[Commlist] Call for Papers - Transnational Lives and Cultural Contexts for Lusophone Journal of Cultural Studies

The  Call for Papers for The Lusophone Journal of Cultural Studies Vol. 
13, N.º 1 on the subject  Transnational Lives and Cultural Contexts  is 
open from 26 September to 30 November, 2025

Thematic Editors: Emília Araújo (CECS, Universidade do Minho, Portugal), 
Carlos Barros (Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Portugal) & Mieke 
Schrooten (Odisee University of Applied Sciences/University of Antwerp, 
Bélgica)

As transnational families gain visibility in academic and policy 
debates, recent research highlights the need to deepen our understanding 
of what it means to be transnational and the long-term implications of 
such experiences (Budginaitė-Mačkinė et al., 2025). Scholars are 
increasingly examining not only the institutional fragilities of support 
systems but also the cultural contexts that shape these experiences 
(Barros & Hanenberg, 2024).

In a time of growing public and political uncertainty around migration 
and mobility, it is crucial to make visible the lived realities of 
transnational families—whose experiences of belonging, displacement, and 
care span geographically distinct locations (Bryceson, 2019; Doetsch et 
al., 2017; Guerra & Barros, 2025; Schrooten, 2021).

Aim of the Thematic Issue

This thematic issue invites contributions that explore how culture 
shapes experiences of displacement and mobility, and how 
transnationality and vulnerability are lived, narrated, negotiated, and 
resisted within transnational family networks. We welcome analyses of 
how variables such as gender, race, class, and citizenship intersect to 
produce layered forms of individual and familial precarity, and how 
institutions, media, and technologies mediate these experiences across 
borders, thereby constructing “cultures of vulnerability” with which 
families may or may not identify.

We also encourage critical reflections on the theoretical, 
methodological, and ethical challenges of researching transnational lives.

Suggested Topics

We invite interdisciplinary, empirically grounded, and theoretically 
engaged articles, particularly those that draw on Sociology, 
Communication, Psychology, Social Work, Anthropology and Migration Studies.

Suggested topics include:

1. Conceptual and Methodological Approaches

Theorising transnationality and vulnerability in cultural contexts

Methodological innovations in researching transnational family life

Ethical dilemmas in studying displacement and precarity across borders

2. Cultural Representations and Narratives

Cultural imaginaries of uncertainty, loss, and displacement

Diasporic memory, cultural citizenship, and practices of belonging

Family archives and visual storytelling of transnational vulnerability

3. Temporalities and Emotional Geographies

Waiting, endurance, and intergenerational care in transnational families

Temporal dimensions of trauma, healing, and resilience in migration

“Living time”: activism, resistance, and cultural expressions of endurance

4. Institutional and Structural Challenges

Professional mismatch, labour precarity, and identity negotiation

Transnational family life in times of crisis, disaster, or systemic 
breakdown

Navigating institutional fragilities: care, support, and legal frameworks

5. Media, Technology, and Future Imaginaries

Cross-border digital cultures and mediated family connections

Technologies of care and surveillance in transnational contexts

Imagining futures: aspirations, mobility, and cultural resistance

Theories and methods on transnationality and vulnerability

References

Barros, C., & Hanenberg, P. (2024). An integral approach to well-being 
in transnational families: A brief proposal for best practices. Social 
Sciences, 13(3), 131. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13030131.

Bryceson, D. F. (2019). Transnational families negotiating migration and 
care life cycles across nation-state borders. Journal of Ethnic and 
Migration Studies, 45(16), 3042–3064. 
https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2018.1547017

Budginaitė-Mačkinė, I., Albert, I., Schrooten, M., Stanojević, D., & 
Wojtyńska, A. (2025). Defining transnational families across countries 
and time: An analysis of academic discourse on the phenomenon between 
2003 and 2023. Journal of Family Studies, 1–20. 
https://doi.org/10.1080/13229400.2024.2449103

Doetsch, J., Pilot, E., Santana, P., & Krafft, T. (2017). Potential 
barriers in healthcare access of the elderly population influenced by 
the economic crisis and the troika agreement: A qualitative case study 
in Lisbon, Portugal. International Journal for Equity in Health, 16, 
1–17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-017-0679-7

Guerra, I. & Barros, C. (2025). Care: New challenges arising from 
transnational dynamics. Social Work Education. 
https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2025.2525992

Schrooten, M. (2021). Transnational social work: Challenging and 
crossing borders and boundaries. Journal of Social Work, 21(5), 
1163–1181. https://doi.org/10.1177/146801732094938

Submission of full manuscripts: from September 26 to November 30, 2025

LANGUAGE

The manuscripts may be submitted in English or Portuguese. Papers 
selected for publication will be translated into Portuguese or English 
and must be published in both languages.

EDITING AND SUBMISSION

Lusophone Journal of Cultural Studies is an open-access academic journal 
that adheres to the stringent standards of peer-reviewing and blind 
peer-reviewing. After submission, each paper will be distributed to two 
reviewers, who have previously been invited to evaluate it according to 
its academic quality, originality, and relevance to the objectives and 
scope of the theme of this issue of the journal.

Original articles are submitted on the journal's website at 
(https://www.rlec.pt/ <https://www.rlec.pt/>). When submitting for the 
first time to the Lusophone Journal of Cultural Studies, please register 
here <https://rlec.pt/user/register>).

The guidelines for authors are available here 
<https://rlec.pt/about/submissions>.

For further information, please contact: (rlec /at/ ics.uminho.pt) 
<mailto:(rlec /at/ ics.uminho.pt)>

No Payment from the authors will be required

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