Sibling Relations and Care across Distance

Research on transnational families has largely focused on parent–child relationships, while sibling ties have received growing but still more limited attention. Yet sibling relations matter in different ways. One the one hand, they often become particularly visible when care for ageing parents or other dependent kin must be organized across distance. On the other hand, siblings may also provide care for each other in ways distinct from intergenerational care. Such care across distance may involve family members living across national borders, but also within the same country, where mobility, unequal proximity, and changing life circumstances shape care in similar ways. Yet the similarities between cross-border and within-country arrangements are rarely examined together. This session aims to bring these perspectives into dialogue.

We invite contributions that examine sibling relations as part of wider family care arrangements across distance, whether transnational or internally dispersed. We are interested in how sibling ties are shaped by mobility and immobility across the life course, and how they are situated within broader family obligations involving parents, grandparents, children, and wider kin.

We welcome empirical and theoretical papers on the circulation of care across distance, the role of siblings within wider constellations of kin and non-kin support, and the ways gendered expectations, welfare systems, migration regimes, and disruptive events shape sibling roles and (inter)generational responsibilities.

By centring sibling ties, the session aims to expand discussions of care beyond parent–child relations and to bring into dialogue research on family care across both cross-border and within-country distance.