Public event: Strange(r) Families: “The Family” in Migration Politics

This public roundtable at Spui25 with Anne-Marie d’Aoust, Bridget Anderson, Apostolos Andrikopoulos and Saskia Bonjour, moderated by Sonja Evaldsson Mellström, took place on 10 November 2023. The recording can be found here.

Event description:

“Family” is the main reason why migrants are permitted to move to European countries. But who decides what a ‘proper’ family is? Or what families are ‘deserving’ enough to live here? Families which include “strangers” – meaning non-citizens – require state permission to live together in Europe. For families which are “strange” – who diverge from the norm – such state permission is not self-evident. Same-sex families or polygamous families are commonly denied family migration rights. Who and what states consider “family” is therefore key to defining who gets to legally migrate to and reside in Europe.

From colonial times to the present day, defining collective identities and boundaries – be they cultural, racial, or national – inevitably involves reference to proper roles of men and women, proper dress, proper parenting, proper loving, and proper sex. Distinctions between ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ are drawn in the intimate sphere. Between those who love, have sex, marry, and raise their children ‘properly’ (like ‘we’ do it) and those who do not.

Assessments of the family are also classed: ‘proper’ families should be able to ‘take care of their own’. Court rooms and immigration offices become intimate spaces, as migrants are expected to prove their true love, true sexuality, true parenthood. This afternoon we explore how the boundaries of “family” and “nation” are defined and contested by politicians, bureaucrats, lawyers, activists, and families.