Advancing research in couple studies

Consistent with my previous work and in line with other authors (Edwards et al. 2009; Collet 2015; Song and Aspinall 2012; Therrien and Le Gall 2012; Rodríguez-García 2015; Cerchiaro 2016), I use the terms “mixed” and “mixedness” to encompass the multiple differences (with regard to class, race, ethnicity and faith) that characterize the participants in my studies. The attempt is not only to avoid more precise terminology — because as Collet (2015: 131) states, “most of the situations do not even permit isolating a single criterion: couples are often interreligious and interethnic” — but also to avoid the assumption of an a priori difference regarding the subject of the study.

Because of the strong presence of anti-Muslim public discourses, Italy, France and Belgium are three meaningful contexts in which to study the social implications of and external reactions to the formation of these mixed couples. Scholars have emphasized that unemployment in Europe is increasingly creating resentment towards immigrants in these countries, and particularly towards Muslim minorities (Allievi 2005; Laurence and Vaisse 2007; Croucher 2013; Meer 2013). The anti-immigrant rhetoric of the populist right-wing political parties (Le Front National in France, Vlaams Belang in Belgium, Lega and Fratelli d’Italia in Italy) has targeted Muslim minorities in particular, as emblematic of “the enemy within”. These political debates have acquired greater legitimacy, above all after the watershed terrorist attack of 11 September 2001, creating growing and widespread feelings of anger, negative attitudes and hate prejudice against Muslim minorities that have direct consequences for social perceptions of mixed marriages, specifically those between native Europeans and migrant Muslims.

These interviews were part of three projects conducted between 2010 and 2019 by the author at the University of Padua (Italy) and at KU Leuven (Belgium). Details are reported in the funding section of this article.

These are generally groups of mixed couples who self-organize as a non-profit organization to share their life experiences and provide a place to discuss the particular issues of mixed couples and provide family support.

In line with Heaphy and Einarsdottir (2012: 54), I use the word “script” to refer to the stories that are told about relationships, but also “as a metaphor for how relationships are ‘done’ in practice”.