Intergenerational Processes and Diasporic Religious Identity Among Immigrant Coptic Families

Abstract

Considering the scarcity of psychological studies on Middle Eastern Christian immigrant families experiences, this chapter aims to explore the post-migration experience of Coptic Orthodox families immigrated from Egypt to Italy and chooses to adopt a family intergenerational perspective to compare narratives of two different family generations (first-generation parents and their second-generation adolescent children). Based on empirical data from 10 Coptic Orthodox families, for a total of 30 interviewed participants (10 first-generation fathers, 10 first-generation mothers, and 10 second-generation adolescent children), the chapter reveals that religiosity in its intertwined individual and social expressions is a salient part of interviewees’ everyday life and an essential source of resilience. However, identity-specific content reveals differences when comparing parents and children’s narratives. While a “diasporic” religious identity seems to emerge among first-generation parents, religious identity among children emphasizes the opposition with a highly secularized and “threatening” Italian society.