Endurance Lost and Found: Unwanted Return and the Suspension of Time

Abstract

Involuntary returns of migrants from North Africa and Europe to West Africa have recently multiplied as part of an increased use of both deportations and Voluntary Returns by European states. This article explores male migrants’ temporalities after homecoming to Senegal in a context where, according to European states and the IOM, their time is ‘up’ and they should ‘reintegrate’. After an unwanted return to Senegal, migrants are sometimes exhausted and can no longer imagine leaving again. However, despite the suffering experienced and the time lost, many display endurance and hope for a new departure. In this context, they are not waiting on states or families to move forward. I argue that, in persevering, returnees resist the temporality imposed on them by European states in order to solve another temporal struggle – that of entering male adulthood. Ultimately, these observations question the ‘effectiveness’ of Voluntary Return programs as part of externalisation policies.