The bride on the border Women and the reproduction of ethnicity in the early modern British Isles

• Published in: European journal of cultural studies Vol. 5; no. 3; pp. 293 - 306
• Main Author: Schwyzer, Philip
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.08.2002
• Subjects: Boundary Maintenance; Cultural studies; Early modern history; Ethnicity; Ethnocentrism; Ethnonationalism; Females; Foreigners; Ireland; Marriage; Sexual reproduction; Sixteenth Century; Social reproduction; Stigma; Wales; Wives; Women; national identity; literature; Welsh; motherhood; genealogy; Irish

From the medieval era to the present, the foreign bride has been stigmatized in the literatures of Europe as the bearer of ethnic contamination. While this practice has been consistent across time, the theories of ethnic reproduction that purport to justify it have not. This article argues that this...