An Overview of Global Cross-Border Marriage Migration

Abstract

This chapter sets out to introduce the various domains of academic literature that touch on the subject matter of this book. These domains stretch from the macro- to the micro- and include studies using demographic and economic methods focusing on the impact of cross-border marriage on political economies; sociological works analysing social change and the social effect of marriage across borders as well as anthropological studies focusing on the meanings of marriages to individuals and their cultural groups. The chapter will demonstrate that while there is considerable academic interest in certain types of cross-border marriage and marriage migration, there is little cross-fertilisation between the different areas of study. It is the aim of this chapter, however, to bring the different strands in the literature together to look for common themes and positions and to identify areas in which inter-disciplinary work could inform understanding. Given the size and steady expansion of work in this field, the aim here is not to comprehensively describe all the academic studies that are relevant to cross-border marriage migration but to introduce some key academic debates that provide a context for the more detailed exploration of marriage migration in later chapters.