Norm and non-norm in relationships on the American Frontier
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In the 19th century, colonial regimes enforced marital norms to maintain social order and assert cultural dominance, promoting Christian monogamous marriage as the standard. This standardisation of marriage served as a mechanism for controlling inheritance, citizenship, and social legitimacy, ultimately, of course, reinforcing Western values as morally and culturally superior. Colonial authorities framed Christian marriage as 'civilised', contrasting it with practices deemed incompatible with Western ideals, such as polygamy and arranged marriages found among various colonised populations. The perception of non-normative unions as deviant supported racial and cultural hierarchies essential to colonial rule, framing alternative practices as threats to societal stability (Shah, 2005, p. 118).
American authorities faced a variety of non-normative relationships, including polygamous Native American and Mormon unions, as well as cross-continental polygynous marriages within immigrant communities. A notable example of this is Julio Jubala’s dual marriages in India and New Mexico, where inheritance claims highlighted the complexity of regulating multicultural relationships while safeguarding the monogamous model. Similarly, same-sex relationships were criminalised under sodomy laws, as in the 1912 Washington case of Don Sing, where non-normative sexual relations were portrayed as threats to public order. Through such legal interventions, the state reinforced monogamous, heterosexual marriage as the norm, marginalising divergent practices and consolidating cultural control over its heterogeneous subjects (Shah, 2005, pp. 121, 127).