Intercultural Couples

An insightful look at the stresses and challenges of intercultural relationships - from one who has been there. Today we live in a world without borders, a global village. Distance no longer defines who we meet, fall in love with or marry. The Internet and e-mail connect people around the world in seconds. Immigration, study abroad, travel and multinational business have created a thriving cross-cultural community. But the experiences shared across cultures and countries do not always bridge the fundamental differences in beliefs and behaviors that span diverse cultures. In Intercultural Marriage, Dugan Romano delivers a "reality check" for anyone already in, or contemplating, an intercultural marriage. This insightful book interweaves lessons learned from others and suggests that the joys of an intercultural marriage often result from turning the challenges of crossing cultures into an opportunity for a fulfilling and lasting relationship. Now in its third edition, Intercultural Marriage examines the impact of cultural differences in marriage and offers practical guidelines on how to deal with the complexities they bring to a partnership. Covering such topics as raising bicultural children, religion, values, male vs. female roles, sex and social class, Romano continues to give voice to hundreds of couples she has interviewed and followed for over a decade.

While cross-cultural relations were once assumed to be inherently problematic, in recent years these couples have increased in both numbers and social acceptance, and there is now a growing awareness of how little we really know about them. Addressing this gap in our knowledge, this book presents 12 chapters focusing on cross-cultural couple formations (i.e., a partner from the U.S. and another from abroad). Highlighting both the struggles and successes of couples, this book challenges the principle of homogamy, helping the reader gain a deeper understanding and respect for intercultural couples. The chapters tackle a broad range of topics and issues, including systemic considerations of the phenomenon of cross-cultural couples, bilingual couples, interfaith relationships, struggles in such couple formations, different methods of approaching solutions, and the use of the internet to meet partners from diverse backgrounds.

In an increasingly global and connected world, marriages between spouses of different countries and cultures are on the rise. Marla Alupoaicei, herself wed to a Romanian, helps couples sort through such issues as food, finances, family, and such “hidden” problems as different understandings of what it means to be “on time.” Marla combines real-life stories with expert perspectives and biblical insight for a helpful guide both for those just starting out on the intercultural adventure – and those in the midst of it. You'll get practical and biblical advice for handling the most common intercultural conflicts, including: Planning your wedding Communication Understanding each other's values Different views of time Agreeing on food Managing finances Intimacy Raising children Handling illness and grief

Despite the growing presence of intercultural couples in the United States and worldwide, their stories often go untold. In Intercultural Couples, Jill Bystydzienski provides a rare and comprehensive understanding of the multidimensional experiences of intercultural couples, drawing mainly upon in-depth interviews with persons living in domestic partnerships—heterosexual and same-sex—representing a broad spectrum of ethnic, racial, religious, socioeconomic, and national backgrounds. In these relationships, each partner brings a different set of cultural experiences that may include gender expectations, ideas about appropriate relations with family members, childrearing, financial matters, and general lifestyle. Sometimes differences may be unrecognized or seen as minimal, yet some can become salient, forming the basis for conflict, enriching diversity, or both. Bystydzienski’s findings show that, despite hurtful incidents from persons outside the couple partnerships, intercultural unions are a source of satisfaction for the partners, and are able to bridge divisions and reduce inequalities between persons of diverse backgrounds, providing a rich portrait of how these couples negotiate their identities as individuals and as couples in relation to the outside world.

In love but worlds apart is a self-help book for a man and woman who come from two very different cultural backgrounds and who are considering a life commitment to each other. It shows how and when their differences can be problematic, but also how such a relationship could succeed. This book enables partners to think and talk about their cultural differences (such as in manners, values, worldview, holidays and other customs), and to develop traditions and activities they can enjoy together. Questions to think and talk about, which are cited throughout the book, are again listed in the back for copying and giving to the partner to use. A list of possible priorities of choice is also provided to help partners decide whether or not their relationship could work long-term. For couples who have already begun or decided on an intercultural marriage, reading and doing this book may lessen their shock and frustrations and lead them into a more positive experience.

Grounded in the personal narratives of twenty interracial couples with multiracial children, this volume uniquely explores interracial couples’ encounters with racism and discrimination, partner difference, family identity, and counseling and therapy. It intimately portrays how race, class, and gender shape relationship dynamics and a partner’s sense of belonging. Assessment tools and intervention techniques help professionals and scholars work effectively with multiracial families as they negotiate difference, resist familial and societal disapproval, and strive for increased intimacy. The book concludes with a discussion of interracial couples in cinema and literature, the sensationalization of multiracial relations in mass media, and how to further liberalize partner selection across racial borders.

This book provides understandings of how intercultural, -racial, -ethnic, -national, and -faith couples and parents in Australia bring up their children and manage their relationships. Which challenges and benefits do they encounter, and which strategies do they use to negotiate their differences and belongingness? In portraying the lived experiences of intercultural couples and parents, Bhugun considers contextual and external factors such as individual and personality traits, the environment, gender and power, religion, socio-economic status, extended family, friends, and diasporic communities. Moving the reader from beyond negative stereotypes to a more nuanced representation of both the challenges and benefits of the phenomenon, Intercultural Parenting and Relationships provides intimate testimonies and offers innovations in theory and practice. Scholars, practitioners, students, intercultural couples, parents, families and the wider community will benefit from the rich insights into the challenges and successes of intercultural relationships and parenting presented in this book.

Go beyond cookie-cutter therapy and interventions to provide culturally relevant therapy that works for your clients in interracial relationships! With this book, you'll explore an array of relational issues faced by various configurations of interracial couples. Then you'll learn specific intervention strategies for treating these couples in therapy. The first section presents research and theoretical chapters on issues faced by interracial couples who are heterosexual; the second focuses on issues facing racially mixed gay and lesbian couples; and the third provides you with specific interventions to use with couples in interracial relationships. Clinical Issues with Interracial Couples: Theories and Research is an important addition to the collection of any therapist who counts an interracial couple among his or her clients. From the editors: “Although interracial couples face challenges related to differences in their racial backgrounds, couple and family theories have had little to say about how to work with these differences. Not all couples are white, married, and heterosexual, and there is a growing understanding that clinical practices based on these assumptions may not be adequate when working with interracial couples. Recognizing the diversity of our clients, the intent of this book is to contribute to more respectful and inclusive clinical practices that can address the treatment issues we face in the first decade of the twenty-first century.” The first section of this book examines challenges faced by heterosexual interracial couples, focusing on: how black/white couples experience and respond to racism and how they negotiate the racial and ethnic differences they face in their relationships the significance of race—or lack of it—in white women's relationships with black men, with suggestions on how to create a therapeutic space for discussing race without over-determining its significance marriages where one partner is of Latino/a descent and the other of non-Latino/a white descent—a pilot study of a rarely investigated population! approaches, interventions, and strategies to use when treating multicultural Muslim couples Hawaii's unusual history of interracial ties and relationships, the common challenges that face interracial couples there, and therapeutic interventions that can benefit them The second section of Clinical Issues with Interracial Couples looks at the issues faced by same-sex interracial couples. Here is a sample of what you'll find: clinical considerations for working with interracial/intercultural lesbian couples pitfalls to avoid in therapy as well as suggestions for a conceptual approach for gay Latino men in cross-cultural relationships The book's final section presents interventions for use with interracial couples. Here you'll find: assessment techniques and interventions geared toward black-white couples information on doing effective therapy with Latino/a-white couples a case study of the therapeutic process as applied to an Asian-American woman married to a white man seven therapists' perspectives on working with interracial couples—focusing on the historical context of intermarriage, specific concerns and issues that interracial couples experience in their relationships, and the experiences of therapists working with this diverse and challenging client population