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Revisiting the Marriage-Migration Nexus in the Global South: Asymmetries of Chinese-Congolese Couples under State Regulations

par Chen, Cai
Editeur scientifique Vandebosch, Dagmar;Jurado, Javier
Référence Reframing Journeys: Migration, Media Narratives, and Cultural Dialogues in Europe's Changing Landscape, Peter Lang, Brussels
Publication A Paraître, 2025-06-30

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Résumé :

‘Mixed’ couples from different countries, cultures or ethnic and racial groups are increasingly subject to state control, characterised by the association of intimacy with citizenship and the rationalization of marriage according to the romanticised ideal of ‘pure love’. While this form of governmentality has garnered interest in migration research, mainly in the Global North, how state regulations in the Global South shape ‘mixed’ couples’ intimate and family lives remains largely unexplored. Based on a multi-sited ethnography conducted in three provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo between 2022 and 2024, this study revisits the marriage-migration nexus in the Global South context through the case of Chinese-Congolese couples. The empirical data, gathered through participant observation, informal conversations, policy document analysis and in-depth interviews with ten couples, reveal that this particular type of ‘mixed’ couple forms in the asymmetrical reciprocal migration between China and Congo, which leads to diverse types of couplehood and migratory path. This contribution shows that marriage is not a migration strategy for these couples, even if it can be used as a justification for obtaining residence documents. Instead, the formation of these couples results from the previous migration of one partner, with marriage-led migration occurring afterward. However, Chinese and Congolese individuals possess uneven abilities to migrate and navigate state regulations of residency and international marriage due to their different gender, nationality, social position and ‘race’. The governance of marriage migration evolves across space and over time, thus deserving to be understood in situated socio-legal contexts rather than from a purely Northcentric perspective.