The Times of Migration

Abstract

Time and migration have become fundamental themes in recent debates about modernity, globalisation, mobility and other contemporary issues. However, the relationship between the two has rarely figured as an explicit object of research. And yet, the analysis of the mutual implications between migration and time can be crucial for the understanding of several theoretical and practical problems associated with immigration, nation-states and multicultural societies. This article examines some of the complex temporal dimensions of the migration process. It reveals that time has often appeared as an important dimension in various accounts of immigration. On the basis of empirical research conducted with a particular immigrant group, namely Brazilians in London, the article suggests a number of conceptual tools for the analysis of the temporal aspects of migration. This conceptual framework is based on the development of the notions of the strange, heteronomous, asynchronous, remembered, collage, liminal, diasporic and nomadic times of migration. Finally, I briefly discuss the relationship between these times, the nation-states' responses to immigration, and the constitution of new forms of transnational social and cultural practices.