Precarity, i.e. insecurity and uncertainty in life, is structural, situational and, for many, especially for migrants and racialised minorities, an enduring condition of life. Sociologists and social scientists have for long acknowledged that time, temporalities and rhythms are simultaneously central to the organisation of the society and everyday lives yet commonly taken for granted. Thinking about time and temporality requires the consideration of various levels and multitudes including for instance planetary, human and social movements, physiological rhythms, temporalities of life and death, of the environment and social collectivities and cultures (Adam 1995). Similarly, there has been a ‘temporal turn’ in migration scholarship (e.g. Cwerner 2001; Baas & Yeoh 2018) that has focused on the role of time and temporalities in migration controls (e.g. Griffiths et al., 2013; Tazzioli, 2018), on the production of temporal regimes (e.g. Maury 2021; Sanò et al. 2024) and borders (e.g. Maury 2022; Tazzioli 2018) and related experiences, such as waiting (e.g. Bendixsen & Eriksen 2018; Brun, 2015; Griffiths 2014; Jacobsen et al. 2021; Rotter 2016; Näre et al. 2024). For migration scholars time has become an important perspective for the analysis of power dynamics, governance structures, individual experiences and forms of agency and asymmetric relations (Sanò et al. 2024) as well as experiences of precarity.
Thus, precarity is not only material but also ideational, shaping not just economic and legal status but also a person’s ability to form a sense of belonging in the present. Complex versions of time are in operation as individuals attempt to establish belonging, with ideas about the future influencing their ability to do so in the present (May 2019). This suggests that it is essential to examine how threatened belonging, exclusion, and precarious futures intersect with economic and social vulnerability. The moral and emotional labour required to sustain social relationships across distance highlights how migration-related precarity is not only material but also deeply relational (Kara & Wrede 2022). There is a risk that scholars situate migrants in a temporality different from non-migrants, and as ‘out of time’ (Çağlar, 2016; Jacobsen et al. 2021, Ramsay 2019). This overlooks the ‘temporal rhythms of displacement’ and precarity induced by neoliberal restructurings and global capitalism shared by migrants and non-migrants alike (Ramsay 2019, 385).
This symposium brings together scholars who research different aspects of such precarities, paying attention to how they shape migrants’ and racialised minorities’ life circumstances and experiences. We invite papers that examine various aspects of precarity in migratory contexts related to, but not limited to, temporalities, labour, mobility and older age. Discussing the social ordering related to migration from a lifetime perspective rather than through administrative categories helps broaden the scope of migration studies by deepening the analysis of the social and political dynamics of time.
Symposium is organised by Tackling precarious and informal work in the Nordic countries project and Migration, care and ageing research group of the Centre of Excellence in Research on Ageing and Care.