This monograph provides an innovative anthropological study of intercultural family life between Bulgarian nationals and immigrants from Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries. Drawing on three years of fieldwork conducted between 2015 and 2017, it investigates how cultural, religious, and social differences
are negotiated, adapted, and embodied within the context of everyday family life. By exploring themes of migration, kinship, and transnationalism in a national context where such research has been limited, the study makes a significant contribution to Bulgarian ethnology.
The study focuses on twenty couples living in Bulgaria, comprising Bulgarian women and male partners from nine Middle Eastern and North African countries: Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Tunisia. The immigrant partners are predominantly Muslim (both Sunni and Shia), while the Bulgarian partners are mostly Orthodox Christian, with a small number having converted to Islam.