Full Description
Drawing from empirically grounded studies, the volume Situated Mixedness sheds light on the state of migration-related "intimate diversity", that is, the simultaneous formation and existence of various configurations of conjugal mixedness. It examines this phenomenon in Belgium, a country in the European Union with a long history of immigration and where an important percentage of registered marriages are international.
Through the optic of "situated mixedness", the volume pays attention to the (dis-)connections between intimate diversity and its surrounding environment. Bringing together mutually reinforcing or often contradicting emic and etic perspectives, it illuminates how specific context/s (socio-legal, cultural, temporal, etc.) not only can influence, stem from, or trigger a social phenomenon but also remain standstill without a particular impact on individual's lived experiences. It brings out in subtle ways the agency and subjectivities of individuals, nuancing thereby common-held views on socially Othered couples.
Focusing on the intimate sphere of individuals' life at the crossroads of anthropology and sociology, the volume contributes fresh insights not only to the study of migration and intermarriage but also to the literature on super- and hyper-diversity. It will be of interest to scholars, students, and social actors working on family-related migration, state policies, and social cohesion.
The Introduction and Chapters 5, 6, 7 and 8 of this book are freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 International license.
Contents
Introduction. Intimate diversity in Belgium through the optic of situated mixedness
Part 1. "Mixed" couples living the context(s) of regulations
1. Religious loss or religious spiritualisation? "Christian-Muslim" couples in Belgium: between secularisation and spiritualisation
2. Minimum income threshold and migrantised citizens: second-class mixedness in the Belgian family reunification regime
3. Bureaucratic couples' interviews as ordeals of desirability: insights from Brussels
4. Intimate mixedness during the COVID-19 pandemic: transnational couples experiencing the effects of travel restrictions
Part 2. Temporal unfolding of intimate diversity
5. Belgian-Asian conjugal mixedness in Belgium since 1992: a quantitative perspective
6. Intimate diversity outside and within: points of convergence of Belgian-Asian couples in Belgium
7. Rapture, rupture, reconstruction: reflections on gay Asian migrant relationship experiences in Belgium
8. Transnationally situated meanings regarding food consumption among Laotian-Belgian couples in Belgium
Conclusion. Rethinking conjugal mixedness and intimate diversity
