Influence of alevi-sunni intermarriage on the spouses religious affiliation

Özet

\r\n What influence Alevi-Sunni intermarriage has on spouses' individual religious affiliation after marriage was the research question addressed in this study. Since the topic is just starting to be studied, no official or unofficial data exist regarding the Alevi-Sunni intermarriage in Turkey. This study responded to the need to describe extant relationships by using a qualitative approach to gather detailed information from a sample of married couples in Çorum province, Turkey. A case study method was applied to a sample of ten couples. Couples were selected using snowball and purposive sampling techniques. Twenty face-to-face interviews were conducted. Each of the ten husbands and ten wives in Alevi- Sunni intermarriages were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires. Additional demographic and observational data were gathered. Spouses in the Alevi-Sunni intermarriages sampled did not change their religious affiliation after marriage. Further interdisciplinary studies on Alevi-Sunni intermarriage that explore different dimensions of intermarriage are needed.\r\n