Expectation and Hope: Experiences of Time by Ecuadorian Returnees Envisioning a ‘Life Worth Living’

This article contributes to anthropological reflections on ‘hope’ and ‘expectation’ by analysing the experiences of time of two Ecuadorian migrants who returned to their homeland from Spain and envision their future lives differently. Building on the migrants’ trajectories and reasonings, we propose a clearer conceptual delineation of the notions of hope and expectation than the ones that currently prevail in anthropology. We do so by showing their interrelations and articulations, particularly in one’s own experience (constituted by moments of expectation and moments of hope), and by drawing attention to our interlocutors’ temporalisation. As a future-orientation, ‘hope’ is directed toward change and constitutes an envisioning more open and creative than ‘expectation’, which builds on continuity and stability. The notion of ‘duration’ provides insight into the ways our interlocutors compartmentalise their time experience, constituting a sense of past-ness, present-ness, and future-ness, which impacts their future imaginings as ‘hoping’ versus ‘expecting’.