Ethnicity and belonging as lived dimensions in mixed marriages

Ursula Apitzsch and Eran Gündüz

Ethnicity and cultural belonging of mixed couples

Abstract

The authors emphasize the inherent bicultural identity of the second generation of immigrant families.

The first part of  this presentation comprises a theoretical outline of the concepts of ethnicity and belonging. Furthermore the history of ethnicity is explained. The theoretical part focuses on the three fields of interest; “gender and belonging”, “belonging as a biographical positioning” and on the question of “multiple belonging”.

The second part of this presentation comprises viewpoints from media coverage and public debates concerning migration issues in the European countries. The debate in Germany is especially questioned on its reductive views of the national, religious or cultural identity of its migrants.

Thus, the authors conclude that there is no way to identify a person unambiguously with one particular ethnic belonging. According to them, the factor that unifies the diverse affiliations of a person, a couple and their offspring is the biographical work of each individual, not an all-embracing ethnicity.