Single, dual, beyond. Ethnic, Racial and Religious Self-identification among Mixed Individuals raised in Christian-Muslim Families in Italy

The debate about mixed individuals’ identities is marked by a polarisation that tends to conceptualise identity as a choice between the binary categories of ‘either-or’, or as a monolithic entity ‘diluted’ or ‘lost’ in generational transmission. Based on 66 in-depth biographical interviews with mixed individuals raised in Christian-Muslim families in Northern Italy, this chapter aims to offer a comprehensive approach, focusing on how ethnicity, race and religion are interconnected in a unique identity narrative. Three types of discursive identification — ‘single’, ‘dual’ and ‘beyond’ — are discussed. First, in the ‘single’ identification, only one parent’s background emerges and religious narratives involving self-identification with the culture of the minority Muslim partner prevail. Ethnic and racial elements emerge as side issues linked to religion. Second, in the ‘dual’ type, mixed individuals self-identify as non-religious while they emphasise their bi-ethnic and bi-racial ancestry. Third, the ‘beyond’ type develops a spirituality outside of a single religious belonging and a cosmopolitan representation of the self that rejects fixed ethnic and racial categorisation. Results suggest that mixed individuals reshape their identities choosing one or moving between or beyond the symbolic boundaries of group belonging. This ‘reshaping’ includes personal claims of self-autonomy with a relational claims of social recognition.

ISBN:9781003126263

Publication year:2021

Accessibility:Closed