Marriage and migration

Abstract

Despite immigration policies that are often built around family reunification, contemporary research on migration often prioritizes labor mobility over mobility associated with marriage and family formation. Drawing on scholarship across a range of disciplines and across the globe, this article focuses attention on the substantive dimensions and theoretical debates located at the intersections of research on marriage and migration. Among the topics covered are rural bride shortages and mail-order marriages, arranged marriages, marriages of convenience and the state policies introduced to regulate them, and crimes of honor. The article also addresses the impact of migration on spousal relationships and on parenting in a transnational context. Of particular consideration are dimensions of insecurity that arise in mixed-status families, which may result in domestic violence.