ABSTRACT

Academic literature has studied the legal consciousness of common citizens: the way ordinary people think and talk about law in their everyday lives. Building on this literature, we explore how Dutch female citizens with a migrant partner experience the impact of migration law on their everyday lives. We questioned how legal consciousness is linked to intimate citizenship, thus demonstrating how ‘private’ matters such as intimate relationships, marriage, and family have a profound impact on citizenship. Based on two sets of interviews, conducted in 2000 and 2016, we were able to determine how these women, despite being citizens formally, experienced the profound impact of increasingly restrictive family reunification policies. Contrary to our expectations, female sponsors continued to express considerable support for restrictive migration law. In performing intimate citizenship, they claimed an exception from the strict application of the rules for their particular family situation, rather than radical change.

摘要

学术文献研究了普通公民的法律意识：普通人在日常生活中思考和谈论法律的方式。在这些文献的基础上，我们探索与移民伴侣一起生活的荷兰女性公民如何体验移民法对其日常生活的影响。我们质疑法律意识如何与亲密公民身份联系在一起，从而证明了亲密关系，婚姻和家庭等“私人”事务如何对公民身份产生深远影响。根据2000年和2016年进行的两组访谈，我们能够确定这些妇女尽管正式成为公民，但如何经历日益严格的家庭团聚政策的深远影响。与我们的期望相反，女性赞助者继续表示对限制性移民法的大力支持。