We are in the process

The exploitation of hope and the political economy of waiting among the aspiring irregular migrants in Nepal

Bibliographic Data

ID4475673
AuthorsIna Zharkevich (0000-0001-7199-5074, University of Oxford, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume39
Issue5
Pages827-843
Publication date2021-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironment and Planning D Society and Space (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0263-7758 • E-ISSN: 1472-3433
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0263775820954877
OpenAlexW3083806368
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited32

We are in the process' was the phrase used by my Nepali interlocutors, soon-to-be migrants, who were waiting for their departure abroad for months on end. Based on conversations with irregular migrants, this paper explores the relationship between time and power, focusing on the political economy of waiting. It suggests that making people wait has become a key technique of governmentality used by the migration industry actors to control aspiring migrants' movement, exploit their desires and hopes, and extract surplus value, turning the migration industry in Nepal into a major system of profiteering. Forcing aspiring migrants to wait in a state of suspense (not boredom) for departures that are imminent but not certain, unscrupulous brokers create an affective state in suspended subjects, which allows those in power to prey on migrants' vulnerability and their hope for a better life, pushing many of the aspiring migrants into grave debt

Boredom · Business · Debt · Economics · Economy · Exploit · Governmentality · Nepali · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · State (computer science · Vulnerability (computing · Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration · Law · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Psychology

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