5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

Due to greater mobility and more diverse family arrangements, nowadays many families include members who live beyond country borders. Although the phenomenon of transnational families has gained scientific attention in the last two decades, researchers still debate on concepts, challenges, and potentials of transnational families. This session focuses on family arrangements in which at least one member temporarily or permanently lives beyond state borders. We aim to discuss issues on the transition of becoming a transnational family, the everyday lives of transnational families, the challenges and potentials of transnational family life, as well as family resilience in a transnational context. Furthermore, we welcome contributions that focus on the interrelation of families’ everyday lives and the circumstances in the respective countries of origin or arrival. We invite researchers to discuss, among others, the following questions in the session: How and why do families become transnational and how do family boundaries change during such a transition? How do transnational families (re)organise their everyday lives, and which family practices do they transform, omit and adopt? How do members of transnational family arrangements perform their roles as mothers or fathers, children, siblings, grandparents, and other family members? How do family boundaries shift in transnational families under diverse circumstances? Which ways of communication do family members choose in order to ‘do family’ across borders? How do matters of integration or social inclusion come into play, e.g. in terms of legal or policy aspects, and how do they contribute to the everyday lives of transnational families?