Reflection Paper on Romance on a Global Stage, by Nicole Constable - Essay Example

There are more than 350 matrimonial and dating websites on the internet that match the profiles of men and women with people from all over the globe and romantic union clearly demonstrates the amalgamation of the global community. Nicole Constable has discussed this aspect of the society in her unique study and compiled it in her book titled “Romance on a global stage: Pen pals, virtual ethnography and mail-order marriage’, where the substance of her prose focuses on real individuals in a romantic or matrimonial alliance with people in a different country and culture.

(Constable, 2003, p. 198-208) The basic premise of the relationship centers on men from the west and eastern women; primarily Filipina or Chinese women. Constables work is not only based on theoretical evidences but also anecdotal that gives the readers a general insight into the matter. Marriage is one the most universal concepts and as mentioned earlier, as the internet is becoming more and more synonymous with the world’s population, online relationships and mail-order marriages have become extremely common and as a result the differences between the value system between people belonging to various cultural backgrounds have become even more pronounced; however, the values have undergone a series of change in recent, as a result the global community has become more uniform. . Online dating and mail-order marriage is a long-distance relationship, and couples are able to stay in touch only through the internet, telephone or the conventional method of writing letters to each other.

(Piper & Roces, 2003) Sometimes, individuals also pay visits to their significant others in their home country until they finally immigrate. The cost involved is very high and often the immigration procedure takes a really long while due to rampant bureaucracy and red-tapism that further prolongs the waiting period for the husbands and their wives. During this time there are a number of issues that the couples face and must resolve in order to ensure a prosperous future together. The Asian women, who have applied for an American visa, have to endure the biting remarks of their peers that their husbands might have found someone else.

Often officials working at the immigration office or INS are governed by their prejudices and biases towards various cultures and races and in order to vent out their anger, they delay the procedure and make the wait longer for couples. In case of Freddie, who had a Filipina wife was subjected to the anger and frustration brought about by the immigration procedure due to the fact that the immigration had a personal grudge against people from the Philippines and thought they did not deserve to be allowed in the country.

Their grudges and anger towards the race is a deep-seated one and has it origin in the country’s history whereby, Philippines chose independence instead of becoming a pert of the United States. However, the current economic situation of the country cause the people to move to America in pursuit of greener pasture but before that they have to face the immigration