Although kinship has long since been established as a topic in migration research, migration scholars often lacked an analytical concept of kinship and relied on their own ethnocentric understandings and legal definitions. Reconciling insights from the anthropology of kinship and migration studies, we outline how a new theorization of kinship could be suitable and helpful for the study of migration and mobility. First, we need a conceptualization that accounts for kinship’s flexible and dynamic character in changing settings. Second, it is imperative to pay close attention to the intricate ways kinship interrelates with state politics. Lastly, an analytical notion of kinship should take into account that kinship relations can also have negative implications for the persons concerned. Articles in this Special Issue are attentive to these caveats and approach through the prism of kinship different issues of migration and mobility.

尽管亲属关系早已被确立为移民研究的一个主题，但移民学者通常缺乏对亲属关系的分析性概念，并依赖于他们自己的以民族为中心的理解和法律定义。为了协调亲属和迁移人类学的见解，我们概述了一种新的亲属理论如何适合和有助于研究迁移和流动性。首先，我们需要一个概念化的概念，以说明亲属关系在更改设置中的灵活和动态特征。其次，当务之急是密切注意亲属关系与国家政治的复杂关系。最后，对亲属关系的分析应考虑到亲属关系也可能对有关人员产生负面影响。