Transnational families and inequalities

Over the past years, there has been an increasing interest in the study of transnational families and how they shape their intergenerational relations, family belonging and migration practices across borders.
The present (double) symposium co-chaired by I. Albert and K. Barglowski will bring together six contributions from four different countries focusing on specific questions revolving around main issues, such as family ties, social mobility and care, under the lens of social inequality and recent global events. The contributions use various methodological approaches to shed light on how inequalities are generated in transnational families.
The first contribution by Heidi Martins will focus on social mobility among Portuguese ‘second generation’ young and middle-aged adults in Luxembourg with the aim of examining their (re)construction and negotiation processes of feelings of (un)belonging throughout the life course, considering family history and other contextual conditions.
Second, Lisa Bonfert focuses on social positions in transnational families and examines how different resources of members of transnational families vary across spatial contexts and how family relations can affect subjective social positions within and across borders.
Third, the issue of economic inequality as driver for temporary migration of home caregivers from poorer to the richer EU countries is tackled by Ursula Trummer, addressing related challenges for the well-being of family members left behind, families in the receiving countries, and public health systems.
The fourth contribution by Susanne Willers focuses on difficulties regarding social care arrangements of transnational families during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study examines the problems and coping strategies of female migrants and their families from diverse cultural contexts who live in Berlin, Germany, who must deal with the impact of the pandemic and related policies on their family care constellations.
Fifth, Anne Carolina Ramos examines how war in Ukraine changed family relations of children who had to flee their country due to Russian attacks and invasion, leaving behind family members, and how these recent and on-going challenges are seen and dealt with from the perspective of Ukrainian children.
The sixth presentation is given by Helen Baykara-Krumme, one of the leading European scholars on migration and family relations. Her research, mostly drawing on the Türkiye-Germany migration system, has demonstrated the embedding of migration in family relationships, specifically by looking at how migration transforms intergenerational bonds, support patterns and care practices. In this presentation, she will focus on the ways migration and family life produce inequalities.