The Meaning of Marriage to the Rohingya Refugees, and Their Survival in Bangladesh

Abstract

Abstract This article offers an insight into how the ‘stateless’ Rohingya refugees try to manage their survival in their host country through interethnic marriage. In response to the relative absence of comprehensive study on citizenship and integration of the Rohingya, it offers a critical account of the marriage between the nationals of Myanmar and Bangladesh. The major research question of the study was how the Rohingya refugees reconstruct the images of marriage, which they associate with citizenship and survival in the host country Bangladesh. The empirics of the study reveals that in the absence of adequate food, shelter, and security in refugee camps, Rohingya women try to manage their survival marrying Bangladeshi men with the hope of obtaining citizenship and other basic rights. Notwithstanding such interethnic marriages are ‘illegal’ that often involve polygamy, child marriage, or abandonment, both sides find potential advantages from marriages between two nations.