Date and Venue
April 15 (Tuesday) | 17:30-18:30 JST
In-person at Waseda University and Online via Zoom
REGISTRATION REQUIRED HERE
Room 309, Building 19, Waseda University
Event details:
Speaker:
Dr. Miyako Hayakawa (Université Libre de Bruxelles)
Miyako Hayakawa is a social anthropologist, post-doctoral research fellow for the project AspirE, based on ULB. She received her Ph.D. from EHESS (Ecoles des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales) in France. She is a former JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) fellow for her research on political science, at Sophia University and the University of Tokyo. Her research focuses on anthropology of family and kinship, Japanese migration, and privileged international mobility. She is the author of "Migrating to an ideal country? Democratisation of Japanese Migration to France" (Ebisu, Etudes japonaises, 2023). She is a member of MAF (Migrations asiatiques en France), Asian migration research network, and one of the main researchers of the REACTAsie project of MAF, an action-research on racism and discrimination against Asian immigrants in France.
Abstract:
When a mixed marriage comes to an end, divorce or separation may present complex issues for migrant women. Due to language barriers, lack of legal knowledge, absence of familial support in the receiving country, or unstable immigration status, migrant women are more likely to find themselves in a vulnerable position during the separation process, especially in cases involving abusive behavior by the husband.
This presentation explores the constraints faced by Japanese migrant women during the process of divorce or separation in the context of French-Japanese mixed marriages. In France, a French-Japanese marriage typically refers to a union between a French husband and a Japanese wife; Japanese wife/French husband combinations are ten times more common than the reverse.
Over the past few decades, a significant number of child abductions have been documented, where mothers return to Japan with their children without the consent of their ex-spouses. While the issue has primarily been discussed from the legal perspective of the application of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, the circumstances that lead to divorce or separation, child abduction (or not), and the challenges confronted by migrant spouses have not been thoroughly studied. In the case of mixed marriages, gendered expectations in marital norms, distinct perceptions of women's work, and language barriers make life post-divorce difficult for these women residing in a foreign country. This study draws on ongoing research with Japanese (ex) spouses in France, examining their socio-economic situation before and after marriage migration, as well as their intimate relationships with their (ex)partners in the context of a mixed couple's life.