“Two small people in a war against the whole state”: Feminist geolegal analysis of mixed-citizen couples’ accounts of deportability

Authors

  • Eveliina Lyytinen

Abstract

In this article, I analyse how Finnish women and their non-citizen spouses are affected by deportations. I analyse their accounts of deportability from the perspective of feminist geolegality that integrates legal geography and feminist geopolitics, enabling the co-constitutional analysis of, on the one hand, law and space, and on the other hand, intimate and global spheres. Based on my 15 in-depth individual or pair interviews with eight Finnish women and their four non-citizen spouses, conducted in 2022–2023, I enquire how they experience the threat of deportation in their everyday lives and in administrative processes. The spouses have sought residence permits from Finland first based on asylum and then based on family ties. My analysis pays attention to these couples’ descriptions of their homes and of their bodies — the two spaces of particular importance in the studies of feminist geolegality. My analysis of these intimate spheres resonates with the investigation and reinterpretation of the concept of intimate war that enables us to focus on the issue of power in relation to law and space. 

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Published

2026-06-16

Issue

Section

Research Papers

How to Cite

Lyytinen, E. (2026). “Two small people in a war against the whole state”: Feminist geolegal analysis of mixed-citizen couples’ accounts of deportability. Fennia - International Journal of Geography, 204(1), 40–54. https://fennia.journal.fi/article/view/160151