Stepping out of line, the experiences of 'mixed' couples in the Netherlands.

Abstract

In this master thesis it was researched if ‘mixed’ couples, in which the man is Muslim and the white Dutch woman is not, experienced the boundaries created in Dutch society between ‘The Dutch’ and ‘The Islam’ and how they dealt with these boundaries and their own boundary-breaking position. Six 'mixed' couples were interviewed and with the help of, among other works, queer theory, it was analysed if they experienced these boundaries and how they dealt with them. All couples indeed experienced these boundaries and the most important strategy for dealing with these boundaries was minimizing the ‘mixedness’ of the couples, by the couples themselves and their families. In this manner, they made their boundary-breaking love acceptable. If the couples could still 'queer' the boundaries present and how their relationship affects the people around them is the focus of this master thesis.