About transnational siblings

‘Transnational siblings’ are brothers and sisters who grow up or have lived in different countries to one another. What this looks like in practice varies from family to family. In some cases, transnational siblings are born in different countries (e.g., some before and some after a parent’s migration) and always live apart. In other cases, they spend some of their childhood together and some apart, being separated or reunited through their own migration.

The short answer is: not much! There is a lot of research on transnational families - that is, families spread across two or more countries. But such research has mostly focused on parent-child relationships - for example, how migrants stay in touch with and provide for their children in their country of origin.

Most research on siblings, however, has studied brothers and sisters who grow up together. A few studies have looked at how adult siblings manage their family obligations - like caring for ageing parents - transnationally. Some research explores how migrant parents manage relationships with their children in different countries. But there is almost no research about young transnational siblings.

There’s a lot we can learn from studying young transnational siblings. First, transnational sibling relationships can reveal some of the ways in which family is changing in an increasingly interconnected yet unequal world.  We know from research that common sibling dynamics like comparison, competition, and care shape the way young people grow up and who they become as adults. Sibling relationships also matter for other family matters like inheritance and care of elderly parents. But what happens in these situations when siblings grow up in different education systems, cultures, job markets, and social welfare systems?

Second, studying transnational siblings can help us understand how youth imagine and plan for their futures. Many transnational siblings stay connected through visits and digital media, exchanging information, stories, and advice from the different countries they live in. They therefore might be a big influence shaping how young people think about the future and make important decisions, like whether to migrate and what education or jobs to pursue.

By the year 2100, half the world’s youth will be African. In Europe, youth with African heritage are the largest group of youth of non-European origin. Ghanaian-background youth living in Germany are a relevant case study to research transnational siblings for various reasons. First, Ghanaians are very transnational and mobile. Almost half of all households in Ghana have at least one family member abroad, and Ghanaians abroad regularly travel ‘home’ to visit family and friends. Second, it is common for children in Ghanaian families to move between households and therefore for siblings to sometimes live apart. Finally, Germany is one of the main European destinations for Ghanaian migrants, and Hamburg is home to the largest Ghanaian community in Germany.