Displaying Ethnically Mixed Families in Transylvania

The article analyses the way mixed couples of Transilvania display their ethnicity, using the conceptual framework of displaying practices (Finch, 2007, 2011). We identify three alternative ways of displaying in the case of mixed couples: display of a merged identities, of a double identity, and of a mixed identity as a mere facade. These emerge depending on the parners' level of acceptance in what concerns the other's ethnicity and on the degree of resistance on behalf of the public (family, friends, community) couples encounter. The name and surname given, the languages spoken and the educational institutions chosen for the children, the rite they choose for wedding and baptism are the most important practices they display their ethnicity through. We also find auxiliary practices: choosing family friends, going to cultural events, furnishing the house, types of food eaten. Ethnicity doesn't only surface in key moments, as stated in the literature (Haynes and Dermott, 2011), but is manifested on an everyday level. The practices of doing family slides between the two communities. Moreover, displaying doesn't only intensify in key moments, as also mistakenly claimed (Brubaker et al., 2006), but also as a reaction to the resistance couples face: the more they are brought into question, the more they develop an awareness of their (mixed) ethnicity.