Immigration and hybridity today. Mixed marriages and transnational families in Catalonia, Spain

Abstract

One of the consequences of international migration and the permanent settlement of immigrants in southern EU countries is the growing number of inter-country marriages and the formation of transnational families. Using both quantitative and qualitative data, this article examines patterns of endogamy and exogamy (i.e., marriage within/outside a particular group or category) among One of the consequences of international migration and the permanent settlement of immigrants in southern EU countries is the growing number of inter-country marriages and the formation of transnational families. Using both quantitative and qualitative data, this article examines patterns of endogamy and exogamy (i.e., marriage within/outside a particular group or category) among African immigrants in Catalonia, focusing on bi-national Senegalese and Gambian-Spanish couples. Socio-demographic profiles, transnationality, the dynamics of cultural change/retention and the formation of bi/trans-cultural identities are explored. The evidence presented suggests that social factors are more important than cultural origins in patterns of endogamy and exogamy, in the dynamics of living together and in the bringing up of children of mixed unions. Such a conclusion negates culturists’ explanations of endogamy and exogamy, while at the same time, emphasizing the role of social actors as active subjects in these processes. I further argue that mixed couples and their offspring deal–to a greater or lesser extent–with multiple localizations and cultural backgrounds (here and there), rather than experiencing a ‘clash between two cultures’. The paper starts and ends by addressing the multifaceted nature and complexities of processes of interculturalism, resisting an interpretation of hybridity and segregation as contradictory or exclusive realities.