Waiting for Papers

Starting from the paradox that undocumented migrants—known as sans-papiers inFrench—often have pockets, backpacks, and drawers full of papers, this book explores the role of documentation in how migration is governed and experienced. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted over a ten-year period in Marseille, ithighlights the increasing securitization of migration, the production of migrant illegality, the expansion of detention and deportation practices, and the persistence of (post)colonial legacies. Contributing to the ‘temporal turn’ in migration studies, the book analyses the ‘temporal architectures’—the laws, built environments, services, technologies and documentary practices—to which undocumented migrants in Marseille recalibrate their present lives and future orientations. ‘Waiting for papers’ conditions life across the domains of work, family, and health. Despite the disciplinary effects of border policing and immigration law enforcement, undocumented migrants continue their struggles, pursuing their aspirations and desires to ‘move well’ in life.