Scientific article 1. APR 2022
Abducting children abroad: gender, power and transnational mobility in immigrant family conflicts
Authors:
Labor market
Social issues
Children, youth and family
Labor market, Social issues, Children, youth and family
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Utilizing life story interviews of immigrant women whose children were abducted by abusive (ex-)husbands, the article unpacks a three-part pattern of transnational mobility: first, husbands apply strategies of coercive control to dominate wives in Denmark; second, wives draw on Scandinavian “woman-friendly” state support to challenge men and seek divorce; and third, men try to regain control through abducting children to the Middle East, seeking to blackmail mothers into leaving Denmark and resubmitting themselves to male control. While some wives accede to their husband’s demands, others skillfully manage to “re-abduct” children back to Denmark, thereby belying the trope of the victimized immigrant woman.
Authors
About this publication
Financed by
OfferfondenPublished in
Violence Against Women