Special issue: Intergenerational care and intersecting inequalities among transnational families in Europe
A special issue of the journal, Population, Space and Place is based on several original research papers from the Care, Inequality and Wellbeing in Transnational Families in Europe research project. The special issue was co-edited by Ruth Evans, Rosa Mas Giralt and Eleonore Kofman.
Intergenerational spaces of care, have been rather under-explored in studies of transnational families to date, as we discuss in the editorial (Evans et al, 2026). This special issue has a central focus on intergenerational spaces of care within transnational families. It demonstrates the potential innovative contribution of care ethics to understanding intergenerational caring relations within and across borders. The special issue also advances understandings of the intersecting inequalities that may marginalise different generations of transnational families. Such structural inequalities are often embedded within increasingly restrictive im/mobility regimes that characterise contemporary migration landscapes in Europe and beyond, within the wider global context of ‘crisis’-driven displacement and post-pandemic times.
This special issue provides a novel intergenerational, relational care perspective. The nine original contributions analyse how caring relations, practices and institutional contexts affect the wellbeing and opportunities of different generations of transnational families within the post-pandemic, polycrisis context in Europe. Five of the papers are based on research conducted in France, Spain, Sweden and the UK as part of the multi-sited, family-focused qualitative, participatory action research and ethnographic project, Care, Inequality and Wellbeing in Transnational Families in Europe. The other four papers by researchers working with families in the UK, Italy and Germany, draw on a diversity of methods, including quantitative analyses of large-scale survey data, longitudinal qualitative data, life histories, participant observation, focus groups and in-depth interviews. The papers thus address some of the methodological limitations of previous studies.
Please follow the links below to access the editorial and articles (most are open access):
, Mas , and . (2026). Intergenerational Care and Intersecting Inequalities Among Transnational Families in Europe. Population, Space and Place 32: e70317. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.70317.
Suter, B., Evans, R., Giralt, R.M. and Mozetič, K. (2025). Young People’s Caring Practices in Transnational Families in Sweden and the UK: Care Ethics and Wellbeing. Population, Space and Place, 31: e70002. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.70002
(2025). The experiences of older migrant mothers and grandmothers with intergenerational solidarity in their transnational families. Population, Space and Place, 31, e2846. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.2846
Schiefer, D. and Nowicka, M. (2025). Intergenerational Care in Local, Long-Distance, and Transnational Families: The Role of Geographical Distance and Cross-Border Separation on Subjective Care Burden. Population, Space and Place, 31: e2866. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.2866
Palash, P., Souto, A., Oso, L. and Baby-Collin, V. (2025), Berracas Caring. The Birth, Life and Death of Transnational Families: A Multi-Sited Ethnography Across Colombia, Spain and France. Population, Space and Place, 31: e70071. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.70071
Capstick, T., Mozetič, K. and Simpson, J. (2025). Mediating Proximate Care in Transnational Families in Sweden and the UK: Language Practices and Institutional Processes. Population, Space and Place, 31: e70015. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.70015
(2024). Social reproduction in onward migration: Colombian mothers and fathers from Spain to London. Population, Space and Place, 30, e2803. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.2803
Oso, L., Martínez-Buján, R. and Moré, P. (2025), Navigating Care in the Assemblage of (im)Mobilities: Social Protection Strategies Among Latin American Transnational Families in the Post-Pandemic Period. Population, Space and Place, 31: e70035. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.70035
, , & (2024). ‘It hurts my heart’: Afghan women in London negotiating family relationships and (im)mobility regimes across borders. Population, Space and Place, 30, e2814. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.2814
, and (2025). Enforced Transnationalism From an Ethics of Care Perspective: Barriers to Living ‘Care-filled Lives’ and Resistance Tactics Among ‘Forced’ Transnational Families in the UK. Population, Space and Place 31: 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.70103.
We welcome any feedback on the articles. Please contact:
Prof. Ruth Evans, University of Reading. Email: r.evans@reading.ac.uk
Dr. Rosa Mas Giralt, University of Leeds. Email: r.masgiralt@leeds.ac.uk