Forced Marriage: Engaging with Renegotiations Within

Abstract

Forced marriage, defined as marriage without valid consent where duress¹ is a factor, often involving transcontinental movement of persons, provides a complex and interesting case study on which to test out my findings. As with the Santal, power practices characterize relationships within the family, South-Asian community and within the state. Different practices have emerged to counter domination and inequality within those relationships. This chapter examines how these play out in the context of the arranged marriage process within British South-Asian families. In arranged marriages parental and community interests are important factors in choice of spouse and timing of marriage. The prioritizing of parental and extended family wishes over individual choice, to a greater or lesser extent, means that pressure and coercion are pervasive and persistent characteristics of the marriage process. While some women’s groups insist that this power dynamic makes negotiations futile, we will see that for the women and men who experience this pressure, negotiating with family and community is of paramount importance. Even those who look to outside agencies or the state for assistance tend to do so as part of a negotiating process, and maintaining links with family members is often a foremost concern. Investing in family bonds is a central part of socialization.