Abstract

This article investigates the timespace of temporary migrant workers hired under federal migration programs in Quebec, Canada. Through ethnographic study, it is argued that migrant workers respond to the productive needs of agriculture in Quebec because of the imposition of a specific temporality and spatiality that governs and normalizes their experience. This timespace reflects the utilitarian logic of the programs and is based on the representation of Canada as a domestic space in which migrant workers are permanent guests. This essay will also show the ways in which migrants can engage in social practices that challenge dominant representations when they cannot find meaning in the imposed timespace.