Cross-Border Intimacies

Cross-border intimacies draws on over a decade of frontline research to explore the lives of Chinese migrants who move to Taiwan for marriage. Spanning generations, it highlights the complex interplay between emotional and affective processes in shaping marriage migration between China and Taiwan. It argues that this phenomenon is the product of the interplay between the spheres of politics, the other, and the self. At the level of politics, cross-Strait marriage migration is manipulated by political actors to mobilise public opinion through a sentimental narrative legitimising inclusion and exclusion patterns. Cross-Strait marriage migration is also about the dynamic interactions between others - migrants and non-migrants, influenced by emotions and affect - in which meanings of family, inclusion, and integration are co-constructed and transformed over time. Finally, cross-Strait marriage migration is about the emotional and affective experiences of marriage migrants - the self - as they navigate discrimination and integration, develop a sense of belonging, and engage in intimate and homemaking practices. Importantly, this book demonstrates that as these three dimensions continually interact and negotiate with one another, they create new pathways, emotional and affective processes, and changing migration experiences, resulting in an ever-evolving phenomenon. This book contributes to empirical literature on marriage migration and emerging scholarship exploring the role of emotions and affect in migration phenomena.