Why do we build relationships within the academy? The concept of academic kinship, which frames scholarly relationships as “kin” in order to acknowledge their significance and the ethical commitments that sustain them, offers a valuable lens for understanding academic communities. Yet, for engaged scholars, ethical commitments alone are insufficient: political commitments are equally vital to nurturing and sustaining these relationships. This chapter thus aims to enrich existing conceptualizations of academic kinship by integrating political commitments as central to how and why engaged scholars build relationships within the academy and beyond. Drawing on the intertwined history of activism and academia in the United States, I advance solidarity as a political form of care and identify four motivations through which engaged scholars forge relationships: to imagine a better world; to create safety; to engage community; and to create sites of life. Taken together, these motivations illuminate not only the ideals that drive engaged scholarship, but the relational infrastructure it requires and produces. I argue that politicizing academic life is not a departure from scholarly tradition, but rather a recognition of what has always been true: academic life is inherently political. Political commitments and engaged scholarship are mutually reinforcing, and understanding this dynamic is essential for making sense of how scholars approach research, community engagement, and relationship-building. In this way, engaged scholars establish academic kinships grounded in shared commitments to collective liberation. Although “making kin” within the academy may not be easy, it is certainly worth the effort.