Summaries #3 - Intercultural Marriage

1. Summary

This article describes the intercultural marriage between a Texan girl and Japanese girl who are entirely different from each other in terms of nature and interests. During studies at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania, they become best friends followed by true lovers. They went to Japan for fifteen months where they would see each other on every weekend and it made their bond even stronger. After returning from Japan, they had two wedding ceremonies in the US celebrated in American style and one is planned in Japan, which will be a traditional Japanese wedding. Moreover the writer says that the girl is bossy and argumentative in nature while he is optimistic and always avoids conflicts. In addition, the writer highlights that the girl is of the view that by respecting and appreciating your partner’s culture you can make intercultural marriages successful. She also mentions that by accepting that the way one uses to look at the problem is not always correct is one of the biggest compromises you have to make in these kinds of relationships. In the end, the article tells that they spend quality time with each other as friends. They consider conflict as an opportunity for learning and none of them takes arguments personally (Glee, 2016). (Fahad)

References

Adams, E. (2010, October 20). Cross culture marriage. Retrieved February 16, 2016, from Boundless: http://www.boundless.org/relationships/2010/cross-culture-marriage

Glee. (2016). Texan-Japanese Intercultural Marriage – Finding Your Best Friend Beyond Race. Retrieved from http://offbeatmarriage.com/texan-japanese-intercultural-marriage/

2. Summary

In this article, the author initially discusses the way we perceive race. She says race is a biological element and has a prominent impact over marriage decisions. He says statistics from the 2010 census about marriages present a situation where the divorce rate is higher in interracial couples than in single (white) raced people. She says many studies on inter-racial or interethnic relationships support the above finding but there are also some studies which say education and age of marriage are important aspects in marriage. The higher the education or age at the time of marriage the lesser chance of a divorce. The author then discusses various combinatory statistics of men of African American race, white race, Asian race and women of one of those races. She states that the overall duration of a marriage is an important criteria towards divorce. Thus once a forbidden relationship is now being welcomed and is on rise due to the increased interactions and bonding across cultures and races. (Snigdha)

Newport, J. (2015, March 18). Is Interracial Marriage More Likely to End in Divorce? Retrieved on 16 Feb. 2016 from http://www.blogher.com/latest-statistics-divorce-rates-among-interracial-marriages

3. Summary

In this article, the author says that marriage is defined by the time and place and by the individuals who are involved in a relationship. When it comes to marriage between two cultures, there is no right or wrong; every culture has its own identity and value, where one thing could be right to one culture, but might be wrong, silly, or a stupid act to another. Issues like arranged marriages, marrying someone from a different culture, and cultural traditions might mean totally different things to different people. Moreover, couples who are from different cultures tend to be highly intellectual and more exposed to other cultures. (Mahshad)

Crabtree, V. (2015, October 26). Marriage: Its Diversity and Character. Retrieved on February 17, 2016, from http://www.humantruth.info/marriage.html#Intro

4. Summary

In this article, the author tells a beautiful love story about a cross-cultural couple. Bob, the husband, is an American, while his wife, Katja, comes from Holland. More than forty years ago, Bob was travelling in Europe without a specific route. When he was in Holland one day, he fell in love at first sight with Katja and got her contact information successfully. By writing letters to each other, their relationship developed well. Finally in 1971, Katja came to America and married Bob. Even though sometimes they may meet some problems in their marriage, they always come over them and are magnanimous to each other. Their love never fades and helps them to be better persons. At last, the author also shares some tips from Katja and Bob on how to keep a happy marriage. (Songjing)

Reference:

Anderson, C. (2015, August 5). Marriage Interview 10: A Cross-Cultural Love Story. Palo Alto. Retrieved on Feb 15, 2016, from http://www.paloaltoonline.com/blogs/p/2015/08/05/marriage-interview-10-a-cross-cultural-love-story.

5. Summary

The present article shares a story of cross-cultural relationship between a Taiwanese boy, Lawrence, and a Texan girl, Amanda. Amanda was getting serious about her relationship with Lawrence and was getting used to Taiwanese culture. Eventually they got married. In their post marriage life, the first challenge was communication. They found sharing emotions and decisions with a partner who is a non-native speaker is a disadvantage. The second challenge was choosing the same food, which they overcame by selecting their own version of American-Taiwanese food. They faced and solved all their problems together and become a happily married couple. (Sheik)

Adams, E. (2010, October 20). Cross culture marriage. Retrieved February 16, 2016, from Boundless: http://www.boundless.org/relationships/2010/cross-culture-marriage

Glee. (2016). Texan-Japanese Intercultural Marriage – Finding Your Best Friend Beyond Race. Retrieved from http://offbeatmarriage.com/texan-japanese-intercultural-marriage/

6. Summary #3

In this article, the author shared her love story, in which she fell in love with an American guy, and their “fighting” against traditional Bengali culture for their love. At the beginning, the author was ready for an arranged marriage to make her parents happy and satisfied. However, after she met with Seth in her workplace, true love made her fight for a happy marriage instead of an arranged marriage. Rejecting this relationship, the author’s parents were afraid that their daughter may lose her cultural roots after this intercultural marriage. Seth and she tried their best to prove that she would not lose her belief. Finally, her parents accepted. Beside the pressure from family, there were also some problems from Bengali culture. However, they beat them and proved that differences between cultures will not block their love. Also, they grew from each other’s culture, i.e. Seth learnt Bengal and Arabic while the author learnt to cook classic American foods. At the end, the author said that your idea wouldn’t change until you meet your love. Keep it and fight for it. (Yuan)

Noor, N. (2015, October 28). My Cross-Cultural Marriage. The Gang Magazine. Retrieved on Feb. 16, 2016. From: http://thegangmagazine.com/2015/10/cross-cultural-marriage-my-story/

7. Summary #2

In this article, the author indicates that the number of Catholics who marry Jews and Muslims has risen recently. In terms of available Pastoral resources, Catholic-Muslim couples are at a loss compared to their Catholic-Jew peers. The reason is that Jews have a longer history and larger population in American society, while Muslims, regardless of the fact that they are now more than Jews in the United States, have no Pastoral resources. Of course, there are a few of these resources but they are either outdated or belong to other societies rather than Americans. The result is that when Catholic-Muslim couples encounter an unusual problem there is almost no Pastoral care for them to get advice from. On the other hand, there are some restricted rules for a Muslim-Christian marriage in Islam. Muslim men are permitted to marry Jews and Christian women but Muslim women do not have the same right. (Mahshad)

Reference:

Tvrtkovic, R.G. (2001, September 10). When Muslims and Christians Marry. America, The National Catholic Review.. Retrieved on February 12, 2016, from http://americamagazine.org/issue/322/article/when-muslims-and-christians-marry