King O'Riain, Rebecca
(2016)
Enduring or Crossing Distance for Love?
Negotiating Love and Distance in the Lives of
Mixed Transnational Couples.
Sociological Research Online, 21 (1).
pp. 1-10.
ISSN 1360 7804
Abstract
Within the field of transnationalism and globalization, studies have tended to focus on the flow of people, ideas and goods ( Giddens
2003, Beck 2011, Fitzgerald 2008). Within the field of migration this has meant importantly an increasing focus on studies of gender,
migration and emotion (Brooks and Simpson 2013; Svasek and Skrbis 2007 , Baldassar 2008). However, these studies tend to focus on
the context of migration and how that shapes decisions around migration and belonging without focusing on the effect of migration on
emotions themselves. Through ethnographic narrative interviews with 36 mixed transnational couples, this article analyses how the
emotion of love is understood and practiced within some 'global families' (Beck and Beck-Gernsheim 2014 ). The article finds that for the
mixed intercultural couples interviewed here, distance played a role in defining and confirming love (love at a distance) and was often
seen as a reason to migrate or move (crossing distance for love) as a test or proof that love was real. These different cultural meanings
of love show how distance could increasingly play a role in how we define and practice love today.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
Transnationalism; Emotion; Distance; Love; Globalization; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology |
| Item ID: |
11984 |
| Identification Number: |
https://doi.org/10.5153/sro.3804 |
| Depositing User: |
Dr Rebecca King O Riain
|
| Date Deposited: |
03 Dec 2019 14:08 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
Sociological Research Online |
| Publisher: |
SAGE Publications |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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