Juhwan Seo’s recent paper, Quotidian Homonationalism: Green Card Adjudication, Immigration Law, and Liberal Inclusion of Same-Sex Binational Marriages, received several awards: the ASA Sociology of Sexualities Graduate Student Paper Award, the SSSP Family Division Graduate Student Paper Award, the ASA Family Section Outstanding Graduate Student Paper honorable mention, and the Robin M. Williams Jr. Best Paper on Race & Ethnicity Award, Department of Sociology, Cornell University.
Can you please summarize the research behind this paper?
This paper draws on my dissertation project, for which I interviewed same-sex binational couples applying for the marriage-based green card in the U.S. I explore how the law shapes family practices of same-sex marriage, which recently became eligible for family reunification following the United States v. Windsor (2013) decision. Given the recency of same-sex marriage as a legally recognized institution, it is not clear how same-sex couples prove the legitimacy of their marriage to immigration bureaucrats who adjudicate petitions based on evidence submitted. Additionally, I consider how the priorities, logics, and values of the nation-state, as reflected in immigration law and political discourse, shape everyday behaviors of these couples seeking legal recognition. The nuclear family is understood as the foundation of the nation and its political projects. The case of same-sex binational couples undergoing immigration adjudication is an instructive case for considering the liberal inclusion of a new family type.
Interviews with same-sex binational couples show how they embody national values—in matters as intimate as sexual practices, housing and financial arrangements, and kin relations—as the result of immigration bureaucracy. I call this quotidian homonationalism, which describes everyday behaviors that are complicit in U.S. nationalist projects legitimized by queer immigrant inclusion. Given the ambiguity of marriage-based green card petitions, especially for same-sex couples, and the grave consequences of rejection, the couples enact (hetero)normative family practices to make their marriage legible to the state. These practices are not only associated with the straight majority, but they also represent national values around gender and family, with roots in Chinese exclusion and the Christian family. My research reinforces claims that the family is a fundamental site for neoliberal governance, especially for new groups seeking membership in the polity like LGBTQ+ people and immigrants.
