Christian-Muslim families dealing with religious pluralism in everyday family life Religious reconstruction in religiously mixed marriages

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ReMix (Christian-Muslim families dealing with religious pluralism in everyday family lifeReligious reconstruction in religiously mixed marriages)

Período documentado: 2018-02-12 hasta 2020-02-11

In Europe, the stigmatisation of Muslim migration and its association with a threat to a presumed “national identity” is a key argument which, in the public space, presents a monolithic “Muslim identity” as the emblem of “otherness”, reinforcing in the public debate the paradigm of the “clash of civilisations” suggested by Huntington (1996). As a consequence, marriages between Muslim and non-Muslim represent a microcosm in which to study the majority-minority group boundaries and the social perception of Muslims by the majority society.

Quantitative studies demonstrate that interfaith marriages lead to higher divorce rates, suggesting that the latter are due to communication difficulties and disagreements caused by cultural differences between partners, as well as to hostility from families of origin, religious institutions and society. However, rather than being firmly and empirically established, these concepts remain mere assumptions and conceal the ways in which those involved actively deal with these dynamics to prevent damage to their relationship.

Couples defined as Christian-Muslim represent an emblematic case-study within the phenomenon of mixed marriage because, within the social space of the family, they incorporate ethnic and religious differences represented as “strong” and “conflicting” in the academic and public debate. Because of the strong presence of anti-Muslim public discourses among the political arena France and Belgium represented two meaningful contexts to study not only how partners deal with their different backgrounds but also how different social contexts impact on their everyday family life.
The challenge addressed aimed at gaining empirical understanding of a pattern firmly established in quantitative studies, i.e. interfaith marriages have higher divorce rates. This project thus focused, through an in-depth qualitative study, on the daily life of such families to understand: 1) what differences are responsible for tension between spouses, 2) how do they deal with this in order to avoid damage to their relationship, 3) and how does gender interfere with these problems.

The study comprised ethnographic observations and in-depth interviews with parents and their offspring: 11 families in Antwerp (Belgium, Flemish region), 15 families in the metropolitan area of Brussels (Belgium) and 20 families in the metropolitan area of Paris (France).
The main scientific research results shed light on:

1. Religious identities of the partners
The reconstruction of partners’ former religious identities is the rule rather than the exception because partners, united by the common purpose of minimizing their differences and external pressures, often overcome religious pluralism in various ways: 1) removing religion from the family context (privatization); 2) moving to the other partner’s religion (conversion); 3) experiencing religion beyond institutionalized practices and dogmas (spiritualization)

2. Gender implications and stigmatization processes
Findings reveal that female partners are more likely to experience the opposition of their families because: 1) the union implies the accusation of “betraying parents’ expectations” and “loosing family prestige ” (for the majority Christian woman) 2) the Koranic norm inhibits a Muslim woman from marrying outside her religious group (for the minority Muslim woman). Minority Muslim men are more likely to face the opposition of their families-in-law particularly when they have a lower socio-economic status.

3. Offspring identifications
Research on interreligious and interethnic marriages indicates that they tend to cause ethnic and religious ‘dilution’ - ‘loss’. I countered the notion that there is a univocal process of religious ‘loss’ among ‘mixed’ offspring. Results suggest that offspring’s identities are much more complex and characterised by a reshaping, rather than a loosening, of religiosity.

Research network on Muslim non-Muslim families
Another relevant research result consisted on the building of the research network on the study of Muslim non-Muslim families that I reached through several organisational activities among which:
- The organization of the 1st International Symposium on Muslim Non-Muslim families at KU Leuven
- A Special Issue focused on Muslim non-Muslim families

Overall research results
Both in terms of scientific results and dissemination activities, the project has exceeded the initial objectives planned:
- Scientific results: 2 scientific articles published, 1 forthcoming and 1 under review; co-editor of one special issue with one article as author on it; 1 chapter in an international book (submitted)
- Dissemination, Communication and Public Engagement: participation in 9 International Conferences; organization of 1 International Conference at the host institution; set-up of a professional academic website; public events involving policy-makers, religious leaders, schools and general public.

Gaps filled
The project’s findings contributed to shed light on how religious, ethnic and gender differences are managed differently by the family members and what are the individual implications for them. Through different dedicated publications I contributed to fill different gaps in the current state-of-the-art showing:
- how partners can differently manage and re-construct their former religious identities;
- how gender, racialization and stigmatizations processes have an impact on these families;
- how offspring manage differently their ethnic and religious identities.

New gaps found
If the research results described above contributed to the analysis of how religious, ethnic and gender differences are managed differently by the family members, they also opened up some new crucial research questions on how the social context is reacting and changing as a consequence of a growing number of mixed marriages. Thanks to the ReMix project, I got access to a network of mixed families associations that consented me to detect a major research gap.
Partners’ and their offspring’s interviews, indeed, indicate that, during their life course, they have to deal with:
- Religious obstacles
- Legislative/administrative obstacles
- Social stigma

This last advancement in the state of the art was fundamental in identifying a major research gap, i.e. scholars still do not take into account these associations’ activities and their function as new social movements for family rights. Thanks to this in 2019 I elaborated new competitive research projects that built on the scientific results reached during the MC fellowship, obtaining some important results:
1) I won two competitive post-doctoral fellowships.
2) I wrote an ERC starting Grant to submit to the next call.
The set-up of a professional website (www.francescocerchiaro.com) to disseminate my research online, the organisation of various events with targeted audiences (policy-makers, religious leaders, teachers and mixed families) and my personal career growth testify how the MSCF Marie Curie project represented a two-way transfer of knowledge. A closer understating of these families’ everyday life represented a key to examine the whole of society facing family changes, Islam and religious diversity in Europe. The research project addressed, thus, the EU lines of Horizon 2020, studying one of the major challenges for an “inclusive and multicultural” Europe.

"What is ""mixed"" about? - ReMix project"

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ReMix (Christian-Muslim families dealing with religious pluralism in everyday family lifeReligious reconstruction in religiously mixed marriages)

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