Introduction
Today, interracial marriage is one of the most commonly debated topics in the field of sociology and anthropology today. Not a lot of people get to understand what interracial marriage really is or what it really is all about, or what it even means. Basically, interracial marriage is a process or a phenomenon that occurs when two people, who came from two differing ethnic or racial groups, become bound by law, culture, and religion. In the simplest terms, interracial marriage occurs when two people who both came from a different culture marry and converge to form a single unit of society, or what is more commonly called as the family. Some people actually misperceive that interracial marriage and intercultural marriage are two different things. These two terms are practically interchangeable because aside from they carry the same meanings, only that the former refers to the convergence of two individuals from two different races, while the latter only specifically pertains to the convergence of two individuals coming from two different cultures. There is actually another term that pertains to the process of two people from varying cultures marrying each other and that term is exogamy. Intercultural marriage is technically the same with exogamy only that the latter refers to a process which is more of a requirement than an option. In an exogamous society, social arrangements, such as marriages, friendship, and other relationship-building schemes or social interactions are required to be done with another person or a group of persons who does not belong to the initiator’s social group. Simply put, social interactions should be done with another person outside of the current social group.
Intercultural marriage is actually a process that is governed by the principles and laws of an exogamous society . Exogamy actually has various types. There is biological exogamy, cultural, and social exogamy. There is also what can be called dual exogamy. Biological exogamy refers to the process of family-building that is governed by anti-incest laws; meaning, people are required to marry people outside their own blood line. Cultural and social exogamy on the other hand pertains to the family-building scheme wherein people are required to marry individuals outside their current social or cultural circle. Lastly, dual exogamy refers to the process wherein two interracial or intercultural groups engage in a continuous wife exchange, as long as the dual exogamy agreement exists. The direct opposite of exogamy is endogamy in which people within a social group only marry individuals of the opposite sex who are also within the same social group .
Ethical and Theological Issues related to Intercultural Marriage
Ethical issues associated with the question whether to allow or disallow the proliferation of interracial marriage have actually been present for hundreds, if not thousands of years. One good and at the same time, historically significant example of a scenario wherein key influential people set rules regarding who to marry or interbred with would be the Nazi regime’s decision to exterminate all Jews—apparently, the Nazis were under the assumption that the Jews belong to an inferior race and so they were compelled to alienate those people, turn them into slaves, and eventually kill them, which all lead to the holocaust phenomenon during the Second World War. In the books of Genesis, Deuteronomy, and Acts, it has been implied that the various races and cultures of the world are God’s will. In theology and ethics, going against the will of the Lord, especially for Christians and believers, can be considered a sin, and is therefore unethical, which is what leads to the idea that intercultural marriage is unethical. In intercultural marriage, cultures and races are amalgamated through the marriage of individuals from such cultures. Some extremist do believe that God intended humans to be culturally and racially diverse. Supporting intercultural marriages clearly goes against that intention or will . As more and more people from differing cultures get married, the lesser the human biodiversity in this planet becomes.
In the book of Kings, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Nehemiah, and Ezra, it has been implied that God forbade the Jews from marrying other people. In this context however, it can be clearly seen that the reasons were neither related to ethics nor race, but rather to religion. In the book of Corinthians on the other hand, which belongs to the New Testament, a believer was only allowed to marry an individual from the opposite sex who is at the same time, also a believer . Majority of the examples and inferences taken from the biblical books were so far more inclined to theology.
Legal Issues Accompanying Intercultural Marriage
The first requirement before two individuals from two different cultures could finally converge would be each of their desires and intention to be with one another. The next one, and usually, the one considered as the most important one, would be the legal issues. There are countries that allow their citizens to marry an individual from another country while there are also some that do not . In the same manner, there are countries that condemn, which does not necessarily mean disallow, intercultural marriage. In the Middle East or in the GCC countries for example, intercultural marriages are essentially allowed, if, and only if the husband or would-be husband is a Muslim . As long as the Muslim and State laws are provisioned and appropriately processed and documented, there should be no single problem. Western countries such as the United States, which is actually one of the most culturally diverse places in the planet because it is a country where a lot of people stop and stay in an effort to find a much greener pasture, way greener than their pasture back in their homeland .
Global Issues related to Intercultural Marriage
The best way to achieve the filling of this section of the paper with more objective rather than subjective information would be to study real-life cases of individuals who got married for a certain number of time with an individual who came from a different culture, different from his or her. This way, real-life problems will be easier to identify and more comprehensible in terms of conducting an analysis, formulating goals for already-problematic families for example. The process of setting goals would also be made a lot easier, and lastly, the selection of appropriate managements for intercultural marriage-related problems would be made a lot easier. Simply put the entire process of solving and analyzing intercultural marriage-related problems and/or potential problems would be made a lot easier, faster, and generally more efficient and effective.
This is a case of J.R., a 30 year old female while collar job employee living in one of the middle class residential zones in the city of New York. J.R. is a female Chinese and for the past few years, she had been planning on getting married, hopefully with her current boyfriend, who is an Arab. At the start of their relationship, they both know that they have a lot of differences and indifferences, which they also know could negatively affect their relationship as an unmarried and in the future, married couple. Eventually, J.R. and her then current boyfriend got married. During the first few months of her life as a wife and a white collar job worker at the same time, they were undeniably happy. Unfortunately, after their first year, their differences and indifferences brought about her being a Chinese, and her husband’s being an Arab, started to surface. More and more arguments were being made, most of which were caused by their cultural differences. Later on, J.R. concluded that while intercultural marriage may be fun and exciting at first, mainly because of the fact that they were brought up within separate and different environments. She, for example, has strong ties with Chinese traditions such as the Feng Shui, while her husband on the other hand has certain customary barriers when it comes to handling social interactions, especially with Arab women. The problem with intercultural marriage is the fact that issues related to cultural differences do not appear early in the relationship but on the latter stages. From then on, everything could just crash and leave any form of intercultural relationship vulnerable to a divorce, and other forms of split-ups.
The impact of the cultural differences in issues within the family can be vast and diverse at the same time. Because of the differences in family structures, in handling different types of relationships and interactions with other family members, conflicts may arise, which could be e leading cause of misunderstanding within the intercultural couples .
The style of communication may also well contribute to the process of building and especially, maintaining an intercultural relationship. Sure, it does make communication styles and methodologies diverse and more sophisticated, usually by two folds, but then again, this phenomenon may be menacing rather than helping. In fact, in a study conducted by Ramos in 2010, it has been observed that intercultural couples fight more often than those who follow an endogamous model of society.
As an example, people in the Middle East, or in GCC countries such as the Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, are usually low context. This means that they use as few words as possible because of the fact that they were trained and brought up to communicate in a direct way . People from high context countries, especially women, on the other hand essentially exhibit the opposite characteristics of a low context individual. In a nutshell, high context individuals consider a lot of factors in making a decision or even in initiating any single social interaction. Western people are usually the ones who are high context. Although they may also be adept in communicating with other people in a direct way, they usually practice expressing their feelings and conveying their thoughts in a progressive, slow, but sure manner rather than simply shoving everything off for the sake of a direct conversation or confrontation .
Conclusion
The world has evolved so much. Technology has improved a lot. New communication and even mass communication practices are being introduced every day. One of the major effects of these contributing scenarios is increased levels of ease when it comes to initiating a social interaction with another person from virtually any part of the planet, and potentially creating a friend, a best friend, a lover, or even a partner in life out of that simply virtual social interaction. The thing is that because of these things, intercultural social relationships and marriages can become very common. But then again, issues such as cultural differences and indifferences should be checked and anticipated. As in the case of J.R. presented, relationship and marriage problems associated with intercultural marriage, brought about by cultural differences may not begin to surface out during the initial stages or years of the relationship. Before the couple knows it, they are in for some major problem with customs, traditions, communication, and a whole lot of things that can be related to culture. Resources gathered from theological papers also suggest that intercultural marriages are not only unethical, but may also be considered as a direct way of going against the will of God. God, apparently, had intended to make the population of humans, and even other species biologically diverse. It was his will. Promoting and worse, committing intercultural marriage, clearly contradicts this will or intention, which has been the main basis that theologists, conservative Christians, and extremists use to criticize the idea behind intercultural marriage.
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