I am a sociologist, author and professor at Boston University. From my earliest writings on refugee families to a recent paper on immigrant mothers of children with disabilities, the study of family life has been a central theme in my career. I have approached this topic from an understanding of “the family” as a dynamic, contested and variable social institution that offers a powerful window into the interactions of larger social forces with human experiences of intimacy, love, care, trust, responsibility, dependence, interdependence and more.