political decisions, educational beliefs and priorities, cultural realities and language policies. As part of a larger ethnographic study which investigated the multilingual socialization of foreign wives in South Korea, I present the nature and extent of the gender-making process through an analysis of Korean textbooks for recently arrived female marriage migrants, which provides an understanding of the extent to which gender and race are ingrained in shaping linguistic nationalism in globalized times. I first introduce a four-stage life cycle designed by the South Korean government and situate Korean textbook series called Korean Language Learning With International Marriage Migrant Women as an intervention used early in the settlement period for foreign mothers. Then, I analyze the textual and multimodal representation of family identities taken from six textbook series, focusing on lessons, dialogues, and characters that are presented. The results of the study demonstrate how the state presents its attempts to transform foreign wives into a new type of ‘wise mother good wife’ in the globalized, multilingual world. I demonstrate the ways in which state-driven gender identity production is not simply (re)producing the gender divide but also aligned with nation-making processes that are facing challenges in these globalized times.

“I Vote so I am”: Marriage Migrants’ Political Participation in Taiwan

Migrant political participation is a central challenge to many Western democracies. This article, by building on the case of marriage migrants’ political participation in Taiwan, offers food for thought on East Asia, a region of the world that has been neglected in most academic debates on this theme. Applying “flat ontology” and drawing from a mixed methodology, involving content analysis of press releases published on political party websites and in-depth interviews with marriage migrants, this article offers a timely account of how migrant political integration and participation is a complex process. It depends not only on broader political opportunities, social, legal, cultural factors shaping political integration processes and individual political values, but also on the specificity of migrants’ identities and subjectivities, including gender, perception of security, a migrant's family background, their parental status, life stage, and their perception of self in society.