Egyptian communities are increasing in Europe, and Italy is the first European country targeted b... more Egyptian communities are increasing in Europe, and Italy is the first European country targeted by a number of Egyptians. While other Arab countries (i.e. Morocco) are experiencing a progressive " feminization of migration " , Egyptian migration remains a male-dominated phenomenon. One of the main issues around the big presence of young Egyptian single men in Italy is that of transnational marriages, which migrants engage in with women from their original villages. In this paper I focus on the families that are created through what I call " marriage with an absentee " , investigating the value of transnational marriages both for migrants and for Egyptian women who marry men who are working abroad. I describe those marriages in their organizational aspects—entering into the details of the rituals of the engagement and of the marriage. I also discuss some of the consequences of this practice. I.e., on one hand the creation of a transnational family (characterized by the new bride staying in Egypt), and on the other hand the woman's prospect of international mobility, which can be achieved only through family reunification. " F ı-l-haraka baraka " 1 Egyptian proverb 2 1. INTRODUCTION Egyptian communities are increasing throughout Europe, and Italy is the first receiving country (Zohry, 2009). While other Arab countries (i.e., Morocco) are experiencing a progressive " feminization of migration " (Schmoll, 2007), Egyptian migration still remains a male-dominated phenomenon. The profile of women as first migrants is absent in the Egyptian community for several reasons. Migration to Italy is mostly a rural –urban flow and the collective orientation which created a shared vision of migration in the sending areas can be described as a " patriarchal culture of migration, " an orientation which excludes autonomous women's movement (Ferrero, forthcoming). The Egyptian migration chain recruits mostly single young men, and in the case of the city of Turin, which was the starting point of my ethnographic research, they come mainly from the regions of Qalyubeyya and Monufeyya. In light of these findings, the multi-situated research (Marcus, 1995) that I conducted between Italy and Egypt for my PhD (2012 –14) aimed to investigate concepts related to female mobility and immobility within a system that attributes the ability to migrate to men only. This is not to say that Egyptian women do not migrate. However, their movement is conceived of as familial mobility: women are allowed to migrate when their husband migrates or when they marry an Egyptian man who lives abroad. Migration and marriage are two crucial moments in the life cycle of migrant families. These two social events are also recognized as milestones for the transition to adulthood for young Egyptians. The role of marriage as a transitional element in Middle Eastern societies is crucial because it is the only accepted way to establish a new family (Hoodfar, 1997, p. 52). In more recent times, migration has also become a rite of passage for men: the journey " transforms " boys into men allowing them to experience the world and gain the financial resources to enter into the marriage market. The relationship between these two milestone events leads to a distinction between two types of transnational families: nuclear families existing at the time of migration—when a married man decides to emigrate—and families formed during migration—when a single migrant returns to his country of origin to get married (Ferrero, 2013). In this paper we will focus on the second type of family, investigating first the value of transnational marriages for migrants and for Egyptian women who choose to marry a man living abroad, second some organizational aspects and rituals of these celebrations, and finally some of its consequences: on one hand the creation of a transnational family characterized by the new bride staying in Egypt and on the other an opening for the woman herself of the prospect of mobility that could be achieved through family reunification.
Egyptian communities are increasing in Europe, and Italy is the first European country targeted b... more Egyptian communities are increasing in Europe, and Italy is the first European country targeted by a number of Egyptians. While other Arab countries (i.e. Morocco) are experiencing a progressive " feminization of migration " , Egyptian migration remains a male-dominated phenomenon. One of the main issues around the big presence of young Egyptian single men in Italy is that of transnational marriages, which migrants engage in with women from their original villages. In this paper I focus on the families that are created through what I call " marriage with an absentee " , investigating the value of transnational marriages both for migrants and for Egyptian women who marry men who are working abroad. I describe those marriages in their organizational aspects—entering into the details of the rituals of the engagement and of the marriage. I also discuss some of the consequences of this practice. I.e., on one hand the creation of a transnational family (characterized by the new bride staying in Egypt), and on the other hand the woman's prospect of international mobility, which can be achieved only through family reunification. " F ı-l-haraka baraka " 1 Egyptian proverb 2 1. INTRODUCTION Egyptian communities are increasing throughout Europe, and Italy is the first receiving country (Zohry, 2009). While other Arab countries (i.e., Morocco) are experiencing a progressive " feminization of migration " (Schmoll, 2007), Egyptian migration still remains a male-dominated phenomenon. The profile of women as first migrants is absent in the Egyptian community for several reasons. Migration to Italy is mostly a rural –urban flow and the collective orientation which created a shared vision of migration in the sending areas can be described as a " patriarchal culture of migration, " an orientation which excludes autonomous women's movement (Ferrero, forthcoming). The Egyptian migration chain recruits mostly single young men, and in the case of the city of Turin, which was the starting point of my ethnographic research, they come mainly from the regions of Qalyubeyya and Monufeyya. In light of these findings, the multi-situated research (Marcus, 1995) that I conducted between Italy and Egypt for my PhD (2012 –14) aimed to investigate concepts related to female mobility and immobility within a system that attributes the ability to migrate to men only. This is not to say that Egyptian women do not migrate. However, their movement is conceived of as familial mobility: women are allowed to migrate when their husband migrates or when they marry an Egyptian man who lives abroad. Migration and marriage are two crucial moments in the life cycle of migrant families. These two social events are also recognized as milestones for the transition to adulthood for young Egyptians. The role of marriage as a transitional element in Middle Eastern societies is crucial because it is the only accepted way to establish a new family (Hoodfar, 1997, p. 52). In more recent times, migration has also become a rite of passage for men: the journey " transforms " boys into men allowing them to experience the world and gain the financial resources to enter into the marriage market. The relationship between these two milestone events leads to a distinction between two types of transnational families: nuclear families existing at the time of migration—when a married man decides to emigrate—and families formed during migration—when a single migrant returns to his country of origin to get married (Ferrero, 2013). In this paper we will focus on the second type of family, investigating first the value of transnational marriages for migrants and for Egyptian women who choose to marry a man living abroad, second some organizational aspects and rituals of these celebrations, and finally some of its consequences: on one hand the creation of a transnational family characterized by the new bride staying in Egypt and on the other an opening for the woman herself of the prospect of mobility that could be achieved through family reunification.
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