Book Talk: ‘Marriage Migration, Intercultural Families and Global Intimacies’

Intercultural marriage is an important part of the personal lives of many Australians in this multicultural society. But pejorative stereotypes endure of marriages between Asian women and ‘Aussie’ men, especially if they have been brokered, or developed through correspondence courtship.

The so-called ‘Mail Order’ bride stereotype, and families formed through transnational correspondence courtship, are explored in this book. It begins with an anthropologist’s perspective on the institution of ‘marriage’ and unreflected assumptions about its historical and cultural attributes; assumptions that lead to the view of transnational brokered marriages as ‘illegitimate’.

Ethnographic research reveals the experiences of brokered transnational courtship (these days most usually via the internet) and the dynamics of families and local communities formed through correspondence marriage. While these transnational unions represent ‘adventures in identity’ they also share characteristics with other Australian marriages and families.

The negative stereotypes are a poor basis for understanding the experience of the social actors, but nonetheless the negativity haunts many of the partners.

Through her new book, Marriage Migration, Intercultural Families and Global Intimacies, Emerita Professor Kathryn Robinson explores the history of brokered marriage in Australia, beginning with ‘bride ships’ that brought women to the convict settlement of NSW, to correct the sex imbalance of the convict population. This story involves her own family history, on how ‘demographic corrections’ have been a feature of immigration policy since Federation and the creation of the nation in 1901.

This presentation was chaired by Dr Ariane Utomo, Senior Lecturer in Demography in the School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Faculty of Science from The University of Melbourne.

After the event, Professor Robinson discussed her book in more detail on the Talking Indonesia podcast, published by The University of Melbourne’s Indonesia at Melbourne.

 

Speaker Bio

Emerita Professor Kathryn Robinson is Emeritus Professor in Anthropology at the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific. Her principal research has been in Indonesia, focusing on social issues of mining, everyday Islam, gender relations, youth transitions to adulthood and marriage migration.

She was the founding editor of The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology,  is a former president of the Asian Studies Association of Australia (2009-10) and has supervised many higher degree theses. In 2008 she received an Australian Teaching and Learning Council award for Excellence in Supervision.

  • About the book
    Marriage Migration, Intercultural Families and Global Intimacies (2024)
    Author: Emerita Professor Kathryn Robinson
    Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
    Accessible online through Springer Link
  • Presentation slides

    Accessible here

  • Event details

    Tuesday, 23 April, 2024 (12:30 – 13:30)

    Room 321, Level 3,
    Sidney Myer Asia Centre (Building 158)
  • Event poster