Marriage migrants in Bulgaria - aspects of social adaptation

Abstract

This article is based on first-hand ethnographic data and focuses on two cases of bicultural, bilingual and cross-national couples of Bulgarian women and their migrant husbands (an Egyptian and a Filipino). More specifically, it deals with different aspects of social and emotional adaptation of the male marriage migrants to the receiving country – Bulgaria. The main goal of the article is to present different specificities of their everyday life, socialisation and professional development abroad while still being close to their roots. Since marriage with a local is a crucial factor for this multi-layered process, the role of their Bulgarian wives is also considered. The text contains two thematic sections – the first one focuses on the social adaptation of the immigrants in the context of Bulgarian language acquisition. The process each of the foreigners have been going through is presented by their manners of communication within their own bilingual marriages, the professional environment and the ‘new’ social circle. The second section deals with the place of the immigrants’ home country within their lives in migration and their nuclear mixed families. Their habits and the activities they engage in ‘there’, are also used as a tool for describing a part of their social and emotional adaptation ‘here’.Key words: marriage migration, social adaptation, local language, home visits, co-presence