Transnational Marriage by Charsley Katharine;

Author:Charsley, Katharine;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1039370
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group

7 Transnational Marriage in

Conflict Settings

War, Dispersal and Marriage among

Sri Lankan Tamils

Maunaguru Sidharthan and Nicholas Van Hear

In contrast to other forms of conflict-induced migration, transnational marriage in conflict settings has received little attention. Yet, as this chapter will show, transnational marriage figures strongly in conditions of conflict, displacement and their aftermath and can be manifested in a number of ways. Most obviously, it is seen when women join their husbands—or, more rarely, men join their wives—who have established themselves as refugees in neighbouring countries of first asylum, in Western asylum countries, or in resettlement countries. Refugees may return to their home country after conflict or during cease-fires to marry, or arrange for marriage to someone in the home country if they cannot return. Refugees may also marry someone in the wider diaspora, in their country of residence or in a different country. In addition to these patterns, transnational marriage may in itself be a means of flight from danger or harm, especially as finding asylum has become more difficult, particularly in affluent Western countries. In these and other ways, transnational marriage can then be both a means of securing safety in conflict and displacement settings and a means of rebuilding community and society in the wake of conflict and displacement. It can be a means of linkage between diaspora and home and across dispersed communities.

Drawing on the Sri Lankan Tamil case and on research by the authors both in Sri Lanka and among the diaspora, this chapter will explore some of these dynamics of transnational marriage in conflict and displacement settings, emphasizing the need to see transnational marriage as part of broader migration complexes. The chapter first outlines the connections between conflict, displacement and diaspora formation. It then considers how marriage and transnational marriage in particular have changed in the course of the conflict. One dimension of such change is the re-emergence in new form of the traditional figure of the marriage broker, considered in the middle part of the chapter. Finally the place of transnational marriage in the recreation of community against the background of conflict is considered.

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