BelMix Seminar Series : From transnational Pakistani marriages to Brexit Couples: studying relationship-based migration by Katharine Charsley (University of Bristol, UK)

From transnational Pakistani marriages to Brexit Couples: studying relationship-based migration
by Katharine Charsley (University of Bristol, UK)

Date: Friday 14 March 2025, 10 am – 11:30 am (Brussels Time)

Venue: Room S.15.215 S.15.331 (Building S, 15th floor), Campus Solbosch, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Avenue Jeanne 44, Bruxelles 1050. AND also live streamed online via Zoom

Abstract: The study of transnational couples and relationship-based migration may seem quite specialist, but can offer a window on a variety of topics, from kinship and gender to belonging, governance and borders. In this paper, I reflect on nearly 30 years in the field, from my doctoral work on transnational Pakistani marriages to my current Brexit Couples research on UK-EU couples after Brexit. Stimulated by changing immigration policy and discourse around family migration, my work has also been part of developing themes in migration studies: from the ‘emotional turn’ to critical migration studies’ interrogation of the category of ‘migrant’. This long view gives me the opportunity to bring my current Brexit Couples data into conversation with my earlier work on British South Asian marriage, and to reflect on the choices we make in our research in this field: what to study, how to approach it, and who (in terms of research participants) to work with.

Bio: Katharine Charsley is Professor of Migration Studies in the School for Sociology, Politics and International Studies at the University of Bristol. Her research interests are in gender, family and migration, particularly cross-border marriages and relationships. She has published widely, including three books: Transnational Pakistani Connections, Transnational Marriage, and Marriage Migration and Integration. She is currently PI of the ESRC-funded project UK-EU Couples after Brexit: migrantisation and the UK family immigration regime ( the ‘Brexit Couples’ project: www.brexitcouples.ac.uk).

Webpage: https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/persons/katharine-a-h-charsley