"Critical anthropological theory must be a theory of relationality" (Eckert 2016). Julia Eckert highlights the need for relational theory to conceptualize and reflect on the asymmetrical interdependence that shapes power relations. Taking this paradigm as a starting point, I scrutinize the role of family ties in research settings. I focus on the family relationships of anthropologists in the field and beyond, and how they are reflected or obscured in academic literature. By reviewing a number of classic anthropological texts in kinship studies and contrasting them with recent publications in the field, I discuss developments in the discipline regarding self-reflexivity, with a particular focus on the relevance of familial ties and intersections such as gender, age, and marital status. Building on the growing literature on accompanied fieldwork, I discuss the importance of including the "we" rather than just the "I" in anthropological research. In doing so, I touch on methodological and ethical issues that are discussed in the literature or that need to be further explored.