# Are there (modern) cultures in which "interracial" marriage is encouraged? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 18, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-cultures-in-which-interracial-marriage-is-encouraged/489903 "2009-03-18T17:04:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-cultures-in-which-interracial-marriage-is-encouraged/489903/1 "2009-03-18T17:04:59Z")
Simply put, in my own background (Indian Hindu) and most, if not all, backgrounds which are commonly represented in the West, it’s commonly held that one ought to marry within one’s own culture. You see it represented in film/TV with Jewish culture, for example, as in _Keeping the Faith_ and with Indian culture in _Bend It Like Beckham_. It seems to be a truism that anyone from a non-WASP background has a mother who’s always asking when he/she is going to settle down with a nice Jewish/Korean/Indian/Russian/whatever boy/girl. I suspect that to some degree this is the result of real or imagined racism. Still, it’s ubiquitous enough that I’m sure it has some basis in actual cultural mores, rather than some sort of instinctive herd mentality that kicks in in mothers. I do also recall receiving a long, sharply worded letter from the mother of a college girlfriend citing (anti-miscegenation) Bible verses for her disapproval of our relationship. What I’m curious about is whether there are cultures in which genetic admixture (that is, beyond any non-incestuous relationship) is seen as beneficial to society, rather than something to be avoided. Mods, if you feel this would fit better in GD, feel free to move it. I presume there are factual answers to the question, though. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-cultures-in-which-interracial-marriage-is-encouraged/489903/2 "2009-03-18T17:15:43Z")
Not really “inter-racial” as such. But I understand that part of the reason behind the Amish [Rumpsringa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumspringa) tradition, where adolescents are given free reign to experience the evils of the outside world, is the hope that if the girls get pregnant to an outsider, then the outsider will will be obliged to return with her to the Amish community and marry her. The idea being this will increase the genepool of the Amish community. How well this works nowadays (or ever worked), I’m not sure. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-cultures-in-which-interracial-marriage-is-encouraged/489903/3 "2009-03-18T17:20:42Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > You see it represented in film/TV with Jewish culture, for example, as in _Keeping the Faith_ In at least some non-Orthodox segments of Jewish culture, though, marrying someone who’s willing to convert to Judaism is just as good as marrying somebody who was born Jewish. I’ve never experienced any discrimination on that account from anyone in Mr. Neville’s family, and as far as I know his uncle and his cousin’s wife (who also converted) haven’t, either. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-cultures-in-which-interracial-marriage-is-encouraged/489903/4 "2009-03-18T17:21:43Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > In at least some non-Orthodox segments of Jewish culture, though, marrying someone who’s willing to convert to Judaism is just as good as marrying somebody who was born Jewish. I’ve never experienced any discrimination on that account from anyone in Mr. Neville’s family, and as far as I know his uncle and his cousin’s wife (who also converted) haven’t, either. IIRC, conversion (to Judaism) is only practiced in American synagogues, though. Is that right? ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-cultures-in-which-interracial-marriage-is-encouraged/489903/5 "2009-03-18T17:27:01Z")
The Baha’i religion [actively encourages interracial marriage](http://info.bahai.org/article-1-6-4-1.html). ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-cultures-in-which-interracial-marriage-is-encouraged/489903/6 "2009-03-18T17:28:38Z")
Wow, **Really** , that is an interesting question. I’ve been thinking about this, trying to conjure up any culture that would encourage that, to no avail (even wondered about the Inuit). i think this may be made more difficult by the fact that in most cultures, there would be a big divide among the inhabitants, some accepting it, others not. I think it is hghly unlikey that any culture would encourage it though. I will await answers to this to see if any are cited. As an aside, when i was in Japan, I wrote my (divorced) parents that I was going to marry a Japanese women (still married after 57 years). My father did not to seem to care either way, but my mother very gently admonished me to wait until I came back to the US and find an American girl. However, after we were married and we visited her, she was charmed by my wife and was very happy. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-cultures-in-which-interracial-marriage-is-encouraged/489903/7 "2009-03-18T17:31:48Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > IIRC, conversion (to Judaism) is only practiced in American synagogues, though. Is that right? Not true. Jews everywhere have long accepted converts, but they don’t advertise and they actually _discourage_ conversion inquiries. They only want the truly determined and motivated to join the group you see. They deliberately make the process of conversion difficult. Very different from the Christian and Muslim approach of shoving their religion down peoples’ throats or demanding conversion at the point of a sword. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-cultures-in-which-interracial-marriage-is-encouraged/489903/8 "2009-03-18T17:36:41Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Simply put, in my own background (Indian Hindu) and most, if not all, backgrounds which are commonly represented in the West, it’s commonly held that one ought to marry within one’s own culture. > > You see it represented in film/TV with Jewish culture, for example, as in _Keeping the Faith_ and with Indian culture in _Bend It Like Beckham_. It seems to be a truism that anyone from a non-WASP background has a mother who’s always asking when he/she is going to settle down with a nice Jewish/Korean/Indian/Russian/whatever boy/girl. The WASP mothers do this, too, even if it is seldom portrayed in film or on TV. They were more overt and vocal about it in the past but it certainly still exists. > [@](#): > > I suspect that to some degree this is the result of real or imagined racism. Absolutely. To some degree it’s fear of the unknown, to some degree it’s a desire to preserve traditions and culture undiluted, but a big hunk is prejudice. > [@](#): > > What I’m curious about is whether there are cultures in which genetic admixture (that is, beyond any non-incestuous relationship) is seen as beneficial to society, rather than something to be avoided. > > Mods, if you feel this would fit better in GD, feel free to move it. I presume there are factual answers to the question, though. Well, some cultures \*tolerate \*mixing people of different origins more than others but I can’t think of any off-hand that _actively encourage_ such mixing. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-cultures-in-which-interracial-marriage-is-encouraged/489903/9 "2009-03-18T17:40:04Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > The WASP mothers do this, too, even if it is seldom portrayed in film or on TV. They were more overt and vocal about it in the past but it certainly still exists. Yes, I should have mentioned that the evil mother-of-S.O. described above was herself a WASP. I just excluded WASPs from the film/TV bit because, as you note, you don’t really see white non-Jewish people saying that stuff on TV. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-cultures-in-which-interracial-marriage-is-encouraged/489903/10 "2009-03-18T18:31:03Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > In at least some non-Orthodox segments of Jewish culture, though, marrying someone who’s willing to convert to Judaism is just as good as marrying somebody who was born Jewish. Apparently, Islam is okay with a muslim man marrying a non-muslim lady. [She doesn’t even have to convert.](http://www.jamaat.org/qa/marriage.html) However, an Islam woman may not marry outside the faith. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-cultures-in-which-interracial-marriage-is-encouraged/489903/11 "2009-03-18T19:13:37Z")
Interesting; that’s the other way around from the Jewish view. One is considered to be a Jew if one’s mother is Jewish, so a Jewish man would be discouraged from marrying a gentile woman, since then he’d be having a bunch of non-Jewish kids, but a Jewish woman will have Jewish children no matter whom she marries. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-cultures-in-which-interracial-marriage-is-encouraged/489903/12 "2009-03-18T19:32:39Z")
I believe that the Moonies encourage interracial marriages. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-cultures-in-which-interracial-marriage-is-encouraged/489903/13 "2009-03-18T21:04:54Z")
Perhaps not exactly what you’re looking for but, according to my wife, there’s an impetus among many indigenous-blooded people in Peru to “Marry white” if possible. The lighter your skin color, the easier it is to rise in social status so if you can have babies lighter skinned than you are, you’re doing them a favor. I took a History of Latin America class last year which said that the same was true in Brazil. They’re famed for their multi-racialism but you’re still on better ground if you’re white than if you’re black and so people often seek out lighter skinned partners. This is in contrast to other places where trying to marry “up” is seen as selling out your race. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-modern-cultures-in-which-interracial-marriage-is-encouraged/489903/14 "2009-03-19T00:53:47Z")
I like **Jophiel** ’s answer. Not a culture, perhaps, but maybe it sort of is…how about the People’s Republic of Berkeley? I once attended a gathering of local cello students there, and it seemed like 90% of the kids were half-Asian, half-Caucasian.