What are transnational families?

Transnational families — families whose members regularly spend a significant amount of time outside of their country of origin— represent an important segment of the global, European and in particular, Central-Eastern European population. They, like families who live together locally, are functional and valid.  They develop solutions to reconstruct what it means to be a family, ranging from economic unity and sharing a household across borders, to complex management, care and communication practices that can be referred to as co-presence and 'doing families'.

What is our stance on transnational families?

Our vision is one of acceptance and recognition of transnational families as equally valuable and functional, with members enjoying the rights and responsibilities conferred by this status. This vision leads to a supportive attitude in the research and communication we develop with concern to them, and is designed to counteract the negative socio-political effects produced by an often-disapproving public view of different family models. At the same time, we believe that transnational families require special attention as their lives are at risk from several points of view. Moreover, by definition, transnational families are embedded in and affected by several socio-political and administrative contexts, which is why collaboration between their countries of origin and destination is essential.

What is the CASTLE Centre?

CASTLE - Centre for the Study of Transnational Families is an academic research centre established within the Department of Political Sciences of the Faculty of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences of Babeș-Bolyai University. As such it aims, above all, to serve as a formal-institutional multidisciplinary framework for hosting research, application and advocacy initiatives in the field of transnational families. The centre may take on research projects, action research or social action, as appropriate. In this respect, in addition to strict research activity, it will also function as a hub for local, regional, national and international networking, visibility and interaction in the field.

What do we study in connection with transnational families?

In line with the vision outlined above, current and future research at the Centre falls within the following areas, sub-fields and themes: Multidisciplinary Family Studies; Transnational Family Studies; Kinship Relations; Diversity and Identities; Gender Studies; Interethnic Relations; Social World; Diversity; Social Anthropology; Digital Social Research; Ethics; Social and Political Philosophy: Cosmopolitanism; Institutions; Human Rights; Family Law; Children's Rights; Environmental and Climate Change: Societal and Policy Impacts; Social and Cultural Innovation.

How did the CASTLE Centre come about?

The CASTLE Centre was set up as a central objective of the CASTLE project (Children Left Behind through Labour Migration: Supporting Moldovan and Ukrainian Families in the EU), a tri-national (Ro-Mo-Ua) academic - civil society collaborative action project, funded by the EU and contracted through ICMPD, hosted by Babeș-Bolyai University as lead partner, with the participation of the Academy of Economic Sciences of the Republic of Moldova and the Ukrainian Institute for Social Research as academic partners, and respectively, Terre des Hommes Romania, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine as civil society partners. The action-project involves qualitative research on Moldovan and Ukrainian transnational families with parents who migrate for work to an EU country, while their children remain in the country of departure, as well as training activities for families, civil society and the authorities, and policy recommendations to improve their situation. Following the project plan, the lead partner's team followed the accreditation steps of the Centre, resulting in its institutional, administrative, physical and electronic establishment. In the accreditation process, the contribution of the members of the Centre's team played a key role, but we also enjoy a strong support team and a network of related institutions.

What is special about the CASTLE Centre?

The Centre is vital because of its unique framework at the local, national, regional and even international level. It is also unique because of the layered relations it proposes in the national context among academia, society at large, civil society and the authorities, and in an international academic and institutional context. In this sense, communication - society - science - policy finds a particular resource in the existence of the Centre.

What is the CASTLE Centre’s research agenda?

Basic research is pursued by directly addressing social, anthropological, political, ethical, etc. phenomena of transnational families in order to create theories, descriptions, models and concepts appropriate to the field. In the Centre's view, transnational families should be observed, studied and approached from a variety of perspectives and in a diversity of intersections, including minorities of various kinds, trafficking, divorce, gender, differences compared to singularly-localised families leading to different outcomes in terms of interpretation, communication and intervention. Also, we prioritise family rights and children’s rights. In this respect, the study of transnational families reflects on social structures such as the community, quasi-family or friendship ties, organisational structures, work, education, political community and society as a whole. These dynamics need to be addressed from the starting point of the intimate experience of transnational family life by perceiving and recognising it in its local, societal and political context, and moving on to the institutional capacities needed to protect its integrity and functionality.

On the practical level, i.e. applied research, the Centre emphatically aims to systematically analyse the governance of transnational families from a multidisciplinary perspective; i.e. formal and informal regulation of family relationships, cultural-contextual differences/similarities across regions/countries, comparative policy analysis, and the development of participatory methodologies for their study. Overall, we aim to provide support and recommendations to society, families, NGOs, and at political, national and international levels. In the applied context of the research, adapting and providing digital support and information for the general public and specific target groups is a priority.

Specifically, the Centre's area of interest strongly relies on Citizen Engagement via participatory research methods, and by involving respondents in co-research and the co-creation of knowledge. In this sense, the Centre wants to become a powerful platform not only for information, but also for training and advocacy on transnational families, both for their members and for other support organisations. Through this support activity, the Centre aims to develop positive socio-human values and behaviours by promoting the rights and interests of all related vulnerable groups in the area of transnational families: stay-behind children of migrating parents, elderly and/or sick people involved, minorities of different types, mobile caregivers, etc.

The research methodologies, as well as the communication with the target groups, fall partly or entirely within the scope of digital research, substantially widening research coverage as well as the social-communicative quality of the actions.

In the study of migration and transnational living, the concept of materiality, which has recently emerged in the field, considers the environment—including the natural environment—as a defining perspective. This is intended to improve the understanding and protection of the quality of life for the families addressed here, whose lives and environment are not embedded in a single national context.

The production of well-founded and disseminated knowledge about the target group has, among its aims, integration through culture; however, this is not conceived as a pre-validated culture, but one produced precisely through transnational living, but which can be extrapolated and communicated among the participants, creating an additional reflexivity, solidarity and acceptance.

What has happened so far at the CASTLE Centre?

Actions

Although no formal Centre-hosted activities have taken place in the run-up to authorisation, researchers who have accepted membership are already heavily involved in a related CASTLE Framework Project work, including the collaborative development of the details of the Centre's vision and the international event, "Transnational Families in Focus", held on 14–16 September, at the host faculty. At the event, seven prominent international researchers presented the relevant legal and factual situation in Romania-Ukraine-Republic of Moldova, and discussions were held on the Centre's vision and relevant methodology in the field. In addition, a large number of centres and related international projects presented their work in a networking meeting and contributed to the improvement of the Centre's vision and communication.

How can you share your comments or suggestions on the work or vision of the Centre for the Study of Transnational Families?

We strongly believe in dialogue and would welcome your feedback. Suggestions for the Centre's research agenda can be sent to viorela.telegdi@ubbcluj.ro by 10 January 2022.

Those interested in connecting with or following our activities can find more information at:

This article has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union, contracted by ICMPD through the Migration Partnership Facility.

The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of the Babeș-Bolyai University and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union or ICMPD. 

UE icmpd    mpf

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