Becoming a citizen through marriage: how gender, ethnicity and class shape the nation
| Résumé |
The role of marriage in accessing membership entitlements has been
studied extensively in the context of marriage migration, but it
remains under-researched in the literature on citizenship
acquisition. This paper explores specific constructions of
deservingness vis-à-vis the foreign spouses of citizens and their
marriages in the context of facilitated naturalization in
Switzerland. Based on an ethnographic investigation of the
naturalization practices of street-level bureaucrats, we show that
the politics of belonging in the context of access to citizenship
is regulated by intersecting gendered, ethnicized and classed
logics of desirability about how a marriage should be.
Additionally, a patrilineal logic continues to guide street-level
bureaucrats de facto even when legislation has introduced de jure
gender equality. Finally, we demonstrate that it is not only
immigration regimes, but also citizenship regimes that employ
assumptions about what constitutes a ‘good marriage’ in order to
draw the boundaries of the nation. |
| Mots-clés |
Gender, citizenship, street-level bureaucrats, nation-state, marriage, politics of belonging |
| Citation | Kristol, A., & Dahinden, J. (2020). Becoming a citizen through marriage: how gender, ethnicity and class shape the nation. Citizenship Studies, 24(1), 40-56. |
| Type | Article de périodique (Anglais) |
| Date de publication | 14-1-2020 |
| Nom du périodique | Citizenship Studies |
| Volume | 24 |
| Numéro | 1 |
| Pages | 40-56 |
| URL | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13621025.201... |
| Liée au projet | Gender as Boundary Marker in Migration and Mobility: Case... |