TY - JOUR
T1 - 'Beauty and the Beast': Sham Marriage and Everyday Bordering Discourse
AU - Wemyss, Georgie
AU - Yuval-Davis, Nira
AU - Cassidy, Kathryn
PY - 2018/9
Y1 - 2018/9
N2 - This paper examines discourses of ‘sham marriage’ as a technology of everyday bordering in the UK. We argue that everyday bordering needs to be seen as a growing hegemonic political project of belonging experienced in complex ways as differently situated individuals negotiate proliferating internal and external borders. We explore how the process of marriage registration, especially when it concerns citizens of ex-Empire states marrying British or EEA citizens, has been transformed, under evolving UK Immigration Acts, from a celebration into a security interrogation. The discourses and practices associated with ‘sham marriage’ have become important elements in bordering control, which has become a major technology of managing diversity and discourses on diversity, in the UK. ‘Sham marriage’ discourses can adversely affect the lives of families, neighbours, friends, employers and others across time and transnational space. In order to understand the complexities of everyday bordering, we developed a situated, intersectional analysis capturing the situated gazes and border imaginaries of lawmakers, registrars, church officials, targeted couples and examining spectacular ‘sham marriage’ media stories that incorporate diverse citizens into border-guarding roles focused on the intimate lives of others.
AB - This paper examines discourses of ‘sham marriage’ as a technology of everyday bordering in the UK. We argue that everyday bordering needs to be seen as a growing hegemonic political project of belonging experienced in complex ways as differently situated individuals negotiate proliferating internal and external borders. We explore how the process of marriage registration, especially when it concerns citizens of ex-Empire states marrying British or EEA citizens, has been transformed, under evolving UK Immigration Acts, from a celebration into a security interrogation. The discourses and practices associated with ‘sham marriage’ have become important elements in bordering control, which has become a major technology of managing diversity and discourses on diversity, in the UK. ‘Sham marriage’ discourses can adversely affect the lives of families, neighbours, friends, employers and others across time and transnational space. In order to understand the complexities of everyday bordering, we developed a situated, intersectional analysis capturing the situated gazes and border imaginaries of lawmakers, registrars, church officials, targeted couples and examining spectacular ‘sham marriage’ media stories that incorporate diverse citizens into border-guarding roles focused on the intimate lives of others.
KW - Everyday bordering
KW - Intersectionality
KW - Politics of belonging
KW - Sham marriage
KW - Immigration
KW - Intimacy-geopolitics
U2 - 10.1016/j.polgeo.2017.05.008
DO - 10.1016/j.polgeo.2017.05.008
M3 - Article
VL - 66
SP - 151
EP - 160
JO - Political Geography
JF - Political Geography
SN - 0962-6298
ER -