ABSTRACT
Control over time is a recurrent theme in ethnographies of illegalised migration and it is related to the oppressive mechanisms of the migration/border regime. But what happens when this temporal control seems lost and the rhythm at the border is reshaped? Celebrated as a triumph of mobility, the ‘flow’ of the border-crossers who travelled across Europe in 2015 is often seen as a contestation of the established temporalities of the border. In this chapter I shed light on the acceleration of time and its interplay with power. I focus on the encounters between the border-crossers, the police officers and various border brokers in the Moria camp in Lesvos and on how these diverse actors worked within the accelerated rhythm of the border. As I argue, the image of fast-moving border-crossers does not make the picture of the border any less dystopic, violent and dehumanizing. Acceleration does not necessarily equate with emancipation or resistance. In fact, following the pace of this frenzied time could put the border-crossers in a precarious state like waiting. Highly perceptive to the historical circumstances, the border-crossers were chasing time against a migration/border regime that was under reconfiguration but still exerted its violence and brutality.
