Abstract
This presentation challenges the axiom that living under the same roof and geographical proximity define intimate couples through a broad picture of the intimacy and distance field. To explore loving and living apart transnationally, I will review seminal studies globally in the past four decades. Beginning with Gerstel & Gross's (1984) study in the USA, major patterns emerged; about the significance of both spouses’ jobs, leading to living apart together rather than the partner’s mobility as the “trailing spouse”. Also, relationship maintenance across distance focussing on separation and interconnections. While Stafford, 2005, expanded the maintenance processes to include not only separation but also adaptation to the cycles of departure, absence, and return. Such cognitive emphasis in these studies was challenged by the emotional centering in investigating intimacy and emotions among academics and their partners in dual locations by Holmes 2014 in the UK. The earlier studies had a limited focus on digital technology for relationship maintenance, while the newer studies Lindemann, 2019 in the USA Lee, 2018 in South Korea, Gangopadhyay, 2023 in India highlight text, video, and other recent digital means, and the partners’ complex negotiations between autonomy and fusion.
In recent years, an increasing number of couples living apart together, with dual residences across nations due to jobs and/ or education. They have been almost overlooked in the existing studies. Specific issues faced by couples living and loving apart transnational such as immigration restrictions, traveling costs, time zone dynamics, limited acceptance, ‘suspicion,’ and inter-countries’ sociocultural differences in relational maintenance, are academically ignored. My recent empirical study from Denmark with a global reach (Singla, 2024) focusing on couples living apart together transnationally fills these knowledge gaps. I will also review “good practices” and present implications for policy and psychosocial services for dealing with the intersection of intimacy and distance.
Word count: 300
Keywords: Intimate relationship, distance relationship maintenance, emotional centering, digital technology, immigration restrictions
In recent years, an increasing number of couples living apart together, with dual residences across nations due to jobs and/ or education. They have been almost overlooked in the existing studies. Specific issues faced by couples living and loving apart transnational such as immigration restrictions, traveling costs, time zone dynamics, limited acceptance, ‘suspicion,’ and inter-countries’ sociocultural differences in relational maintenance, are academically ignored. My recent empirical study from Denmark with a global reach (Singla, 2024) focusing on couples living apart together transnationally fills these knowledge gaps. I will also review “good practices” and present implications for policy and psychosocial services for dealing with the intersection of intimacy and distance.
Word count: 300
Keywords: Intimate relationship, distance relationship maintenance, emotional centering, digital technology, immigration restrictions
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication date | 1 Jan 2024 |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2024 |
| Event | International Conference on Love Studies: Gran Canaria + Virtual : Towards Research-Based Knowledge of Love - AC Grancanaria Hotel Meridian + online, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain Duration: 2 Jan 2024 → 7 Jan 2024 Conference number: 1 https://love-studies-institute.org/international-conference-on-love-studies/ |
Conference
| Conference | International Conference on Love Studies: Gran Canaria + Virtual |
|---|---|
| Number | 1 |
| Location | AC Grancanaria Hotel Meridian + online |
| Country/Territory | Spain |
| City | Las Palmas de Gran Canaria |
| Period | 02/01/2024 → 07/01/2024 |
| Other | The growing research on love around the world has reached a point where scholars interested in this field want to have a common ground and a special platform where they can talk, discuss, and exchange their ideas and research.<br/><br/>International Institute of Love Studies is convening the first conference, which will focus on presentations and discussions of recent research on love as a relationship and as a universal concept with historical, social, cultural and personality variations.<br/><br/>International Advisory Board of the conference invites researchers and practitioners from various disciplines to present their work on a wide range of love-related topics.<br/>The Diverse Themes of the Conference<br/><br/>We consider love in its broad meaning, including different modes and types of love, and various contexts from those that inhibit to those that facilitate the experience and expression of love. Among the variations implied above are:<br/><br/> Love at the nature of humans and humanity, philosophy of love, good and bad sides of love<br/> Familial love, maternal love, paternal love, the love of children for their parents<br/> Love as interpersonal attachment, and pair-bonding love<br/> Romantic love, passionate love, obsessional love, lovesickness<br/> Love, physical attraction, sex, and diversity of sexual love<br/> Companionate, compassionate love, love for friends, and friendship<br/> Diversity of polygamy and monogamy in love, polyamory, and open relationships<br/> Rational, practical, pragmatic forms of love<br/> Love focused on divine and supernatural entities, religious conceptions of love<br/> Love as positive social connection, communal and ideological love<br/> Para-social forms of love and sex<br/> Love directed to oneself, self-love, and narcissism<br/> Love for pets and inanimate beings (flowers, money, activities, etc.)<br/> The biology and physiology of love<br/> The various other types of love and relationships, including those at an intersection between them<br/><br/>Any kind of love is of interest for this conference. We delve into the causes, experiences, expressions, and consequences of love in various areas of human life. We explore social and cultural conditions and factors for those various kinds of love.<br/>The Multidisciplinary and International Scope of the Conference<br/><br/>The conference will be multidisciplinary, and we welcome submissions from a diverse set of fields including biology, psychology, sociology, anthropology, cognitive science, cultural studies, literature, linguistics, philosophy, and religious studies.<br/><br/>The conference will serve to enrich the science of love through the cross-pollination of ideas and knowledge from various disciplines. We are open to different methodologies from different fields of knowledge.<br/><br/>Scholarly knowledge of love is dispersed around the world and across disciplines. Let’s bring them together in a universal, yet culturally specific, scholarly framework through which we explore the polysemous and multidimensional nature of love as perhaps the most important concept at the disposal of humanity in our quest to build a more humane and sustainable world.<br/><br/>During the conference period, a small-scale Teaching Institute of Love Studies will be organized for graduate students, postdocs, and young researchers. Prominent scholars of love will teach selected topics of love research methodology. |
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