e-space
Manchester Metropolitan University's Research Repository

    The racialising effects of non-marriage in English Law: a critical postcolonial analysis

    Naqvi, Zainab Batul ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1711-9863 (2023) The racialising effects of non-marriage in English Law: a critical postcolonial analysis. International Journal of Law in Context, 19 (4). pp. 578-596. ISSN 1744-5523

    [img]
    Preview
    Published Version
    Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

    Download (246kB) | Preview

    Abstract

    In this article I argue that the judicial concept of non-marriage racialises and orientalises minoritised communities and their marriages. Applying a critical postcolonial lens, I show how the development of non-marriage has been influenced by colonial racialising attitudes towards marriage. This has led to its application in racist and orientalist ways to demean and other minoritised marriage practices. My analysis of the case law exposes three patterns in the judicial discourse in this area. First, that the courts emphasise “English (Christian) marriage” and its supposed hallmarks when deciding if a ceremony is non-existent; second that judgments foreground the technical, formal aspects of the law obscuring the use of personal judicial opinions which are orientalist. Finally, the application of this concept to playacting, sham and forced marriages at the same time as legitimate minoritised marriage practices is demeaning and insulting to the already marginalised communities that practise them.

    Impact and Reach

    Statistics

    Activity Overview
    6 month trend
    203Downloads
    6 month trend
    97Hits

    Additional statistics for this dataset are available via IRStats2.

    Altmetric

    Repository staff only

    Edit record Edit record