Episode Overview

Episode Title: Cross-Border Intimacies: Affect and Emotions in Marriage Migration Between China and Taiwan
Podcast: New Books Network (Nordic Asia Podcast)
Host: Ariona Spiritkanen
Guest: Dr. Lara Momesso
Date: January 23, 2026

This episode features Dr. Lara Momesso discussing her newly published book, Cross-Border Affect and Emotions in Marriage Migration between China and Taiwan. Drawing on 15 years of ethnographic research, Dr. Momesso explores the intimate, institutional, and political dimensions of marriage migration between the People's Republic of China and Taiwan, emphasizing the roles of affect (bodily feelings, moods) and emotion (named, socially constructed feelings) in shaping migrant experiences and social relations. The conversation charts the distinctive features of this migration context, methodological challenges, and implications for studies on marginalization, agency, and transnational families.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Dr. Momesso’s Interdisciplinary Research Focus

[01:21–04:29]

• Specializes in marginalized populations (migrants, ethnic minorities, women, older and young people) in East Asia and the UK.
• Investigates how institutions reproduce marginalization via policies, norms, and expectations but also how marginalized groups exercise agency:

  “Marginalization is not accidental. It is sustained by either political or cultural or economic interests that benefit those who are in power.” (Dr. Momesso, 02:44)

• Her approach blends gender studies, political science, IR, and anthropology, with an emphasis on intimate institutions like family and marriage.

2. Main Arguments of the Book

[05:12–08:00]

• Three central arguments:
  1. Fully understanding cross-strait marriage migration requires attention to intimacy, affect, and long-term relational dynamics—not just economics or strategy.
  2. The phenomenon has diversified over time; the parties involved (social backgrounds, motivations) now vary greatly.
  3. Both migrants and non-migrants actively shape and transform social meanings over time. These marriages are deeply enmeshed in the politics of migration regimes, nationalism, and shifting cross-strait relations.

  “Cross-strait marriages are not simply private arrangements … but these are social processes that unfold over years and decades, revealing how intimacy eventually also intersect with the sphere of the political.” (Dr. Momesso, 07:17)

3. Theoretical Foundations: Affect and Emotions

[08:32–10:54]

• Outlines two traditional views:
  • Emotions: Socially and culturally constructed, conscious, tied to language and meaning (Lila Abu-Lughod, Catherine Lutz).
  • Affect: Pre-conscious bodily sensations, moods, atmospheres that move between people; beneath awareness, easily shaped by media or policy.
• Dr. Momesso argues for an integrated approach:

  “Rather than focusing on that opposite—mind versus body… affect and emotion… constantly feed into each other.” (Dr. Momesso, 10:15)

• Sensations become emotions via repeated experience, emotions shape bodily feeling.

4. Research Methodology and Longitudinal Design

[11:08–14:34]

• Long-term ethnography (2008-2025): multiple fieldworks, master’s, PhD, postdoc all integrated.
• Methods: in-depth/life-story interviews, participant observation, analysis of policies and documents.
• Interviewed ~150 people: migrants, spouses, children, officials, NGOs, activists—yielding a multi-perspective view “across families, communities, institutions, and also even across the Taiwan Strait.”
• Collaboration with grassroots and governmental organizations for both deep and comparative insights.
• Unique longitudinal aspect: traced how individuals, families, organizations, and the political landscape evolved over time.

5. Fieldwork Challenges: China vs. Taiwan

[15:00–19:07]

• Taiwan:
  • Open, accessible for ethnographic research; visible civil society and public debate; easier networking.
  • Smooth process despite regular ethnographic challenges.
• China:
  • Fieldwork mainly in Fujian and Guangdong; informants dispersed, limited organizational access.
  • Issue politically sensitive—marriage migrants can become symbols of national unity in official Chinese narratives.
  • Access and frankness were constrained by politics: officials repeated state lines, marriages often framed as purely private.

  “The differences… were not just logistical or methodological, but because they are deeply political, they really informed the analytical framework of the book itself.” (Dr. Momesso, 18:44)

6. Specificity of Cross-Strait Marriage Migration

[19:57–25:06]

• Most cases of marriage migration in Asia involve linguistic and cultural difference; here, presumed sameness complicates things:

  “What are the main distinctive features then? First of all, we have marriages and also movements that involve people who are assumed to be the same… That assumed sameness can be misleading, especially for marriage migrants.” (Dr. Momesso, 20:50)

• Migrants expect cultural continuity, find sharp differences (language, values, political climate) on arrival.
• Politicization is intense—marriage migrants become symbolic in debates over sovereignty and identity.
• Chinese spouses in Taiwan face unique restrictions (residency, naturalization) not applied to other migrants.
• High political mobilization among Chinese spouses, including party support and civic organization formation.

  “This level of political mobilization, informal but also formal and also visibility, is relatively rare in other contexts of marriage migration.” (Dr. Momesso, 24:24)

7. Key Findings: The Political, The Other, and The Self

[25:35–29:33]

• Moves beyond individual experience to look at intersubjective formation of meaning and identity:
  • Political: How migrants are framed emotionally and affectively by Chinese and Taiwanese nationalism; migrants respond and reshape narratives.
  • The Other: Examines ongoing, relational processes—migrants and host society mutually transform each other through family, community, and collective belonging over time.
  • The Self: Migrants’ internal emotional work in constructing agency, identity, and belonging.

  “All these three dimensions, the political, the other and the self, are always intertwined… constantly reshape each other through emotional, affective and relational processes.” (Dr. Momesso, 29:30)

8. Future Research Directions

[29:49–32:14]

• Cross-strait marriage migration is numerically declining, but long-term dynamics persist.
• Two forthcoming research strands:
  1. Second generation: Political participation and civic engagement among children of cross-strait couples.
  2. Aging: Later life stages of first-generation migrants, including grandparent roles and emergent vulnerabilities/agencies.

  “The core themes of my work tend to remain the similar. We have marginalization and agency, affect and emotion, and the links between intimate life and political structures.” (Dr. Momesso, 31:48)

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “Marginalization is not accidental. It is sustained by either political or cultural or economic interests that benefit those who are in power.”
  (Dr. Momesso, 02:44)

• “Cross-strait marriages are not simply private arrangements… but these are social processes that unfold over years and decades, revealing how intimacy eventually also intersect with the sphere of the political.”
  (Dr. Momesso, 07:17)

• “Rather than focusing on that opposite—mind versus body… affect and emotion… constantly feed into each other.”
  (Dr. Momesso, 10:15)

• “The differences… were not just logistical or methodological, but because they are deeply political, they really informed the analytical framework of the book itself.”
  (Dr. Momesso, 18:44)

• “What are the main distinctive features then? First of all, we have marriages and also movements that involve people who are assumed to be the same… That assumed sameness can be misleading, especially for marriage migrants.”
  (Dr. Momesso, 20:50)

• “This level of political mobilization, informal but also formal and also visibility, is relatively rare in other contexts of marriage migration.”
  (Dr. Momesso, 24:24)

• “All these three dimensions, the political, the other and the self, are always intertwined… constantly reshape each other through emotional, affective and relational processes.”
  (Dr. Momesso, 29:30)

• “The core themes of my work tend to remain the similar. We have marginalization and agency, affect and emotion, and the links between intimate life and political structures.”
  (Dr. Momesso, 31:48)

Suggested Listening Timestamps for Key Segments

• Dr. Momesso’s research interests and conceptualization of marginalization: 01:21–04:29
• Outline of book arguments: 05:12–08:00
• Affect vs. emotion theory: 08:32–10:54
• Methodology and longitudinal perspective: 11:08–14:34
• Challenges of cross-strait fieldwork: 15:00–19:07
• Specificities of China-Taiwan marriage migration: 19:57–25:06
• Three-dimension analytical framework: 25:35–29:33
• Future research plans: 29:49–32:14

Overall Tone & Feel

The conversation is deeply intellectual yet accessible, characterized by Dr. Momesso’s thoughtful, reflective, and nuanced engagement with both the micro (intimate, affective) and macro (political, institutional) dimensions of cross-strait marriage migration. The episode provides an insightful and empathetic look at how contested geopolitics shapes not only migration policies but the very textures of family, identity, and belonging on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.