Endogamy and exogamy among post-war Calabria-born women in South Australia. [abstract].

Abstract

This paper analyses the results of Giulia Ciccone's study of single Calabria-born women who married after their arrival in South Australia. In order to look at their marriage patterns Ciccone sifted through the marriage registers of four Catholic Parishes in Adelaide covering the period 1961 to 2005 and identified all the marriages in which there was a Calabria-born bride. The parishes of Newton, Salisbury, Seaton and Virginia were chosen for study as they are located in areas where there is a high proportion of Italians. These parishes are frequented by a large number of Italy-born people. By examining the bride’s choice of spouse it was possible to determine whether these Calabria-born brides married endogamously or exogamously and, when the latter, the spouse’s place of origin. Marriages were classified as endogamous when the Calabria-born bride married a man born in either Calabria or in another region of Italy or when she married a man of Italian origin. Marriages were considered exogamous when the Calabria-born bride chose a spouse who was not born in Italy and was not of Italian origin.