Previous research on interreligious marriages has indicated that they tend to cause both ethnic and religious 'dilution' and 'loss', but these concepts are misleading and cannot explain different and often contradictory identification processes. Based on qualitative in-depth interviews with 66 sons and daughters raised in families where one partner is an immigrant from a majority-Muslim country and the other is Italian, this article explores offspring's religious identities. The article counters the notion that there is a univocal process of religious 'loss' among 'mixed' offspring. Three different identification processes are found: 'Islamic', 'non-religious' and 'spiritual'. In the first case, the identification with the Islamic faith of the Muslim father leads the offspring to discuss identity in terms of opposition to a 'Western-secularised' way of living youth. In 'non-religious identifications', offspring downplay the role of religion, preferring to emphasise their bi-ethnicity. The third type of narrative ('spiritual identities') shows the elaboration of an anti-dogmatic position on religion, sometimes more syncretic, sometimes more holistic. Results suggest that offspring's identities are much more complex and characterised by a reshaping, rather than a loosening, of religiosity.
Based on a three-year ethnographic study of processes of identity construction in 15 Christian-Muslim couples in Italy, this paper focuses on religion and analyses how partners rely on various strategies in order to deal with religious differences within the context of family life. Does religious pluralism emerge as a problem actually perceived by those couples? Chosen as a paradigmatic case study of 'mixed' couples, the analysis shows how partners, united by a common purpose to minimize their religious differences, often overcome religious pluralism. Four strategies to accomplish this are distinguished: 'renunciation', 'closeting', 'conversion' and 'spiritualization'. It is concluded that what is defined in public debate as 'mixed' -in terms of religious differences -is not always experienced as such within the family context. RésuméCet article est basé sur une étude ethnographique de trois années relative aux processus de construction identitaire parmi 15 couples chrétiens-musulmans en Italie. Les auteurs se focalisent sur la dimension religieuse pour analyser la façon dont les partenaires utilisent des stratégies variées pour gérer les différences religieuses au sein du cadre familial. Le pluralisme religieux est-il réellement perçu comme un problème par ces couples? Choisie comme étude de cas paradigmatique de couples mixtes, cette analyse montre comment les partenaires, unis par un objectif commun qui minimise leurs différences religieuses, surmontent souvent ce pluralisme. Pour y parvenir quatre stratégies sont distinguées: la « renonciation », la « confidentialisation », la « conversion » et la « spiritualisation ». En guise de conclusion, les auteurs affirment que ce qui est défini dans le débat public comme « mixte » -en termes de différences religieuses -n'est pas toujours vécu comme tel dans le cadre de la vie familiale. Mots-cléscouples chrétien-musulmans, couples mixtes, mariage interreligieux, pluralisme religieux, recherche qualitative Social Compass 62(1) Caballero et al., 2009), which allows us to discuss, one by one, the diversities that
Mixed families have historically been considered to be a direct consequence of a process of social and cultural integration of migrants within the host society, although this link has recently been problematized by scholars. By focusing on the case study of an association of “Christian-Muslim” families in Belgium, this article offers a better understanding of the social consequences of mixedness. The article seeks to shed light on the private and public life of the couples who are members of this association by answering the following research questions: Why do couples turn to this association? At what stages of their lives? What is the social role that the association aims to play in society? Using partners’ life stories and ethnographic observation gathered during the association’s meetings, the findings demonstrate how this association plays an important role at different levels and at different stages of a family’s life. The analysis will highlight that: (1) there is a specific aim to help new couples to face administrative, religious and cultural “obstacles” they encounter during the first period of their relationships, and (2) special meetings to discuss the challenge of parenting are at the core of the association’s activities. The “problem” of transmission requires of the couple further negotiations to find a way to balance their respective cultural backgrounds. These negotiations have to take into account the power misbalance within the Belgian hegemonic context. (3) The social activism of this association is an important aspect of its aims and scope. Some of the couples are active in countering a dominant stereotypical representation of mixed couples. They organize meetings and events to sensitize public opinion on interreligious dialogue, migration issues and the fight against racism. In this way, the association proposes itself as a new peculiar agent of social change in the public sphere.
Through the life stories of 20 couples comprising Italian women and Moroccan men living in Italy, this article explores the interconnections between emotions, masculinity, and migration. The aim is to understand the extent to which a mixed marriage challenges particularistic definitions of masculinity. The article contributes to gender and migration studies in three ways. First, it investigates how partners produce multiple coexistent and contradictory discourses on gender depending on cultural contexts.Emotions reveal a hidden aspect of the performance of masculinity, from which conflicts often arise. Second, it adds to a growing field of studies focusing on the interplay of migration and masculinity, showing how migration and having a native partner require a constant reprocessing of masculinity. Lastly, it underlines the importance assigned to the creation of new social networks with other mixed families.These networks help provide a symbolic common space to overcome social stigma and the consequent isolation.
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