The Politics of Bi-nationality in Couple Relationships: A Case Study of European Bi-national Couples in Manchester

Abstract

With the debordering of Europe and the development of intra-European mobility, the number of bi-national couples formed by European nationals is on the rise. This phenomenon is particularly noticeable in large European cities such as Manchester (UK) where the qualitative study underpinning this article took place. Whilst, research has hitherto focused on mixed-raced and/or interreligious couples, other types of mixed relationships such as European bi-national couples remain relatively understudied. Based on in-depth interviews with a sample of forty-two individuals either involved in a bi-national couple formed by one European national and one British national (E/B couples) or a bi-national couple formed by two European migrants movers of different nationalities (E/E couples), this article explores the politics of binationality both between partners and in their relationships with their families of orientation and procreation. On the one hand, the perception of the bi-national component evolves through time and according to the different stages of the couple's life-course. Whilst the bi-national component is a focal point in the early days of the partners' relationship, it progressively becomes normalised and integrated into couples' everyday lives. The experience of otherness as constructed on the basis of national boundaries evolves as couples' practices and perceptions become increasingly hybridised. Nonetheless, this process of normalisation is not linear and can be disrupted by the persistence of imbalances between partners or when significant decisions have to be made. On the other hand, the significance given to the bi-national component is negotiated and reinterpreted according to the situation and its protagonists. Beyond the couple relationship itself, co-presence with both sets of ascending families leads to the resurgence of the bi-national component. Its reinterpretation by family members as a source of constraints rather than opportunities often leads partners to engage in strategies of minimisation and repression of the bi-national component. By contrast, when starting a family of their own, bi-national couples rediscover, celebrate and ultimately engineer their bi-nationality, seeking to seize what they perceive as an opportunity to move beyond binationality to realise mixedness.