Legal temporalities, racial time, and memory politics
Political mobilisation and agency among Afrodescendant Belgians and undocumented Congolese women
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24226256 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Taïbou Sal (Katholic University of Leuven (KUL)) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-19 |
| Publication date | 2026-09-22 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | New Community (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0047-9586 • E-ISSN: 1469-9451 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/1369183x.2026.2732342 |
| OpenAlex | W7214035042 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 34 |
Memory is central to postcolonial critique and diasporic identity; however, the nexus of memory politics, legal status, and temporal experience remains underexplored. Therefore, this article outlines how memory is both narratively contested and temporally regulated within the racialised context of contemporary Belgium. Interviews and participant observation with ten undocumented Congolese women and ten Afrodescendant activists with Belgian citizenship emphasises how individuals, within the same racial category, experience time differently according to legal status. Specific racialised experiences and legal temporalities shaped each group’s political repertoires, mobilisations, and distinct political agencies and priorities. These insights enrich Mills’ ‘chronopolitics of racial time’ by illustrating how race, class, and legal identity jointly shape the varying political priorities of Black and Afrodescendant engagement with Belgium’s colonial past.
chronopolitics · colonial memory · diasporic identity · legal temporality · memory politics · political agency · Political mobilization · Afro-Latin American Studies · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Race, History, and American Society
A New Wave of Anti-Racism in Europe?
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Discourses of Memory and Refugees
Memory in Culture
European Others
Telling Stories
Birth of biopolitics
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Muséologie et colonialité du pouvoir
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Beyond multidirectional memory
Immigration
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Routledge Handbook of Memory Activism
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Multidirectional Memory
Time and mobility/immobility
Syrians' experiences of waiting and temporality in Turkey
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The chronopolitics of racial time
Out of Time
The Times of Migration
Refugee and Diaspora Memories
Histoire orale à Matonge (Bruxelles)
Colonial Aphasia
| Highly cited | No |
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