Abstract:
Transnational marriage migration is an emerging area of interest in anthropology,
and contemporary scholars have written extensively on the international movements
of Filipina women who have married non-Filipino men. Extending this research into
an antipodean context, this thesis is based on interviews with Filipina migrants
married to or in de-facto relationships with New Zealand men. Through an
examination of narratives of love and romance, identity, and kinship, this work
highlights the ways participants undertook identity work in their interviews. In
particular, this thesis reveals the strategies employed by Filipina migrants in
constructing narratives in which they distance themselves from negative stereotypes,
while incorporating more positive typologies into their identities. Stereotypes
included Filipina women as mail-order brides, domestic workers, subservient wives,
and good family members. These narrative strategies demonstrated the ways
participants sought to control and manipulate stereotypes in order to present
themselves as successful and virtuous migrants. This thesis applies current
scholarship on identity work and stereotypes. It also contributes to literature on
marriage migration by expanding a contemporary focus on participant agency
through acknowledging how migrants utilise identity resources, in this case
stereotypes, available in their host society.
