Skip to main content

ETHNOS_APP

Home • Search • Journals • List 0

Time and the other in crisis

How anthropology makes its displaced object

Bibliographic Data

ID2402011
AuthorsG Ramsay (0000-0001-8323-0626, University of Delaware, USA; Macquarie University, Australia, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume20
Issue4
Pages385-413
Publication date2020-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnthropological Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1463-4996 • E-ISSN: 1741-2641
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1463499619840464
OpenAlexW2944010594
LanguageEN
Citations received122
References cited104

Displacement is typically approached in anthropology as an exceptional experience that is associated with refugees and forced migration. Recent representations of a migration 'crisis' have reinforced the exceptionality attached to displacement. Drawing on research conducted with people in both refugee and non-refugee contexts, in this article I put forward a more expansive theorisation of displacement as a sense of temporal dispossession. Additionally, I describe how, by characterising refugees and other migrants as people who occupy a temporality that is distinguished by their migration status, anthropology denies coevalness with and between migrants and non-migrants and thereby reinforces the very logics of otherness that we might otherwise seek to critique. Recognising the shared temporal rhythms of displacement, and how these manifest broadly as the effects of global capitalism and neoliberal restructurings, is one way through which anthropologists can strengthen our analyses and critiques of bordering structures. We must firmly situate refugees and migrants within these shared rhythms of displacement, rather than exceptionalise them through the lens of 'crisis

Capitalism · Displaced person · Displacement (psychology · Epistemology · Expansive · Forced migration · Political science · Politics · Precarity · Psychoanalysis · Refugee · Refugee crisis · Sociology · Temporality · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · Gender Studies · Law · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Philosophy · Psychology

  • Displaced lives in the Americas. A review of three cross-border ethnographies

    Open Access•N Winters•European Review of Latin American…•2020

  • Preface

    Open Access•A Lems, Jelena Tošić•Suomen Antropologi Journal of the…•2020

  • Lafia T.

    Open Access•Silvia Wojczewski•Afrodiasporic Identities in Germany•2024

  • Conclusion

    Open Access•Silvia Wojczewski•Afrodiasporic Identities in Germany•2024

  • Life storytelling as Black and feminist political practice

    Open Access•Silvia Wojczewski•Afrodiasporic Identities in Germany•2024

  • Family affairs – an intergenerational approach to diaspora

    Open Access•Silvia Wojczewski•Afrodiasporic Identities in Germany•2024

  • Aminata Camara

    Open Access•Silvia Wojczewski•Afrodiasporic Identities in Germany•2024

  • A history of African diaspora in Germany

    Open Access•Silvia Wojczewski•Afrodiasporic Identities in Germany•2024

  • Introduction

    Open Access•Silvia Wojczewski•Afrodiasporic Identities in Germany•2024

  • Epilogue

    Open Access•Silvia Wojczewski•Afrodiasporic Identities in Germany•2024

  • Conclusion to Part II

    Open Access•Silvia Wojczewski•Afrodiasporic Identities in Germany•2024

  • Growing up in Frankfurt

    Open Access•Silvia Wojczewski•Afrodiasporic Identities in Germany•2024

  • Oxana Chi and Layla Zami

    Open Access•Silvia Wojczewski•Afrodiasporic Identities in Germany•2024

  • Conclusion to Part III

    Open Access•Silvia Wojczewski•Afrodiasporic Identities in Germany•2024

  • Racism and its intersection with class and gender

    Open Access•Silvia Wojczewski•Afrodiasporic Identities in Germany•2024

  • Maya B.

    Open Access•Silvia Wojczewski•Afrodiasporic Identities in Germany•2024

  • Conclusion to Part I

    Open Access•Silvia Wojczewski•Afrodiasporic Identities in Germany•2024

  • Countdown

    Open Access•T Sommerfelt, Turner•Population Space and Place•2026

  • Temporary Lives

    Open Access•Kira Kosnick•Borders in Globalization Review•2024

  • The role of time for refugees’ work

    Open Access•Olga Kostoula, Nicole Kronberger•Humanities and Social Sciences…•2025

  • Mapping Brussels' Displaced Housing Ecosystem

    Open Access•Tasneem Nagi, Luce Beeckmans et al.•Urban Planning•2024

  • Temporally displaced and dispossessed

    Çetin Çelik•Journal of Vocational Education…•2026

  • ‘Plenty of Time, Out of Time’. Plurality of Timing in the Italian Asylum Reception System. Outcomes from the Field

    Open Access•Silvia Pitzali, Silvia Pitzalis•Journal of International…•2024

  • Waiting and the Temporalities of Irregular Migration

    Open Access•Christine M Jacobsen, Christine Jacobsen et al.•Waiting and the Temporalities of…•2020

  • Maniau, kad išvykstu dviem savaitėms“

    Open Access•Kristina Šliavaitė•Filosofija. Sociologija•2024

  • Do granic” – rozważania o podmiocie, nie-miejscu i niepewności

    Open Access•ławomir Sikora•Konteksty Polska Sztuka Ludowa•2026

  • Into the unknown

    Ignacio Fradejas-García, Kristín Loftsdóttir•Mobilities•2026

  • Longing for Something Better

    Open Access•Ville Ramon Hartonen, Saara Koikkalainen•Journal of International…•2026

  • Imperial Abandonment

    Helena Zeweri•Current Anthropology•2026

  • Vulnerable homes on the move

    Open Access•Bonfanti, Shu-Hua Chen et al.•Focaal•2022

  • The Other Side of the Border

    Open Access•Veronica Ferreri•Conflict and Society•2023

  • “Unsure whether it feels like home anymore”

    Open Access•Gregory Gan•Ethnography•2025

  • “All we need is a home”

    Open Access•A Massa•Focaal•2022

  • In search of legal stability

    Open Access•M Suerbaum•Ethnic and Racial Studies•2022

  • “Mothering practices in times of legal precarity

    M Suerbaum, Laurie Lijnders•Ethnic and Racial Studies•2023

  • Reimagining Nativeness from a Migrant Anthropologist’s Positionality

    Yura Hyeon•Canberra Anthropology•2024

  • Displacement at seascapes

    Fazila Bhimji, Allwell Uwazuruike et al.•Identities•2023

  • Legal precarity, migrant mothering and the space of hesitation in Paris

    Open Access•Soukaina Chakkour, Anouk De Koning•Ethnic and Racial Studies•2023

  • Towards inclusive urban transitions

    Anastasia Zisakou, Blanca Callén et al.•Local Environment•2026

  • Anti-sedentarism and the anthropology of forced migration

    Open Access•Nicolas Parent•Suomen Antropologi Journal of the…•2022

  • Existential Kinetics of Movement and Stasis

    Open Access•A Lems•Suomen Antropologi Journal of the…•2020

  • Transgender migration and displacement

    Shermeen Bano•Culture Health & Sexuality•2024

  • Closeted Labor

    Elif Sarı•Current Anthropology•2026

  • The eviction room

    Open Access•Diana Thomaz•Environment and Planning C…•2024

  • Phenomenology of Exclusion

    Open Access•A Lems•Social Inclusion•2020

  • Continual arrival and the longue durée

    Open Access•N Constable•Migration Studies•2021

  • Five-Star Humanitarianism? Navigating Gulf Aid in the Aftermath of the Syrian Refugee Crisis in Jordan

    Open Access•H L Murre-van den Berg•Middle East Critique•2025

  • Life Is Tight Here’

    Open Access•Morgen A Chalmiers•Anthropology of the Middle East•2021

  • Coping in Precarity

    Open Access•Dotsey, Audrey Lumley-Sapanski•Population Space and Place•2026

  • Forced displacement in Ukraine

    Open Access•Oleksandra Tarkhanova, Daryna Pyrogova•European Societies•2023

  • When the World Turns Upside Down, Live Like a Bat!’ Idioms of Suffering, Coping, and Resilience Among Elderly Female Zande Refugees in Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement, Uganda (2019–20)

    Open Access•Isaac Waanzi Hillary, Bruno Braak•Civil Wars•2022

  • Temporal dispossession through migration bureaucracy

    Open Access•Sarah Philipson Isaac•European Journal of Social Work•2022

  • Futures in post-displacement Italy

    E Bond, Stavroula Pipyrou•Journal of Modern Italian Studies•2023

  • The prism of new mobilities. The mobility trajectories of refugees and asylum seekers outside the Italian reception system

    F Della Puppa, Giuliana Sanò•Journal of Modern Italian Studies•2021

  • Waste of Time Is Worse Than Death

    Hanna Berg•Comparative Studies of South Asia…•2025

  • Out of sync

    Open Access•Ditte Krogh Shapiro, K S Kohl et al.•Journal of Refugee Studies•2024

  • Living in Permanent Temporariness

    Open Access•Carola Tize•Journal of Refugee Studies•2019

  • Accumulated Homelessness

    Open Access•M Belloni, A Massa•Journal of Refugee Studies•2021

  • Temporalnost humanitarne skrbi

    Open Access•Romana Pozniak•Narodna umjetnost•2023

  • Living, that’s what we do’

    Open Access•Emre Yazıcı, Edanur Yazici•Leisure Studies•2025

  • Ceuta

    Open Access•Juan Pablo Aris Escarcena•Antipode•2022

  • Aligning migrant–plant temporalities

    Open Access•Hilal Alkan, Simay Çetin•Urban Studies•2026

  • Embodying legal precarity

    Open Access•M Suerbaum•International Migration•2021

  • The Migration–Development Nexus Revisited

    Open Access•Zeynep Kaşlı, Nanneke Winters•Development and Change•2025

  • Rohingya refugees in Klang Valley, Malaysia

    Aslam Abd Jalil•Mobilities•2026

  • Toward ‘multiplied displacement’

    Open Access•René Kreichauf, Loretta Lees•Progress in Human Geography•2026

  • Crisis that spans a lifetime (and beyond)

    Open Access•M Suerbaum•History and Anthropology•2026

  • There is No Fixed time’

    Open Access•Sophie Mylan•Medical Anthropology•2026

  • Navigating tourism

    Open Access•Danaé Leitenberg•Mobilities•2025

  • Navigating citizenship and motherhood in and beyond Berlin

    Open Access•M Suerbaum•Citizenship Studies•2022

  • The business of anthropology and the European refugee regime

    Open Access•Heath Cabot•American Ethnologist•2019

  • A ‘temporal turn’? Proposing time as method

    Open Access•M Griffiths•New Community•2026

  • Researching Border Violence in an Indefensible Europe

    Open Access•A Lindberg•Geopolitics•2026

  • Rethinking refugee surplus populations

    Shae Frydenlund•New Political Economy•2026

  • If You Wanna Go Fast You Go Alone, If You Wanna Go Far You Go Together

    Open Access•Anna Baral, Åsa Trulsson•Young•2025

  • Climate change adaptation as social navigation

    Open Access•Paul Stacey, Mikkel Funder et al.•Geoforum•2025

  • Migration and the racialised politics of desire

    Open Access•Martina Tazzioli•Politics•2025

  • Introduzione

    Open Access•Giuliana Sanò, Isabel D Cannell et al.•Archivio antropologico mediterraneo•2025

  • Toward Refugee Inclusion in Livelihood Policies

    Danielle Wofford, James Shraiky et al.•Journal of Immigrant & Refugee…•2025

  • Migration Control and Access to Welfare

    Open Access•Marry-Anne Karlsen•Migration Control and Access to…•2021

  • Afrodiasporic Identities in Germany

    Open Access•Silvia Wojczewski•Afrodiasporic Identities in Germany•2024

  • A stage of limbo

    Open Access•Ville R Hartonen, Pertti Väisänen et al.•Applied Psychology•2021

  • Infrastructural clashes

    Open Access•Martina Tazzioli•Political Geography•2024

  • Time and mobility/immobility

    Open Access•Roza Tsagarousianou•Mobilities•2023

  • The promised futures of military protection

    Emily Clifford, Hannah K Richards•Critical Studies on Security•2025

  • Who Feels Safe? Uncertain Futures and Enduring Aspirations in Italy

    Daniela Giudici•Geopolitics•2024

  • Assembling traces of border violence. Counter-mapping as counter-archiving

    Open Access•M Tazzioli•Environment and Planning D…•2025

  • Condición liminal de migrantes en Tapachula, Chiapas, México

    Open Access•Luis Alfredo Arriola Vega, Enrique Coraza De Los Santos•Si Somos Americanos•2024

  • The problem of the future in the spacetime of resettlement

    Open Access•Anna Secor, Anna J Secor et al.•Environment and Planning D…•2022

  • Migrations through Law, Bureaucracy and Kin

    M Suerbaum, Sophie Richter-Devroe•Citizenship Studies•2022

  • Digitally Mobile Swedes and Their Experiences

    Open Access•Lisa Åkesson•Global Networks•2025

  • Entrepreneurship-As-Struggle

    Open Access•Grace Mueller, Julia Qermezi Huang et al.•Economic Anthropology•2025

  • Refugee-Ness and Exploitation

    Shae Frydenlund•Geopolitics•2023

  • Comunidades en espera

    Open Access•Raúl H Contreras Román•Antípoda Revista de Antropología…•2021

  • Shades of protracted displacement

    Open Access•Oleksandra Tarkhanova•New Community•2023

  • Regeneration, predatory inclusion, and migrant experiences in declining rural areas in Spain and Germany

    Iris Egea, René Kreichauf•New Community•2025

  • Here for Now

    Open Access•K Sakti, Victoria K Sakti•Journal of Intercultural Studies•2022

  • Refuge, Return, Repeat

    Open Access•J L Diab, Yara El-Zakka•Journal of International…•2025

  • Malicious Game

    Open Access•Zachary Sheldon•Cultural Anthropology•2023

  • Aspired communities

    Open Access•Pilvi Posio•Anthropological Theory•2024

  • Cruel Optimism

    Lauren Berlant•Cruel Optimism•2011

  • Life Lived in Relief

    Ilana Feldman•Life Lived in Relief•2018

  • Being-Here

    A Lems•Being-Here•2018

  • Refugees and Exile

    Liisa H Malkki•Annual Review of Anthropology•1995

  • Writing Culture

    K Fortun, James Clifford et al.•Writing Culture•1986

  • A Sense for the Other

    Marc Augé•A Sense for the Other•1998

  • Navigating Austerity

    L Bear•Navigating Austerity: Currents of…•2020

  • Anti-Crisis

    Open Access•J Roitman•Anti-Crisis•2013

  • 'Illegal' Traveller

    Open Access•Khosravi, Shahram Khosravi•'Illegal' Traveller•2010

  • Recapturing anthropology

    Richard Gabriel Fox•Recapturing anthropology•1991

  • The Forest of Symbols

    Victor Turner, Victor Witter Turner•The Forest of Symbols•1970

  • Modernity at large

    Arjun Appadurai•Modernity at large•1996

  • Time and the Other

    Johannes Fabian, Matti Bunzl•Time and the Other•2014

  • Cruel Optimism

    Lauren Berlant, Lauren Gail Berlant•Cruel Optimism•2011

  • Altogether Elsewhere

    Theodore Ziolkowski, Marc Robinson•World Literature Today•1995

  • Capital

    Open Access•Karl Marx•On Violence•2020

  • Driving after Class

    Rachel Heiman•Driving after Class•2019

  • Precarious Lives

    Khosravi, Shahram Khosravi•Precarious Lives•2017

  • Anthropological Locations

    Akhil Gupta, James Ferguson•Anthropological Locations•2023

  • Impossible Refuge

    G Ramsay•Impossible Refuge•2017

  • Migration, Temporality, and Capitalism

    Open Access•Pauline Gardiner Barber, Winnie Lem•Migration, Temporality, and…•2018

  • Making Refuge

    Catherine Besteman•Making Refuge•2016

  • Precarious Japan

    Open Access•Anne Allison•Precarious Japan•2013

  • Spaces of Global Capitalism

    D C Harvey, David Harvey et al.•Spaces of global capitalism•2006

  • Beyond “Culture”

    Open Access•Akhil Gupta, James Ferguson•Cultural Anthropology•1992

  • “And When I Become a Man”

    Open Access•Katarzyna Grabska, Martha Fanjoy•Social Analysis•2015

  • The price of impact

    Open Access•R Andersson•Social Anthropology•2017

  • Living an Uncertain Future

    Open Access•N El-Shaarawi•Social Analysis•2015

  • Governing through Uncertainty

    Open Access•Kristen Sarah Biehl•Social Analysis•2015

  • Flight and Exile—Uncertainty in the Context of Conflict-Induced Displacement

    Open Access•Cindy Horst, Katarzyna Grabska•Social Analysis•2015

  • Repossession

    Open Access•Eleanor Ryan-Saha•Social Analysis•2015

  • Homo Sacer

    Giorgio Agamben•Homo Sacer•2020

  • Active Waiting and Changing Hopes

    Open Access•Cathrine Brun•Social Analysis•2015

  • The New Imperialism

    David Harvey, David C Harvey•The new imperialism•2003

  • A dying village

    Open Access•H H Askland•The Extractive Industries and…•2018

  • Zombie trouble

    Open Access•J Stratton•European Journal of Cultural…•2011

  • Precarity in Exile

    Open Access•Maja Janmyr•Refugee Survey Quarterly•2016

  • What Is a Refugee Camp? Explorations of the Limits and Effects of the Camp

    Turner, Simon Turner et al.•Journal of Refugee Studies•2015

  • Evicted. Poverty and profit in the American city

    Richard Harris•Housing Studies•2016

  • Critique and Crisis

    T C W Blanning•German History•1989

  • Crisis, What Crisis? Immigrants, Refugees, and Invisible Struggles

    Open Access•Anna Carastathis, Aila Spathopoulou et al.•Refuge Canada s Journal on Refuge•2018

  • In Search of Respect

    Sudhir Venkatesh, Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh et al.•Contemporary Sociology A Journal…•1996

  • The Social Life of Things

    Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, A Appadurai•Contemporary Sociology A Journal…•1988

  • Ethnographies of Austerity

    Open Access•D M Knight, Charles William Stewart et al.•History and Anthropology•2016

  • The “migrant crisis” as racial crisis

    N De Genova•Ethnic and Racial Studies•2018

  • Time and the Migrant Other

    Open Access•Ruben Andersson•American Anthropologist•2014

  • National Geographic

    Open Access•Liisa Malkki, Liisa H Malkki•Cultural Anthropology•1992

  • Phenomenology of Perception

    Maurice Merleau-Ponty•Phenomenology of Perception•2002

  • Brief History of Neoliberalism

    Desley J Harvey, David Harvey et al.•BRIEF HISTORY OF NEOLIBERALISM.•2005

  • Incomplete Inclusion

    Open Access•Leisy J Abrego, Sarah M Lakhani•Law & Policy•2015

  • The first climate refugees? Contesting global narratives of climate change in Tuvalu

    Open Access•Carol Farbotko, Heather Lazrus•Global Environmental Change•2011

  • Migrants and City-MakingDispossession, Displacement, and Urban Regeneration

    Ayşe Çaglar, N Glick Schiller•Migrants and City-Making•2018

  • Treading water

    Open Access•Nicolas Lainez•Time & Society•2019

  • Waiting in the asylum determination process

    Open Access•Rebecca Rotter•Time & Society•2016

  • Deportation Studies

    B Coutin, Susan Bibler Coutin•New Community•2015

  • Out of Time

    M Griffiths, Melanie B E Griffiths•New Community•2014

  • Still 'migrants' after all those years

    Ayşe Çaglar•New Community•2016

  • Deportation, Anxiety, Justice

    H Drotbohm, Ines Hasselberg•New Community•2015

  • Regimes of Mobility Across the Globe

    Nina Glick Schiller, Salazar Noel B et al.•New Community•2013

  • Ordinary Refugees

    Anne Allison•Anthropological Quarterly•2012

  • Toward the anthropology of white nationalist postracialism

    Open Access•Jeff Maskovsky•Hau Journal of Ethnographic Theory•2017

  • Siting Culture

    Kirsten Hastrup, Karen Fog Olwig•Siting Culture•2005

  • Humanitarian Reason

    D Fassin•Humanitarian Reason•2011

  • Purity and Exile

    Liisa H Malkki•Purity and exile•1995

  • The Land of Open Graves

    Jason De León•Land of Open Graves•2019

  • Theorising Transnational Migration in Our Times

    Open Access•N Glick Schiller•Nordic Journal of Migration…•2018

  • Speechless Emissaries

    Open Access•Liisa H Malkki•Cultural Anthropology•1996

  • Prophecy and the near future

    Open Access•Jane I Guyer•American Ethnologist•2007

  • Grounding displacement

    Open Access•Helen F Siu•American Ethnologist•2007

  • Why Katrina's Victims Aren't Refugees

    Open Access•Adeline Masquelier•American Anthropologist•2006

  • The Precarious Present

    Open Access•K M Millar•Cultural Anthropology•2014

  • Philiaandphagia

    Open Access•Heath Cabot•Hau Journal of Ethnographic Theory•2017

  • Incommensurable Futures and Displaced Lives

    G Ramsay•Public Culture•2017

  • In the Lowly Nowherevilles of Liquid Modernity

    Open Access•Zygmunt Bauman•Ethnography•2002

  • Between War and City

    Open Access•Michel Agier•Ethnography•2002

  • Motion squared

    Open Access•H Vigh•Anthropological Theory•2009

  • Rethinking time's arrow

    Open Access•M Hodges•Anthropological Theory•2008

  • The other revisited

    Open Access•Johannes Fabian•Anthropological Theory•2006

  • Migrant Narratives and Ethnographic Tropes

    Open Access•B Coutin, Susan Bibler Coutin et al.•Journal of Contemporary Ethnography•2016

  • Time as Technique

    L Bear•Annual Review of Anthropology•2016

  • Historicity and Anthropology

    Charles William Stewart, Charles Stewart•Annual Review of Anthropology•2016

  • Trump's election and the "white working class"

    Open Access•Christine J Walley•American Ethnologist•2017

  • État de siège

    Open Access•G Hage•American Ethnologist•2016

  • Immobilizing mobility

    Open Access•Annastiina Kallius, D Monterescu et al.•American Ethnologist•2016

  • Representing the "European refugee crisis" in Germany and beyond

    Open Access•M Holme, Seth M Holme et al.•American Ethnologist•2016

  • Immanent anthropology

    Open Access•M Hodges•Journal of the Royal Anthropologica…•2014

  • Doubt, conflict, mediation

    Open Access•L Bear•Journal of the Royal Anthropologica…•2014

  • Beyond the suffering subject

    Open Access•J Robbins•Journal of the Royal Anthropologica…•2013

  • The Crisis in Crisis

    Joseph Masco•Current Anthropology•2017

  • Presence and Representation

    Johannes Fabian•Critical Inquiry•1990

  • Situating identities

    N Glick Schiller•Identities•2012

  • There is no Future in Humanitarianism

    Cathrine Brun•History and Anthropology•2016

  • Reaction, Experimentation, and Refusal

    Ilana Feldman•History and Anthropology•2016

  • Towards a new politics of migration

    B Anderson•Ethnic and Racial Studies•2017

  • Placing Displacement

    A Lems•Ethnos•2016

  • Crisis and Chronicity

    H Vigh•Ethnos•2008

Unique citing works122
Citations per year17,43
Citation span2019 - 2026 (8)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedYes
Citation typesNeutral: 121
Ethnos_APP • Open Source Project • MIT License • Frontend v2.0.0 • Privacy and Cookies • API Documentation: api.ethnos.app/docs • API Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17049435 • Frontend Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17050053 • cruz.rio.br • Expectantes Misericordiae