Temporalities of onward migration: long-term temporariness, cyclical labour arrangements and lived time in the city

Abstract

This chapter thus seeks to explore the temporal and spatial dimensions of Lisbon as an interlude in ongoing migration projects. It is based on fieldwork conducted in the ambit of a project on the socio-spatial integra tion of migrants living in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (McGarrigle, 2016). While the study was wider in its scope – including further neigh bourhood case studies and Portuguese-speaking post-colonial migrantion populations with historical links to the country´s history – in this chapter we focus on a sub-sample of more recent migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. It draws on narratives from 45 interviews on migration trajectories, the process of settling in the city, experiences of living in Lisbon and future migration aspirations. Interviews were conducted, following snowball sampling, between 2012 and 2014 in two areas important for South Asian migrants living and entering the city: the diverse inner-city neighbourhood of Mouraria and the suburban area of Odivelas, where contacts were made at a Sikh place of worship (Gurd wara) for Punjabi-born people (a relatively recently settled community in Lisbon).1 The sample is largely male (42) due to difficulties in interview ing females (three), who are fewer in number and less present in the public sphere. Time of arrival in Portugal ranges between 1996 and 2014; however the vast majority arrived from around 2006 onwards