When romantic love crosses borders: the case of mixed- nationality and transnational couples Başak JANOTA Erasmus Mundus Master‟s in Social Work with Families and Children Supervisor: Maria das Dores Guerreiro Co-supervisor: Ana Raquel Matias University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE-IUL), December 2017 Abstract Title: When romantic love crosses borders: the case of mixed-nationality and transnational couples Author: Başak JANOTA Key words: immigration, globalization, transnational couples, mixed-marriages, transnational families The analysis of mixed-nationality and transnational couples‟ portraits represented here aimed to explore their experiences and difficulties about adaptation to transnational arrangements, and how these experiences shape their spousal and familial dynamics over time and space. They were analysed by following the main research questions: a) In relation to transnational migration, what are the experiences of mixed-nationality and transnational couples?, b) What are the dynamics and characteristics of mixed-nationality and transnational couples‟ relationships and how do they change over time and space?, c) How transnational migration has influenced spousal and familial dynamics and future plans? These questions were conducted in a qualitative research on the basis of ethnography and semi-structured interviews. I found that their socio-demographic status of both members of the couples had an influence on reshaping family functions, gender relations and roles in both domestic and outside spheres. Their past trajectories reflected that they acknowledged their self, their partner and family members in cross-borders while experiencing a reformation about themselves and new forms of living with diversity. These couples created their own way of intimacy and privacy while reconsidering the globalized perspectives of loving, living, thinking, acting and interacting with their beloved ones through the lens of bi-nationalism and transnationalism. Mixed-nationality couples had fixed plans, on the contrary; both mixed- nationality and transnational couples could not have stable plans because of their specific transnational way of life. Besides, I also discovered that there were some alterations in the present life of the couple‟s social circle of family, friendship and socialization activities. Last but not least, I figured out that they chose to raise their children in multilingual and multicultural environment in order to improve children development. i Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................................... i Contents ....................................................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. iv 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 1 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................................ 3 2.1. Framing mixed-nationality and transnational couples as migration phenomena .................... 3 2.2. The role of language in shaping spousal and familial contexts, and individual‟s experiences in migration ......................................................................................................................................... 6 2.3. Family, conjugality and gender roles ...................................................................................... 8 3. ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK .................................................................................................. 15 4. METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................ 18 4.1. Research design ..................................................................................................................... 18 4.2. Study setting .......................................................................................................................... 21 4.3. Sampling and selecting procedures ....................................................................................... 21 4.4. Participants ............................................................................................................................ 22 4.5. Data collection ....................................................................................................................... 23 4.6. Ethical considerations ............................................................................................................ 24 5. RESULTS ...................................................................................................................................... 28 5.1. Social characterization of the interviewees ........................................................................... 28 5.2. Mixed-nationality couples and transnational couples ........................................................... 35 5.2.1. Background of the couple‟s life .................................................................................... 35 5.2.2. Couple‟s daily life ......................................................................................................... 41 5.2.3. Sociabilities ................................................................................................................... 51 5.2.4. Parenting ........................................................................................................................ 64 5.2.5. Future plans ................................................................................................................... 74 Final consideration ................................................................................................................................ 77 6. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 79 7. REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................. 85 8. APPENDICES ............................................................................................................................... 93 8.1. Appendix 1 ............................................................................................................................ 93 The complexities of the countries: In the specific incidents of Turkey and Angola ..................... 93 8.2. Appendix 2 ............................................................................................................................ 96 INTERVIEW GUIDE ....................................................................................................................... 96 8.3. Appendix 3 ............................................................................................................................ 99 ii Grid Analysis of Turkish-Angolan couple (ID-1) ......................................................................... 99 8.4. Appendix 4 .......................................................................................................................... 104 Grid Analysis of Turkish-Jordanian couple (ID-2) ..................................................................... 104 8.5. Appendix 5 .......................................................................................................................... 111 Grid Analysis of Angolan-Spanish couple (ID-3) ....................................................................... 111 8.6. Appendix 6 .......................................................................................................................... 114 Grid Analysis of Angolan-French couple (ID-4) ........................................................................ 114 8.7. Appendix 7 .......................................................................................................................... 118 Grid Analysis of Angolan-Portuguese couple (ID-5) .................................................................. 118 8.8. Appendix 8 .......................................................................................................................... 125 Grid Analysis of Kyrgyzstani-Turkish (ID-6) ............................................................................. 125 8.9. Appendix 9 .......................................................................................................................... 130 Grid Analysis of Turkish-French (ID-7) ..................................................................................... 130 8.10. Appendix 10 .................................................................................................................... 133 Grid Analysis of Ukrainian-Turkish (ID-8) ................................................................................ 133 8.11. Appendix 11 .................................................................................................................... 137 Grid Analysis of Vietnamese-Turkish (ID-9) .............................................................................. 137 8.12. Appendix 12 .................................................................................................................... 142