The “Marriage Market” among Punjabi Migrant Families in Italy: Designs, Resistances, and Gateways

Abstract

The dowry system originated in South Asia and the new patterns of household formation among Indian migrant minorities have been debated in the international literature, particularly in the UK. However, less attention has been paid to the pre-marital bargaining strategies used in the most recent Punjabi immigration to Italy (to date the largest Indian Diaspora in Europe) and to how a certain idea of kinship and a cultural code of spousal/parental relations are enacted through gift, exchange and favor. This article explores the “marriage market” among youth of Punjabi descent in Italy (between first and second immigrant generations), investigating the bride-groom selection procedures and the economic transactions which endorse a wedding agreement. Reports of ethnographic research just concluded in the northern rural districts of Bergamo and Brescia indicate that dissonant subjective narratives give voice to family and community conflicts across genders and ages in setting up new domestic groups, capturing the shifting local milieu after the economic crisis. Using an intersectional perspective, which highlights diversity in the Italian Punjabi community (with regard to class, caste and faith), we ascertain how categories of social difference are reproduced, contested and transformed throughout wedlock, and see how a traditional tempered endogamy has long become transnational and partly disrupted. Analyzing how young Indian Italians selectively resort to discourses about love/convenience, right/duty, control/autonomy, we will consider whether and how personal agencies may navigate hierarchical structures such as patriarchy, social inequality and capitalist development.

Fragmented integration and transnational networks: a case study of Indian immigration to Italy and Spain

“…Despite the rapid growth of Indian immigrants in both countries, researchers have given them little attention in recent years. Studies have mostly described the immigration process (Farjas 2006a , 2006b ; Garha et al 2016a ), spatial distribution (Garha and Galeano 2015 ; Garha et al 2016b ), religion and identity struggles (Garha and Domingo 2017 , 2018 ; Estruch et al 2007 ; Denti et al 2005 ; Paniker 2007 ), Punjabi culture, gender relations, family formation (Bonafanti 2015 ; Bertolani 2017 ) and Indians’ economic contribution to the dairy industry, agriculture, trade (Sahai and Lum 2013 ; Bertolani 2005 ; Beltrán 2004 ) and hospital services (Gallo 2005 , 2008 ). Very few studies have considered the integration of Indian communities into host societies (Lum 2012 ; López-Sala 2013 ).…”

Where do we go from here? Exploring the future of mixed families between Italy and South Asia

“…This reminds us how relationships founded on the modern romance of soul mating can be an effective way to bridge cultural differences in spaces of intimacy (Slootman, 2018). Prejudiced views in Northern Italy have often regarded intermarriages with migrants as being problematic and short-lived (Bonfanti, 2015). The households discussed here, whatever their nationality, religion and class status, did challenge these doomed fate statements.…”

Asia-Europe intimate links: Family migrants, binational couples and mixed-parentage children

“…Such "transnational marriage" (Charsley, 2012) has been widely observed among British South Asians getting married to partners from their (grand)parents' countries of origin (Charsley and Shaw, 2006;Pande, 2014;Qureshi, 2016). Similar cases can also be found in Italy and Belgium within South Asians' diasporic populations (Cloet et al, 2012;Bonfanti, 2015). The second category of Asian-European intimate unions is formed between partners with different ethnicities and nationalities.…”