Intimacies Across Borders: ‘Gaze’ and Gender Perspectives in Round table: Transnational Intimacies: New Perspectives on Sexuality, Love, Money & Mobility

The paper presents some psychosocial aspects about couples, where one partner originates from the global ’South’ (India/ Pakistan) and the other from the global ‘North’ (Denmark). The basis is an exploratory research project about intermarried couples constituting “visibly ethnically different households“ (Phoenix, 2011). However, intermarried couples are still almost invisible as a statistical category and in psychosocial services in the Danish context.
The theoretical framework combines intersectionality approach, with life course perspective and the everyday life practices. The diasporic identity and transnational relations are also included. The explorative study is based on depth interviews with ‘ordinary’ persons in mixed marriage (n = 10). The contextual tension between the concepts of ethnicity and ‘race’ related to the ‘visible differences’ is also a part of the framework.
The results indicate both the risks and the opportunities involved, highlighting not only the internal aspects- family relationships but also a variety of social influences on subjectively experienced feelings and expressive behaviour -- the external aspect , such as the structural aspects , ‘gaze’ towards couples’ ‘visible differences’. The dynamics are grounded in the life trajectories of the couples, forming basis for some suggestions for relevant mental health promotion as well as counselling for distressed couples.