Mixed Couples and Critical Cosmopolitanism: Experiences of Cross-border Love

Abstract

Research on intermarriage until now has focused mainly on the challenging nature of interculturality and on the adaptation strategies of migrant spouses. As a consequence, native-born partners’ change in an intercultural family environment has been scarcely envisioned. What we suggest in this study of mixed couples in Spain is a necessary turn on the positive aspects of cross-cultural communication and on in-couple learning dynamics, which develop in the process of mutual intercultural adaptation. Our purpose is to shed light on cross-border love as a space of self-transformation where the original forms of dialogue and hyphenated social identities are built. Mixed couples have shown to be valuable cases for exploring and exemplifying dynamics of cosmopolitanism on a micro level. The results of this study provide empirical evidence to support the theory of critical cosmopolitanism and cross-cultural adaptation and transformation theory.