Títol.- Immigration and Mixedness: The Spanish Case

Abstract.- This seminar will address the relationship between immigration and mixedness (i.e., mixed couples and their descendants), a growing global reality that has only recently begun to be researched in Spain. First, I will contextualise the phenomenon of mixedness, offering some theoretical background on its scope and social significance. Second, I will discuss the Spanish case, drawing on data from several pioneering research projects carried out consecutively in the last decade by the INMIX Research Group, in which a nuanced, interdisciplinary, and multimethod approach has been applied. Aspects such as the demographic incidence of mixed unions in Spain, processes of multiethnicity, and the relationship between mixedness and the social integration of immigrants or Spanish-born ethnic minorities will be explored. As an overarching theme, my presentation will respond to the following question: Does the social phenomenon of mixedness ultimately dilute social divisions, leading to an inevitable expansion and redefinition of the mainstream, as classical assimilation theories prophesied it would?