Editorial: Interconnected lives: experiences and resilience of transnational families in a shifting global landscape

that are difficult to articulate verbally (Harper, 2002;Pink, 2021). Large-scale quantitative and mixed-methods studies identify structural patterns related to well-being, social isolation, and adaptation.Several contributions demonstrate how transnational and mobile lives are embedded in deeply unequal social, economic, and geopolitical structures, revealing how mobility both reproduces and reshapes inequality. Ahmad's analysis of children born into migrant rag-picking families exposes the intersection of poverty, discrimination, and institutional exclusion. Similarly, De Souza et al. show how regional inequalities within Brazil are reproduced through elite futsal careers, where birthplace functions as symbolic capital that advantages athletes from wealthier regions while rendering others structurally invisible. At the educational level, Guerra Ayala et al. and Zharkynbekova et al. highlight how linguistic hierarchies and national belonging shape students' inclusion and exclusion. Indigenous students in Peru and ethnic Kazakh repatriates in Kazakhstan encounter institutional environments that implicitly privilege dominant languages and cultural norms, producing social isolation or uneven adaptation.A second cluster of articles critically examines transnational caregiving and emotional labor, with particular attention to gendered expectations and moral economies of care. Haider's study of Pakistani migrant fathers in Italy challenges economic-centered models of fatherhood by foregrounding emotional pain, moral obligation, and mediated intimacy, revealing how masculinity and care are renegotiated under conditions of prolonged separation. In contrast, Shamase and Sekaja and Domingo focus on women who remain physically closer to childreneither as migrant mothers working abroad or as non-migrant mothers left behind-yet shoulder disproportionate emotional and practical responsibilities. Together, these studies complicate binary distinctions between "present" and "absent" parents by showing how caregiving and authority are continuously performed across distance.Several contributions decenter adult perspectives by foregrounding children's and young people's own evaluations of transnational family life. König et al. demonstrate that children in Poland do not passively internalize dominant moral discourses that stigmatize parental migration. Instead, they apply nuanced criteria-such as motives for migration, communication quality, and emotional support-when assessing what constitutes a "good childhood," while asserting their right to information and participation in family decisions. Ahmad's and Guerra Ayala et al.'s findings highlight children's and students' aspirations, coping strategies, and resilience even under conditions of structural disadvantage. Collectively, these studies challenge deficit-oriented frameworks and contribute to a more differentiated understanding of agency that acknowledges constraints without denying young people's interpretive capacities.Language emerges as a central analytical lens across several contributions, not only as a communicative tool but as a symbolic, emotional, and relational resource. Li-Gottwald, Bloch, Protassova and Yelenevskaya, and Li et al. demonstrate how language practices are embedded in everyday "doing family," shaping intergenerational ties, identity formation, and belonging. These studies show that multilingualism is rarely a linear or harmonious process; instead, it involves negotiation, ambivalence, and unequal access to resources. Language learning and maintenance operate within broader power relations-between host and heritage languages, between generations, and between institutional expectations and family aspirations. By situating language within transnational family dynamics, these articles move beyond instrumental views of linguistic competence toward a relational understanding of language as lived experience.Finally, the collection advances the field methodologically and conceptually. Dillon and Ali's use of collage-based elicitation illustrates how visual and phenomenological methods can capture the affective and symbolic dimensions of transnational life that often remain inaccessible through conventional interviews. Barros et al.'s large-scale survey complements these qualitative insights by demonstrating how well-being emerges from the interaction of personal resources and contextual conditions, reinforcing the value of methodological pluralism.From a practical and policy-oriented perspective, the findings underscore the need for inclusive, intersectional, and family-sensitive frameworks that recognize transnational families as enduring social units. Access to education, healthcare, language training, labor markets, and social protection emerges as unevenly distributed and closely tied to migration status, gender, class, ethnicity, and regional inequality. The contributions challenge policy frameworks that privilege physical co-presence and nuclear family norms, instead calling for recognition of emotional labor, transnational caregiving, multilingual practices, and children's agency (Bryceson & Vuorela, 2002;Baldassar & Merla, 2014). Pedagogically, schools and universities function as critical sites of inclusion or exclusion for migrant, Indigenous, and transnational students. Language policies, pedagogical practices, and institutional cultures can either exacerbate marginalization or foster belonging and resilience. The findings reinforce the importance of culturally responsive pedagogy, language-sensitive instruction, and supportive learning environments that validate students' linguistic repertoires, cultural backgrounds, and lived realities (Cummins, 2000;Gay, 2018).While the contributions substantially advance scholarship on transnational families, they also point to several directions for future research. Greater use of longitudinal designs is needed to trace how family practices, identities, and inequalities evolve across life stages. Further attention to South-South migration, Indigenous mobility, and non-elite forms of transnationalism would address persistent gaps in the literature. Comparative and multi-sited research can illuminate how welfare regimes, education systems, and migration policies shape transnational family experiences across contexts. Continued methodological innovation-particularly participatory, visual, and child-centered approaches-remains essential for ensuring that marginalized voices are meaningfully centered in knowledge production.