Marriage Migration In Asia Research Articles

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.

Conceptual contours of migration studies in and from Asia

Conceptual contours of migration studies in and from Asia

Marriage Migration in Asia: Emerging Minorities at the Frontiers of Nation-States, by Sari K. Ishii (ed.)

Marriage Migration in Asia: Emerging Minorities at the Frontiers of Nation-States, by Sari K. Ishii (ed.)

Marriage Migration in Asia: Emerging Minorities at the Frontiers of Nation-States

Marriage Migration in Asia: Emerging Minorities at the Frontiers of Nation-States

Sari K. Ishii, ed. <i>Marriage Migration in Asia: Emerging Minorities at the Frontiers of Nation-States</i> Singapore: NUS Press In association with Kyoto University Press. 2016. xi+216p.

Sari K. Ishii, ed. <i>Marriage Migration in Asia: Emerging Minorities at the Frontiers of Nation-States</i> Singapore: NUS Press In association with Kyoto University Press. 2016. xi+216p.

‘Then you can ride the scooter to run away!’ Gender positioning of marriage-migrants in adult Mandarin education in Taiwan

ABSTRACTThis study aimed to explore how gender restructuring might interact with immigrant second language (L2) learning in the new trends of feminized marriage migration in Asia, using Mandarin-language education in Taiwan as a case study. Drawing on positioning theory to analyze classroom discourse in a Mandarin-language class for marriage-migrants, this paper shows how the societal gendered expectations of marriage-migrants are concretely manifested and discursively negotiated in the classroom. As the teacher interactively positioned students as runaways, potential transgressors of chaste womanhood, and unfit mothers, the focal student reflectively positioned herself as an autonomous woman, capable mother, avid language learner, and multilingual speaker. By focusing on the dynamic negotiations of gender positionings in the language classroom for marriage-migrants in Asia, this study extends current research on immigrant L2 education to examine the nexus of globalization, transnational marriage migration, gender, and adult immigrant education.

When Borders Lie Within: Ethnic Marriages and Illegality on the Sino-Vietnamese Border

This article examines the changing geopolitical realities which have redefined the nature of sovereign governance on the Sino-Vietnamese border. The binary forms of classification in a rigidly and clearly delimited Sino-Vietnamese borderland replace the ambiguous space of “zomia,” with its fluid and overlapping identifications. This dynamic context sets the conditions for local communities and their long-standing tradition of ethnic marriages straddling the borders of China and its neighboring states. In order to understand how, and why, the status of previously accepted forms of undocumented ethnic marriage has recently changed from “common” ( shishi ) to “illegal” ( feifa ) in two ethnic Yao villages, I look at various factors. These include how state discourses on marriage migration in Asia, biopolitical concerns about population security in China, and regional iterations of the global anti-human trafficking campaign, come into play in forceful ways to shape the geopolitical regime of the Sino-Vietnamese borderland and redefine the terms of legitimate practices, thus reconfiguring ethnic marriages as illegal.

South Korean Rural Husbands, Compensatory Masculinity, and International Marriage

����� ��� In the growing literature on marriage migration in Asia, there has been little research on Asian men who are married to foreign-born women. Through in-depth interviews with thirty-five rural South Korean husbands, this article examines how the men construct their masculine identity in the context of international marriage. Using the concept of compensatory masculinity, this article shows how these subaltern men, who have been literally and symbolically rejected by South Korean women—due to regional disadvantages and/or low socioeconomic status—enact various aspects of local hegemonic masculinity. First, the article highlights the South Korean husbands’ compensatory masculinity in respect to their decisions regarding international marriage and their emphasis on heterosexual desirability and virility. Then, it offers a comparative analysis of how the two groups of South Korean husbands discursively construct their masculine identity with two different themes—as Filipinas’ providers and saviors and with Japanese wives’ deference. This study illustrates how global forces and hierarchies reconfigured South Korean husbands’ locally specific ways of doing masculinity, and how gender strategies intersect with socioeconomic status, regional identity, and, more specifically, wives’ nationality.

Citizenship Projects for Marriage Migrants in South Korea: Intersecting Motherhood with Ethnicity and Class

The growing scale of international marriage migration, especially intra-regional marriage migration in Asia, has transformed the ethnoscape in destination countries. Some states, such as South Korea, have taken relatively inclusive actions regarding women marriage migrants. By closely examining the legal structure and public policies and programs, this article examines the formation of both legal and substantive citizenship for Filipina marriage migrants in South Korea. The article demonstrates that the state projects emphasize marriage migrants’ role as biological and cultural reproducers of “Koreans,” thus constructing “ethnicized maternal citizenship.” This state project, the article argues, paradoxically promotes cultural assimilation while relegating marriage migrants as gendered dependents and ethnic others. The article examines the women’s diverse responses to the citizenship projects, including appropriation, ambivalence, and resistance, finding that an important factor driving the responses is the women’s socioeconomic status after migrating. The emphasis on family roles in the state-based migration programs also means that marriage migrants must negotiate the boundaries of citizenship practices not only institutionally but also within the families.

Transnationalism from Below: Evidence from Vietnam-Taiwan Cross-Border Marriages

This paper examines marriage migration in Asia through the lens of transnationalism. We pull together results from various studies we conducted on marriage migration in Vietnam and Taiwan between 2004 and 2010, using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Our main contention is that marriage migration constitutes a significant vector of social change for both sending and receiving areas of migrants. We examine the gendered aspects of this transformation, since the vast majority of migrant spouses in Asia are women. We use the concept of ‘transnationalism from below’ to frame the social impact of marriage migration. In this paper, we first review activities of marriage migrants and their families that constitute either economic or social transnationalism. In the second part, we discuss how these transnational activities contribute to social change in both societies. In brief, the paper shows the far-reaching significance of this migration flow for the region and aims to move forward the conceptualization of marriage migration in Asia.

Marriage Migration Between South Korea and Vietnam: A Gender Perspective

Analyzing marriage migration in Asia from a gender perspective, the article aims to explore the causes and consequences of marriage migration in light of gender, examining and identifying the pattern and dynamics of marriage migration in the context of gendered structures of receiving and sending countries. The article focuses on marriage migration between South Korea and Vietnam, in particular Vietnamese women’s migration to marry Korean men. The analysis addresses the systemic aspect of marriage migration along with gender, and the aspect in which the interaction of the gendered demand of and supply for migration produces the migratory movement of Vietnamese women to South Korea, while rendering marriage migration the gendered relationship between South Korea and Vietnam.

MARRIAGE MIGRANTS AS EMIGRANTS

This article examines the emigration dimension of marriage migration in Asia by focusing on remittances received by parents from daughters who married and migrated abroad. Based on a study of 250 migrant-sending households in Vietnam with a daughter living in an Asian country as a ‘foreign wife’, the analysis provides empirical evidence that emigrant spouses make substantial financial contributions to their natal families through remittances. A multivariate analysis of the determinants of remittance-sending shows that a woman's characteristics and living conditions abroad largely determine whether or not she remits, while the relative poverty level of her natal family has limited influence. Findings call for a broader conceptualization of ‘women who marry foreigners’ or ‘foreign brides’ as emigrants who contribute to the social development of their sending countries.

Gender and International Marriage Migration

In the last two decades, the growth of intra-regional marriage migration in Asia has stimulated scholarly interest in destination countries. Marriage migration led to social, demographic, and cultural transformations of current and future generations in these countries, and raised new issues in relation to race, ethnicity, gender, class, and nationality. Recent scholarly work on international marriage migration has moved beyond the so-called mail-order bride discourse and has critically examined various aspects of the experiences of women marriage migrants in affinal families, communities, and societies. Influenced by the postcolonial feminist perspective, a great deal of the ethnographic and qualitative research on international marriage migration focuses on women’s agency, the patriarchal and heteronormative underpinnings of marriage, and incongruous gender relations, as well as the dynamics between local transformations and the global political economy.