Britain's Anglo-Indians by Almeida Rochelle;

Author:Almeida, Rochelle;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

“Love” Versus Arranged Marriage

In examining attitudes toward marriage as a sacrament and as an institution among Anglo-Indian migrants, it is clear that their choice of marital partners and the dynamics of their spousal relationships in the UK were influenced to an enormous extent by value systems that were inculcated in them during their youth in India. Of these, their practice of Christianity and of Roman Catholicism, in particular, played a dominant role. Perhaps the primary factor that distinguishes first-generation

Anglo-Indian immigrants in Britain from the rest of their South Asian counterparts is their tendency to choose their own spouses through what is known in India as “love marriage” as opposed to having spouses selected for them by well-meaning elders or matchmakers, through what is known in India as “arranged marriage.” The latter was (and continues to be) the prevailing norm among Indians, while in the case of Anglo-Indians, the former was (and is) conventional.

A majority of respondents surveyed stated that cultural affinity motivated them to seek Anglo-Indian partners. Although prior to immigration, marriage to a white partner was not the preference, once they arrived in the UK, proximity to white Britons compelled both genders to seek out and attract white partners. But when that goal proved elusive, they “settled for” an Anglo-Indian.

Given their liberal interaction with the opposite sex during their growing years, Anglo-Indians never felt inhibited by social taboos that had restricted male-female friendships among Indians in mid-twentieth-century India. Their Railway Institute social activities, for instance, had created fertile ground for the meeting and courtship of prospective partners. Unlike other South Asian communities for whom issues such as caste compatibility and payment of dowry inhibited choice of marriage partners, Anglo-Indian male-female relationships were curtailed by no such limitations. The laws of attraction played a huge role in deciding how individuals would gravitate toward each other and the liberal morés of their community dictated the course of courtship. Said a 65-year-old Anglo-Indian woman from Southall who emigrated from Jhansi in 1962:

I didn’t choose to marry an Anglo-Indian but in those days in India, we, Anglo-Indians, only mixed with other Anglo-Indians; so it was somewhat inevitable that you would marry someone of your own kind.

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