RC-31 Newsletter

This RC31 webinar took place on 12 May 2026, and it was recorded. The session examines what it means to be a family across international borders, how families navigate transnational spaces, and the challenges they face. This webinar focuses on how borders and boundaries recompose kinship relations among families in Europe, Asia, and Central America. The speakers explore the effects produced by international borders – paying attention to the disparate configurations of families on the move (i.e., their social class, race, administrative status, etc.), the social reproductive work of families across borders, and states’ role in defining what a family is. This panel aims to inspire more thought, reflection, and collaborations.

FB advertisement for this Transnational Families Webinar: https://www.facebook.com/InternationalSociologicalAssociation/posts/-isa-reco-webinar-series-transnational-families-doing-family-across-borders%EF%B8%8F-12-/1399664288865620/

More about the webinar @

https://www.isa-sociology.org/uploads/imgen/2493-recowwg-transnationalfamilies-doingfamilyacrossborders.pdf?1773767153

Call for Papers!

Mobility and Displacement in Global Context

Sociology of Migration Research Committee, RC31

XXI ISA World Congress

July 4-10, 2027

Gwangju, South Korea

Submission portal open: August 3, 2026 to October 14, 2026

We invite members of RC31 Research Committee on the Sociology of Migration to participate in the 2027 International Sociological Association (ISA) World Congress in Gwangju, South Korea (July 4–10, 2027). Under the Congress theme, "Global Sociology in Turbulent Times," the RC31 part of the Congress program is entitled “Mobility and Displacement in a Global Context” and will explore the critical role of migration in shaping our contemporary world.

Migration is a central feature of global instability, driven by inequality and opportunity, civil conflict and war, and environmental crises. It also represents a profound restructuring of social, economic, and political spaces. We seek papers that examine how migrants, refugees, and mobile populations navigate, resist, and redefine these conditions. We welcome empirical, theoretical, and comparative studies addressing the following topics and more:

• Forced migration and humanitarian crises

• The politics of borders, citizenship, and integration

• Digital technologies in migrant transnationalism

• Gendered, intersectional, and generational perspectives on migration

• The experiences of internal, circular, temporary, labor, and return migrants

• The motivation or lived realities of voluntary and forced migration

• Resistance, solidarity, and the agency of migrants in hostile environments.

Aligning with the ISA Congress focus on challenging times, we encourage contributions voices from all corners of the globe and innovative ethically grounded research methodologies.

To present your research at the 2027 ISA Congress, you will submit your paper or abstract between August 3, 2026 and close on October 14, 2026. In early August, please look for the portal to be located at this Congress URL: 

https://www.isa-sociology.org/en/conferences/world-congress/gwangju-2027