| Description |
The planned study aims at the investigation of the phenomenon what is known as marriage migration (also called transnational marriage) to Germany by male Muslim migrants. By means of biographical narrative interviews with male migrants from North Africa and Turkey, the research project aims at dealing with the multidimensional and multifaceted character of male marriage migration to Germany. The subject male marriage migration can be approached from different perspectives and related aspects. In the frame of this research project, through a sampling which consists of married couples composed of a male migrant from one of the countries mentioned above and a female descendant of a migrant family with a residence permit in Germany, we want to consider this issue in all its complexity and implications regarding the debates on integration of the migrants, integration of male migrants into the labour market, gender relations and dynamics within the migrant family, and (un) chancing conceptions and visions of manhood in migration processes and the contestation/ negotiation of migrant masculinities. Regarding the studies of the last years it is noteworthy that all marriage migration studies are rather focussing on women as migrating subjects. Although it is noticed, too, that there are men as well migrating to their wives, there is no study focussing exclusively on migrating men in context of marriage. This fact may be - especially in Germany - an expression of the emotional public discussion concerning forced marriages. Nevertheless, the marriage migration of men is the desideratum of past and current marriage migration studies. This gap will be filled with the following research proposal. Our hypothesis is that women of the second or third generation of migrant families might be hoping for a realistic chance of founding a family and bringing up children through marrying a partner from the country of origin while they continue to work and remain the bread winners in the country of immigration and thus strengthen their autonomy (while their husbands are waiting for working permits and/or job opportunities and meanwhile have to take over care obligations within the family). In general, we want to show that male marriage migration can be seen both as "cause and the effect" of changing gender orders.
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