Various forms of partnering – such as officially registered marriages, cohabiting relationships, and other kinds of relatively stable relationships - are crucial in the formation of families throughout the world. Although, today, forms of partnering in the region are not restricted to formal marriage, the norm remains for couples to marry – to establish a new family, and to accept the cultural requirement to have children. This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of partnerships and marriage in the Southeast Asian region using quantitative data alongside qualitative approaches.Through the research of demographers, sociologists and anthropologists, it examines the way trends in the formation and dissolution of marriages are related to changes in the region’s economy and society; illuminating both the broad forces affecting marriage patterns and the way these forces work out at the individual and family level. Presenting the variety of contemporary marriage patterns in the region, with an emphasis on the ways in which marriage issues impinge on the welfare of those concerned, this book will be essential reading for students and scholars of Southeast Asia and the sociology of the family.

This is the first comprehensive study of trends in marriage and divorce in the world's largest Islamic population, that of South-East Asia, covering Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Southern Thailand, and parts of the Philippines. The study draws together elusive data to provide a comprehensive picture of time trends and of differentials in marriage and divorce within this region. These trends are distinctive: since the 1950s, age at marriage for females has risen sharply, age differences between spouses have narrowed, and divorce rates have fallen markedly from very high levels to levels well below those in Western countries. The study sets these trends within the context of the pre-Islamic situation in the region, the effects of the coming of Islam, and more recent political, social, economic, and legal changes which have influenced the family and marriage patterns. The study draws heavily on historical and ethnographic sources, as well as the author's own fieldwork and extensive experience within the region. The result is a fascinating account of changes in marriage and divorce patterns in a region experiencing rapid economic and social development.

"Asian Cross-border Marriage Migration: Demographic Patterns and Social Issues is an interdisciplinary and comparative study on the rapid increase of the intra-Asia flow of cross-border marriage migration. This book contains in-depth research conducted by scholars in the fields of demography, sociology, anthropology and pedagogy, including demographic studies based on large-scale surveys on migration and marital patterns as well as micro case studies on migrants%7Bu2019%7D liv%7Bu00AD%7Ding experiences and strategies. Together these papers examine and challenge the existing assumptions in the immigration policies and popular discourse and lay the foundation for further comparative research." -- Back cover.

Men are disadvantaged in the marriage markets of many Asian countries, and in some cases their response is to look abroad for a partner. Receiving countries for marriage migrants include Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, while the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and parts of mainland China supply wives to these territories. In the absence of uniform international regulations concerning the rights and obligations of partners, such unions are treated differently in different jurisdiction. In extreme cases migrants or their children become stateless, and when marriages break down, migrants sometimes face major legal problems. In such circumstances, marriage migrants are often portrayed as powerless, uneducated victims. Rejecting this perspective, the authors in this volume explore the agency of women who migrate abroad to acquire opportunities unavailable to them in their homelands. They show that the trajectories of marriage migrants are often not a simple movement from home to destination but can involve return, repeated, or extended migrations, and that these transitions that can alter geographies of power in economics, nationality or ethnicity. Based on features shared by many marriage migrants, the book identifies them as an emerging minority at the frontier of the nation-state, a group whose status may well carry over to future generations.

"(Un)tying the Knot is a collection of essays by scholars and social activists exploring aspects of marriage and divorce in Southeast and East Asia, India and beyond."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Examines an important aspect of inter-ethnic relations, namely inter-ethnic marriage, in Singapore, 'one of Southeast Asia's most ethnically heterogenous societies'. With chapters on the sociological significance, sociological factors and types of such marriage, traditional sociocultural organization and ethnic marrying-out rates, and an assessment of findings and research possibilities.