Publications

Intermarriage is often seen as a solvent of caste and ethnic divisions. This study provides the first nationwide analysis of intermarriage in Nepal, drawing on data from the 2001 and 2011 censuses. Despite Nepal’s remarkable diversity, intermarriage remained exceedingly rare, accounting for only 0.74% of all marriages. Only Madhesi Brahman/Chhetri, Newar, and MPB (Marwadi, Punjabi, Bangali) communities exceeded 1%. Log-linear models reveal persistent, though slightly weakening, intergroup boundaries, with indigenous Janajatis exhibiting greater openness to intermarriage. Gender asymmetries—such as lower-caste men marrying into higher-caste groups—were evident. Education most effectively facilitated intermarriage among disadvantaged groups (e.g., Dalits, Janajatis) but had limited or even negative effects among privileged groups. Child marriage, still present in nearly half of all unions, reinforced caste endogamy, especially among Dalits. However, unexpectedly higher intermarriage rates in child marriages among Madhesi Brahman/Chhetri and MPB communities suggest strategic arranged out-marriages. These findings highlight the enduring resilience of caste and ethnic divisions in Nepal, while identifying educational expansion and enforcement of minimum marriage age, especially targeting disadvantaged populations, as promising pathways toward greater social integration. These insights carry important implications for policies aimed at reducing caste- and ethnicity-based stratification in Nepal and similarly divided societies.

In multiethnic societies, interethnic marriage serves as a critical lens for understanding cultural integration and status hierarchies among ethnic groups. Using data from China's Census (1982-2010), we examine how these dynamics unfold in a context where ethnic disparities intersect with state interventions through preferential policies. Although uncommon, intermarriage with the Han majority gradually increased, occurring most frequently among the Manchu, Mongolian, and Southern minorities, and least frequently among the Kazakh and Uyghur. After controlling for ethnic compositions, all minority groups exhibited a preference against intermarriage with the Han, with the strongest disinclination observed among groups maintaining distinct ethnoreligious identities (e.g., Kazakh, Uyghur). Over time, these cultural boundaries became increasingly permeable for most groups, except the Manchu, and patterns of gender asymmetry largely dissipated. Our analysis of educational patterns reveals two distinct mechanisms for boundary crossing: relatively assimilated groups (e.g., Hui, Manchu, Mongolian) through educational assortative mating, and status exchange among groups with strong but permeable boundaries. The Koreans leveraged their educational advantage to marry Han spouses, while Han Chinese needed higher education to marry into Tibetan and Southern minorities—those receiving the most substantial policy advantages. Notably, the Uyghur and Kazakh populations maintained rigid boundaries unaffected by either mechanism. These findings reveal how marriage choices reflect complex negotiations between cultural preservation, social mobility, and state-structured incentives, providing insights into the persistence and malleability of ethnic boundaries in contemporary societies.

Despite China's earlier progress toward gender equality, recent decades have seen a resurgence of patriarchal values, with women increasingly exiting the labor force to become full-time homemakers. Two important questions remain underexplored: how this gendered retreat varies across China's diverse ethnic landscape—revealing distinct cultural scripts of accommodation or resistance to patriarchal norms—and how interethnic marriages function as emerging sites of cultural adaptation and gender role negotiation across ethnic boundaries. Using China's census data (1982-2015), this study addresses these gaps by examining ethnic disparities in women's homemaking patterns and effects of majority-minority intermarriage. Multilevel logistic models revealed a rising trend in homemaking with significant ethnic variations. Compared to the Han majority, women from Manchu and predominantly Muslim groups (Hui, Kazakh, Uyghur) were more likely to be full-time homemakers, while Korean, Southern, and Tibetan women showed lower probabilities. Analysis of intermarriage uncovered asymmetric assimilation: Han women's homemaking patterns remained stable, whereas minority women shifted toward Han norms. This shift varied in complex ways, influenced by individual and contextual characteristics. For groups with traditional gender norms, higher education and greater prefecture-level Han concentration amplified the reduction in homemaking associated with intermarriage. Conversely, for groups with historically high labor force participation, higher education tempered the shift toward increased homemaking, while Han concentration had minimal impact, suggesting strategic adaptation and resistance to Han assimilation. These findings highlight diverse pathways of cultural adaptation at the intersection of ethnicity, education, and marriage, deepening our understanding of gender and ethnic stratification in contemporary China.

Over the past decades, the patterns of educational sorting in marriage have changed dramatically in China, exhibiting a U-shaped curve for homogamy, an inverted U-shaped curve for hypergamy, and a consistently low prevalence of hypogamy. However, few studies have systematically examined why these changes occurred as they did. Using data from China’s Census, this study employs a decomposition approach to unpack the contributions of three driving forces: educational expansion, educational gradients in marriage rates, and assortative mating preferences. Results show that the initial decrease in homogamy among cohorts born before 1965 was driven entirely by educational expansion. For later birth cohorts, sustained educational expansion promoted homogamy and hypogamy while discouraging hypergamy. This influence outweighed the opposing effects of a steeper decline in marriage rates among highly educated women. Preferences for homogamy and against heterogamy, especially hypogamy, intensified. Combined, the three factors explained the rising homogamy, declining hypergamy, and stagnant hypogamy across later cohorts.

Replication package

Literature examining the disparities in health outcomes between ethnic groups in China reveals a consistent disadvantage among ethnic minorities than Han Chinese. The ethnic differentiation of economic conditions between the majority and minority have been the most cited predictors. However, the cultural pathways underlying ethnic variations in health have been understudied. Using samples from China’s census and inter-census surveys in 2005, 2010, and 2015, this study provides a comprehensive documentation and understanding of ethnic variations in self-rated health among Chinese older than 60 years old. Findings show that compared to Han Chinese, Kazakh, Manchu, Mongolian, Southern, Tibetan, and Uyghur report significantly lower health. While minorities’ group-level dissimilarity from Han in various demographic characteristics, prefecture-level ethnic residential concentrations and number of high schools per thousand individuals are negatively associated with health, prefecture-level GDP per capita positively predict health. In prefectures with high levels of ethnic residential concentrations and higher per-capita GDP, the negative associations between dissimilarity to the Han and health are strengthened; in prefectures where the distributions of ethnic groups were more heterogenous, the negative associations between dissimilarity to the Han and health are mitigated. This study shows the importance of unpacking ethnic variations in health accounting for intra-ethnic diversity and interactions between cultural and socioeconomic contexts.