Marriage and Refugees

As I put the final touches on Marriage after Migration, the news was filled with reports of a refugee crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. The framing of this crisis in U.S. news and politics repeats long-standing patterns. Our national conversations focus little on the events forcing people to flee their home countries. An emphasis on finding a single, magical cure to the problem obscures the range of actions required to address a very complex issue.

I put together this FAQ for readers to contrast the news about refugees with the labor migration that sits at the heart of the book. The refugee crisis has been characterized by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as “Women on the Run.” In both kinds of migration—men’s labor migration and women’s flight from violence—women’s experiences can be distinct from men’s. These differences can keep migration going or slow it down.