Chosen, arranged or forced marriage: a case study

This paper is the result of an ethnographic research conducted in the Turkish and Moroccan communities of the Hodimont neighborhood in Verviers. The analysis aims to highlight the matrimonial strategies and the influence of the community into these ones.  
A triangular interaction between parents / child / community is at the hart of each wedding’s decision. The modality of this interaction – more or less flexible – seems to be crucial in the determination of the marriage’s form and in the constraining force that can weigh on young people for the choice of their partner.
Moreover, every component of young people’s life within the community is influenced by the relations with the parents and the community members. Education, socialization, religious experience, gender perceptions, economic contingencies are dimensions that are crossed by parental and community recommendations. In this context, it can be hard for young people to find a right balance between the fulfillment of the family’s wills and the respect of their own desire. This situation might cause constraints or acts of violence but it might also produce reconciliations and self‐affirmations.