‘Beauty and the Beast’: everyday bordering and sham marriage discourse

Article


Wemyss, G., Yuval-Davis, N. and Cassidy, Kathryn 2018. ‘Beauty and the Beast’: everyday bordering and sham marriage discourse. Political Geography. 66, pp. 151-160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2017.05.008
AuthorsWemyss, G., Yuval-Davis, N. and Cassidy, Kathryn
Abstract

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 borderguarding roles focused on the intimate lives of others.

KeywordsEveryday bordering; intersectionality; politics of belonging; sham marriage; immigration; intimacy-geopolitics
JournalPolitical Geography
Journal citation66, pp. 151-160
ISSN0962-6298
Year2018
PublisherElsevier
Accepted author manuscript
License
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2017.05.008
Web address (URL)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2017.05.008
Publication dates
Online03 Jun 2017
PrintSep 2018
Publication process dates
Deposited31 May 2017
Accepted25 May 2017
Copyright information© 2017 Elsevier.
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