Displaying Difference, Displaying Sameness: Mixed Couples’ Reflexivity and the Narrative-Making of the Family

Abstract

Drawing on qualitative research involving Christian-Muslim couples in Italy, France and Belgium, the article explores the concept of mixedness by employing Finch’s concept of ‘displaying family’ to reach two goals: how the concept of mixedness bears multiple meanings and how the narrative tool of display works in the life story approach. The analysis distinguishes three main dimensions partners deploy to articulate the concept of mixedness. These are: (1) mixedness as a stigma to reject; (2) mixedness as difference that emerges in a couple’s daily life; and (3) mixedness as a resource to be valued by society. The analysis reveals how partners contest and redefine the concept of mixedness and how narratives work as a tool of family display through which partners: deny a socially ascribed negative definition of their family, narratively articulate the activity of ‘doing family’ on a daily basis and (re)signify a contested definition of family.

The everyday dimensions of stigma. Morofobia in everyday life of daughters of Maghrebi-Spanish couples in Granada and Barcelona (Spain)

“…In line with previous research (Cerchiaro, 2022; Rodríguez-García et al, 2021; Rodríguez-Garcia and Rodríguez-Reche, 2022; Sadegh, 2022; Therrien, 2022), we have found a pervasiveness of anti-Muslim sentiments in Spanish society too, which suggests that Spain is also part of a mainstream anti-Muslim sentiment that has spread all over Europe in the last 20 years. This negative attitude is characterized by a stratified stigma where non-whiteness and non-Christianity are used to reinforce the narrative of the ‘enemy within’, the antagonist used to reinforce a boundary between ‘Us’ and ‘Them’, the nation and ‘the Others’.…”

“…As Cerchiaro (2022) has recently argued, the concepts of 'mixed' and 'mixedness,' far from being uncontested, are articulated around the interdependence between the concepts of difference and sameness. Mixedness refers, in particular, to the ongoing mixing process that, by definition, 'changes over time and in relation to different social contexts' (ibidem: 3) and 'bears multiple meanings' (ivi: 2) often contested and re-signified by the same family members.…”

Muslim masculinities under siege? Masculinity, religion and migration in the life stories of Muslim men married outside their religious group in Belgium and Italy

“…The wife's conversion to Islam and the commitment to giving children a Moroccan-Muslim education emerge as ways to display sameness ('she is seen as a perfect Muslim woman') and overcome the idea of 'being mixed' (See Cerchiaro et al, 2015;Cerchiaro 2022b). This highlights how the demonstration of having built a 'Muslim family' is linked with the display of hegemonic Muslim masculinity in front of the Muslim community.…”

Mixedness in conflict: The impact of Yugoslav wars on intermarriages in the Western Balkans

“…The transformative potential of interethnic marriages extends beyond the realm of the couple, significantly influencing community and societal structures. By fostering communication, mutual respect, and understanding, these unions promote social cohesion and challenge long‐standing divisions (Cerchiaro, 2023; Gorden, 1964; Osanami Törngren, 2016). Mixed marriages also act as a litmus test for the relationship between different societal groups, illuminating the flexibility or rigidity of social boundaries (Gorden, 1964).…”