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Volume 28, 2023 - Issue 3

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Research Articles

Breaking secular endogamy. The growth of intermarriage among the

Gitanos/Calé of Spain (1900–2006) PDF
Juan F. Gamella  & Arturo Álvarez-Roldán
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Pages 457-483 | Received 23 Feb 2022, Accepted 14 Dec 2022, Published online: 02 Jan 2023

 Cite this article  https://doi.org/10.1080/1081602X.2022.2159852

ABSTRACT

For over five centuries the Gitanos/Calé of Spain have shown a marked preference for marrying within their ethnocultural community. In the last
decades, however, various Gitano groups have experienced a rise in intermarriage that is transforming their families, their identities and their
interactions with mainstream society. This paper analyzes this historical transformation in an area of Andalusia that shows some of the highest
concentrations of Romani people in Western Europe. Ethnographic and historical-demographic research allowed the reconstitution of 3,336
Gitano families formed from 1900 to 2006. Of these 421 (12,6%) were mixed. This rate increased to over 25% in the 2000s, and in some localities
about half of the recent Gitano marriages were mixed. Three major findings emerge from this case study. Firstly, the local environment plays a
key role in intermarriage. Local history generated different intercultural environments and relationships in adjacent municipalities, leading to
diverse levels of intermarriage. Secondly, more Gitanas are marrying non-Gitano men than vice versa. Since 1990 Gitanas made 60% of all mixed
unions. Thirdly, Gitanas in mixed marriages tend to marry later and to have fewer children than those in endogamous unions. Thus, these
women may have been trailblazers in the fertility transitions of Gitano women. The paper hypothesizes that the incorporation of the Gitano/Calé
people into the institutions of the Welfare State has favored interactions across ethnic boundaries, reduced social distance, and facilitated
intermarriage. The upward mobility of some Gitano families may be turning socioeconomic and educational homogamy against ethnic
endogamy.

 KEYWORDS: Intermarriage Roma/Gitanos Spain gender historical-demography ethnography ethnicity

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Acknowledgment

Elisa Martín Carrasco-Muñoz, a historian–demographer who died in 2009, lead the family and genealogical reconstitutions upon which this
paper is based. She must be considered a co-author of any work deriving from this database. Mercedes Alba Maza, Mari Luz Flores Antiguedad,
F. Antonio González Navarrete, and Alejandro Quesada Garrido also contributed to the archival research in civil and parish registries. Jesús
Martín helped with the map. Angel Heredia Amador has provided important advice over the years, and dozens of Gitano friends in the study
area shared their views and experiences with us, something for which we will always be grateful. Antonio Espín, Tom Acton and two anonymous
reviewers read prior versions of this paper and made important suggestions. The authors, however, are responsible for the shortcomings of the
paper and the views expressed here.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/1081602X.2022.2159852

Correction
Home Statement
All Journals The History of the Family List of Issues Volume 28, Issue 3 Breaking secular endogamy. The growth of ....

 Full Article  Figures & data  References  Supplemental  Citations  Metrics  Reprints & Permissions 
WoS Researcher ID: AAH-9293-2020
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WoS ResearcherID: J-1806-2017

Scopus Author ID: 57,191,108,134

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

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1. In aggregate terms, however, since the 1970s mixed marriages appear to have evolved in the opposite direction to consanguineous marriages
(see Supplementary Table S1 and Figure S1). Help

2. The term castellano nuevo mimics the cristiano nuevo label used for descendants of Jewish or Muslim converts. Gitanos were assumed to be
Christians in their past, but they became vecinos or naturales of the dominant Spanish kingdom, Castile.

3. Who counts as Roma and who does the counting is a hot question in Romani studies, particularly in biomedical and genetic research
(Lipphardt et al., 2021; Surdu, 2016). However, the need for identification and counting are also decisive for political representation and for
policy design and evaluation.

4. The fertility transition of Spanish Gitanas and its idiosyncratic calendar can be observed in these two tables in a form that was never
documented before.

Additional information
Funding

This work was supported by the CONSEJERIA DE ECONOMIA, INNOVACIÓN Y CIENCIA, Junta de Andalucía, Proyecto de Excelencia P11.SEJ.8286.

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Home All Journals The History of the Family List of Issues Volume 28, Issue 3 Breaking secular endogamy. The growth of ....

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