Migration, marital instability and divorce among British Asians: Transnationalism, changing conjugalities and legal pluralism

Qureshi, Kaveri (2017). Migration, marital instability and divorce among British Asians: Transnationalism, changing conjugalities and legal pluralism. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: Economic and Social Research Council. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-851281

Data description (abstract)

Data from the 2001 census suggest that rates of single parenthood and divorce among British Asian populations are on the rise, but the statistics do not offer insights into the underlying dynamics.
This project aims to produce new empirical data on the causes, processes and consequences of marital instability and divorce among two major British Asian populations: Pakistani Muslims and Punjabi Sikhs. Whilst a large proportion of both groups marry partners from overseas, they differ in marriage patterns and religion.
The project will explore whether such differences shape patterns of marital instability, or whether cross-cutting factors such as class, gender dynamics and life stage are more significant. The Principal Investigator will conduct repeated interviews with Pakistani Muslim and Punjabi Sikh couples who have experienced divorce within the last three years. Intended outputs will help inform questions concerning legal pluralism and diversity in social welfare, reorient debates about conservatism and transnational marriage in British Asian families, and engage with theory concerning the family. Ethical approval has been granted by the Central University Research Ethics Committee of Oxford University.

Data creators:

Creator Name	Affiliation	ORCID (as URL)
Qureshi Kaveri	University of Oxford

Sponsors:

Economic and Social Research Council

Grant reference:

ES.J003514.1

Topic classification:

Society and culture

Keywords:

transnationalism, legal pluralism, British Asians

Date published:

18 Mar 2014 10:19

Last modified:

13 Jul 2017 14:07

Coverage and Methodology

Access and Administration

Data sourcing, processing and preparation:

A waiver is being requested for the data deposit, as has been granted by Louise Bolger at the UK Data Archive, for the following reasons: (1) This research involved repeated interviews with British South Asian participants who were going through marital breakdown and divorce, and paired interviews within families. The study was designed in order to understand how wider family relationships influence and shape the processes through which partners separate. Even with the kinds of anonymisation techniques that are suggested by the Data Archive (such as the use of pseudonyms and the disguising of names related to places and institutions) it would still be possible for researchers to work out identifying characteristics of the participant, his/her spouse and other members of the family. This goes against the principle negotiated with the participants at the time of fieldwork, which was that the data would be analysed in such a way that it would not only be anonymised, but also that in any publications, the researcher would not divulge so much personal identifying information about any one individual, that a third party could work out who it was. Given that many of the participants experienced separation and divorce to be hugely stigmatizing, and were also in compromising legal situations with the courts, benefits offices and the UK Border Agency, the researcher is in a position of personal responsibility concerning the principle of protecting the identity of the participants and their family members. (2) The anonymisation guide for the Data Archive suggests that "participants might be quite willing to have their data shared with other researchers if appropriate pseudonyms and other protections are provided". This does not hold for the area of this research. In previous research conducted in 2011, funded by the AHRB, 30 life history interviews were carried out with British South Asians in Peterborough; in this project, participants were offered their transcripts for them to check what they were happy to have deposited in Peterborough library. Six of the interviews were with people who had experienced divorce, but when they were given their transcripts to read, two pulled out of the study completely, and the other four removed all of the data relating to their family breakdown. In applying for the current research funding from the ESRC, the likely difficulties with archiving were mentioned. The researcher discussed the possibility of archiving the data with five of the participants with whom she had developed the greatest levels of trust, and all five declined, citing concerns about the extent to which they could be made unidentifiable through the anonymisation procedures suggested, doubts about who the future researchers might be and what they might use the data for, and in one case religious reasons. Given these difficult experiences of trying to gain consent for data archiving in relation to narratives of marital breakdown and divorce, it would be fruitless, as well as raise unpleasant doubts/fears among the participants, to attempt to negotiate data archiving for this project.

Rights owners:

Name	Affiliation	ORCID (as URL)
Qureshi Kaveri	University of Oxford

Contact:

Name	Email	Affiliation	ORCID (as URL)
Qureshi, Kaveri	kaveri.qureshi@anthro.ox.ac.uk	University of Oxford	Unspecified

Notes on access:

The Data Collection only consists of metadata and documentation as the data could not be archived due to legal, ethical or commercial constraints. For further information, please contact the contact person for this data collection.

Publisher:

Economic and Social Research Council

Last modified:

13 Jul 2017 14:07