“Killing Time” : Migration, Race and Inventive Politics in the Netherlands

Drawing on critical migration scholarship and employing short-term fieldwork, this thesis investigates how undocumented queer migrants navigate the Dutch asylum system, focusing on their reinterpretation of waiting as a platform for activism and community-building. I explore how these migrants, often encouraged by NGOs to partake in vocational training for “productive waiting,” prioritize social bonds and political identities over conventional notions of productivity. Integral to this process are the kinship networks within refugee NGOs, serving as crucial sources of support and solidarity. Through innovative strategies such as kin-making and creating spaces of joy and pleasure, undocumented queer migrants reshape waiting as a means of resistance against temporal violence enforced by the migration management regime. By shedding light on migration, temporality, and queer activism, this study promotes approaches centered on the lived experiences and agency of marginalized communities.