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Chapter 3: British Pakistani cousin marriages: balancing marital risks

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Negotiating Risk
This chapter is in the book Negotiating Risk
CHAPTER 3BRITISH PAKISTANI COUSINMARRIAGES: BALANCINGMARITAL RISKSHusnain is a twenty-six-year-old British law graduate who describes himself as a‘second-generation Pakistani’. He has lived in England since he was four years old.Commenting on his marriage to a first cousin from Pakistan, he told me: ‘Marryingwithin the family is the normal thing to do. It’s a cultural issue. I don’t think themedical issue even crosses our people’s minds. It certainly didn’t concern me. Youjust assume you will marry a cousin. That’s what I did. It is the natural thing todo.’ Yet, like many other young adults, he was also acutely aware that this is not theview of many non-Pakistanis in Britain:[White] people ask you, ‘Are you married to a cousin?’ They can’t take it in,a lot of white people. I am using the term ‘white’ in a general way, pleasedon’t be offended. They can’t understand it, for them, marrying a cousin isbeyond their imagination. People say, ‘How can you do that, she’s yourcousin!’ It’s a no-win situation, because if you say, ‘It was a love marriage’;they [white people] will say, ‘Really, how come, were you allowed? How didyou get to marry out of the family? How did your parents allow you to dothat?’ And then your own community will say, how did your parents allowyou to do that? If I say it’s an arranged marriage they [white people] wouldask loads of questions, so now I say it’s a love marriage with parents’consent. That stops the questions.This chapter offers a framework for understanding British Pakistanis’continued preference for marriage with cousins or other close kin, particularlycousins from Pakistan. Indeed, there is some evidence that, rather than declining,the popularity of consanguineous marriage has increased among British Pakistanis(Darr and Modell 1988; Modood et al. 1997: 319; Shaw 2001). Significantly,many of these marriages are transnational, involving a partner from Pakistan orelsewhere in the Pakistani diaspora who then applies to join a spouse in the U.K.(Shaw 2001). The apparent increase in consanguineous marriage more accuratelyand specifically represents the current popularity of transnational kin marriages89Shaw text16 3/12/08 09:58 Page 89
© 2022, Berghahn Books, New York, Oxford

CHAPTER 3BRITISH PAKISTANI COUSINMARRIAGES: BALANCINGMARITAL RISKSHusnain is a twenty-six-year-old British law graduate who describes himself as a‘second-generation Pakistani’. He has lived in England since he was four years old.Commenting on his marriage to a first cousin from Pakistan, he told me: ‘Marryingwithin the family is the normal thing to do. It’s a cultural issue. I don’t think themedical issue even crosses our people’s minds. It certainly didn’t concern me. Youjust assume you will marry a cousin. That’s what I did. It is the natural thing todo.’ Yet, like many other young adults, he was also acutely aware that this is not theview of many non-Pakistanis in Britain:[White] people ask you, ‘Are you married to a cousin?’ They can’t take it in,a lot of white people. I am using the term ‘white’ in a general way, pleasedon’t be offended. They can’t understand it, for them, marrying a cousin isbeyond their imagination. People say, ‘How can you do that, she’s yourcousin!’ It’s a no-win situation, because if you say, ‘It was a love marriage’;they [white people] will say, ‘Really, how come, were you allowed? How didyou get to marry out of the family? How did your parents allow you to dothat?’ And then your own community will say, how did your parents allowyou to do that? If I say it’s an arranged marriage they [white people] wouldask loads of questions, so now I say it’s a love marriage with parents’consent. That stops the questions.This chapter offers a framework for understanding British Pakistanis’continued preference for marriage with cousins or other close kin, particularlycousins from Pakistan. Indeed, there is some evidence that, rather than declining,the popularity of consanguineous marriage has increased among British Pakistanis(Darr and Modell 1988; Modood et al. 1997: 319; Shaw 2001). Significantly,many of these marriages are transnational, involving a partner from Pakistan orelsewhere in the Pakistani diaspora who then applies to join a spouse in the U.K.(Shaw 2001). The apparent increase in consanguineous marriage more accuratelyand specifically represents the current popularity of transnational kin marriages89Shaw text16 3/12/08 09:58 Page 89
© 2022, Berghahn Books, New York, Oxford

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. CONTENTS vii
  3. List of Figures ix
  4. Acknowledgements x
  5. Introduction: Exploring genetic risk 1
  6. Chapter 1: Medical and public perceptions of consanguineous marriage and genetic risk 37
  7. Chapter 2: Close kin marriages: some anthropological theory and European history 63
  8. Chapter 3: British Pakistani cousin marriages: balancing marital risks 89
  9. Chapter 4: Medical surveillance and diagnostic uncertainty 111
  10. Chapter 5: Responding to reproductive risk 139
  11. Chapter 6: Foretelling and managing infant death 167
  12. Chapter 7: Genetic screening and the extended family 201
  13. Chapter 8: Genetic risk in context 229
  14. Bibliography 253
  15. Index 275
Readers are also interested in:
https://doi.org/10.1515/9781845458874-006

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. CONTENTS vii
  3. List of Figures ix
  4. Acknowledgements x
  5. Introduction: Exploring genetic risk 1
  6. Chapter 1: Medical and public perceptions of consanguineous marriage and genetic risk 37
  7. Chapter 2: Close kin marriages: some anthropological theory and European history 63
  8. Chapter 3: British Pakistani cousin marriages: balancing marital risks 89
  9. Chapter 4: Medical surveillance and diagnostic uncertainty 111
  10. Chapter 5: Responding to reproductive risk 139
  11. Chapter 6: Foretelling and managing infant death 167
  12. Chapter 7: Genetic screening and the extended family 201
  13. Chapter 8: Genetic risk in context 229
  14. Bibliography 253
  15. Index 275
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