Introduction

Abstract

This chapter is a first step towards understanding what undergirds marital breakdown in British Asian families. It explores the challenges in interpreting interviews concerning marital breakdownby examining extended cases of just three individuals. To analyse the three casesthe chapter draws on narrative theory, which arguesthat interviews do not represent straightforward descriptions of the events, experiences and feelingscalled up from the repository of people’s memories.Studies of ‘motives for divorce’ narratives have pointed to the rhetorical purpose of these narratives, and intriguingly, suggested that they may actually constitute part of the process through which ex-spouses disentangle themselves from one another. To this, the chapter adds that narrative genres may also index particular stances towards the post-divorce relationship.