Cross-national intermarriages, understood as unions between partners of different nationalities or citizenship statuses, provide a valuable lens for examining how states regulate belonging, identity and demographic boundaries. In non-Western contexts where national identity is strongly articulated by the state and tied to socially recognised native populations, such marriages occupy a complex space shaped by social expectations, legal oversight and evolving cultural norms. This study analyses mixed marriages in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through a qualitative comparative case-study approach. It draws on legal and policy analysis, secondary literature and qualitative interviews, to investigate how regulations governing marriage and nationality transmission influence the lives of mixed-nationality couples and their children. Although the UAE hosts a highly globalised population, marriage remains a domain where distinctions between citizens and foreign residents are closely maintained. These boundaries affect marital approval processes, legal recognition and children’s potential access to nationality. To contextualise these dynamics, the paper incorporates comparative examples from Japan and selected East Asian states with descent-based citizenship regimes and strong ethnocultural narratives of national identity. These cases reveal parallel patterns such as limited nationality pathways for children of mixed unions, ambivalence toward cultural mixing and state efforts to preserve demographic cohesion. Through this comparative perspective, the paper argues that mixed marriages illuminate how intimate life becomes a key arena where states negotiate citizenship, identity and social boundaries. The study contributes to scholarship on family, migration and citizenship by highlighting under-examined Gulf and Asian experiences of cross-national unions.

Authors:
Clio Chaveneau, Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Clio Chaveneau is currently an Associate Professor of Sociology at Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi and she is the Head of SAFIR Institute.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/clio-chaveneau-7b61b0104/

See this presentation on the full schedule – Monday Schedule

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