Four Inter-ethnic Marriages of Two Chinese – Kaili Couples and Two Arab – Kaili Couples - Study Hybrid Identity

Abstract

Marriage is the process of forming a new family and social relationship. In the past, the Kaili community was aware of endogamy marriage system, which does not allow to do marriage with ethnicity other than Kaili. But, with the development of era, ethnicities such as ethnic Chinese and Arabs have entered the Kaili ethnic or Kaili ethnic settlements. Ethnic societies have occurred, and today, there are many who make different ethnic marriages. The purpose of this study is to describe the differences in ethnic marriage problems where different ethnic marriages often occurred in the Kaili ethnic community. The research subjects were four different ethnic couples-the marriage of two Chinese-Kaili couples and two Arab-Kaili couples. This descriptive research was conducted by collecting the information through passive and active observation followed by the interview with the subject. Data analysis was conducted by grouping data from observations, interviews, and field notes and then interpreted. The results obtained from this study were from the four different ethnic couples. The majority have obstacles related to the blessing of parents and family, but thanks to the beliefs and efforts of each pair to convince parents and family, the marriage can be done. This happens due to of differences in culture and point of view on life. Therefore, in this case, marital adjustment is required. The greater the cultural differences, the greater the difference in communication both in language and in nonverbal cues. Thus, it can be concluded that communication is the main thing required in the matter of adjusting different ethnic marriages.