Geographies Of Marriage And Migration By Raksha Pande

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This paper is a brief summery for “Geographies of Marriage and Migration” by Raksha Pande and my response to the article. The article discusses the controversy of arranged marriages, why this culture favors them, the different ways of looking at them other than through a strictly Western view, and expresses the need for new research in this field. It focuses on South Asians in Britain, which include people of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi origin, East African Sikhs, and Gujaratis, some who migrated there and some who were Britain born. It debates the ways of looking at the arrangement of marriages depending on the viewpoint/generation but also provides other ways of looking at the positives of this structure of marriage. Pande also talks about the reasons why people tend to look down upon those who see to this type of marriage, and transnational arrangements of marriage. She discusses the myths/differences behind arranged …show more content…

For example, the links between migration and marriage that cause suspicion from immigration officials when a spouse is trying to move to Britain. To obtain a spousal visa one must complete a list of questions in determining if the marriage is real and genuine based on Western aspects of what a real marriage is. Pande states, “…government and policymakers see arranged marriage practices as posing a challenge to the very values on which the discourses of national identities in Europe are based” (p. 81). Which also includes Western-like ideals. The article states view points from feminists and postcolonial feminism, but I’ll talk about that later in my response. In her conclusion she believes that new research should be discovered on arranged marriage so that “…we can begin to understand how its various forms are employed by its practitioners to interpret and tailor-make this apparently traditional practice to suit their modern individual and collective identity positions” (p.

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