| Project Detail |
The social implications of intermarriages in Serbia
Intermarriages constitute an important element of social cohesion and contact between majorities and ethnic minorities. These marriages are either welcomed as vehicles easing tensions or contested as drivers of assimilation. However, the social aspects, family dynamics, and identity construction of family members in intermarriages are not studied in-depth in Central Europe and the Western Balkans. The Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions IMEI project will analyse the social impact of intermarriages in Vojvodina, whose ethnic minorities kinstates (Hungary, Slovakia, Romania) are EU members. The project will examine ethnic and cultural identity transformations incurred by partners, explore the intergenerational transfer of ethnic, religious, and cultural markers, and investigate the ethnic minority policies and legal framework of Serbia.
An important element of social cohesion and contact between majorities and sub-state ethnic minorities are intermarriages, which are either welcomed as vehicles easing the tensions between nations and sub-state minorities, or criticized as important drivers of assimilation and the ‘destroyers’ of ethnic minority communities. The social aspects, family dynamics and identity construction of family members in intermarriages were not studied methodically in CEE and the WB. Therefore, the goal of the Intermarriage and Ethnic Identity (IMEI) project is to analyse the social implications of intermarriages between members of ethnic minority communities and the majority nations in Vojvodina, the multiethnic region of Serbia. The IMEI project will contribute to the state-of-the-art by analysing the social impacts of intermarriages on three levels, namely the individual (micro), the family (meso) and the societal (macro) in a significantly multi-ethnic geographic region. On the individual level the project will examine ethnic and cultural identity transformations undergone by partners in intermarriages. On the family level we will explore the processes of intergenerational transfer of ethnic, religious and cultural markers. On the societal level the project will investigate the workings of the relevant and quite modern ethnic minority policies and legal framework of Serbia and their impact on intermarriages. This research is relevant in the wider European context as well, as we will specifically target the Hungarian, Slovak and Romanian ethnic minorities living in Vojvodina, whose kin-states (Hungary, Slovakia, Romania) are members of the European Union, whose members often have dual Serbian and EU citizenship and are therefore subject to the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, the European Union’s key policies for the protection of (its) minorities. |
