Objectives

TransFAR is a research project conceived and carried out by the Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB) in cooperation with the Research Centre of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF-FZ). TransFAR offers a comprehensive overview of (transnational) family constellations in the context of forced migration. It analyses the consequences of the (transnational) family life as well as the intra- and extra-familial social relationships of refugees living in Germany.

The project is guided by three main objectives and a number of research questions:

• Objective 1: Diversity of family structures, arrangements and relationships as well as geographical location of family members

  • What does families’ spatial dispersion look like in the context of flight?
  • What different types of family structures and arrangements do emerge?
  • What are the determinants of these different family arrangements?
  • What do family migration processes look like in the context of flight?

• Objective 2: "Doing transnational family" - Transnational contact and mutual support between family members across national borders

  • What does the mutual exchange between family members look like and what kind of support is exchanged?
  • How do forced migrants “live” their family relationships across borders?
  • What degree of transnationalism do the families show?

• Objective 3: Social contacts and social life in Germany

  • What does the life of refugees in Germany look like in terms of their social contacts?
  • What kind of social contacts and personal social networks exists?
  • What interactions exist between different family arrangements and personal social networks in Germany?
  • What interactions exist between the labor market integration of refugees and their different transnational family constellations and relationships as well as their personal social networks?