The jus temporis that is argued for in this chapter aims to explicate the value of human time that is to be found in the finite, irreversible, and unstoppable character of human time. To make the value of human time explicit, "rootedness" and "integration" are conceptually distinguished. The latter signifying qualified time, the former mere lapse of human time. Rootedness simply signifies the entanglement of presence on a territory with the lapse of finite and irreversible human time. This conception of rootedness is at the heart of jus temporis and its implications are not limited to questions of citizenship acquisition. It is argued that the value of rootedness equally applies to waiting time in procedures, endless forms of temporariness, and unlawful residence. Concretely, it is argued that this jus temporis implies two elements. The first is a certain openness to the future, the possibility that a certain situation will not last forever. The second element is that there should be end-terms at work in law: procedures may not last forever, temporariness may not continue eternally, and there should be a moment when long-term unlawful residences can become lawful.

Chapter 2 employs the unique backstories of respondents interviewed for this book to begin to identify the twenty-first century features of Liberia’s political economy of belonging. It demonstrates that contemporary constructions of Liberian citizenship are part of a continuum—moving from passive, identity-based citizenship emphasising rights and entitlements (and based on birthplace, bloodline, and blackness) to more active, practice-based citizenship privileging duties and responsibilities—thereby transcending the legal definition enshrined in the country’s 1973 Aliens and Nationality Law and 1986 Constitution at least until mid-December 2019. While homeland Liberians embody citizenship practices that are domestically rooted and territorially confined to Liberia, diasporas and returnees engage in transnational pursuits that attempt to positively alter citizen-citizen and government-citizen relations abroad and within Liberia. The chapter also shows that relations between the Liberian government and diasporas have been strengthened or weakened depending on the levels of engagement of embassies and the immigration status of nationals abroad. Whereas the homeland state provided limited to no privileges/protections to nationals abroad in London, Washington, Freetown, and Accra, thus shirking its role in the political economy of belonging, Liberians abroad implied that they had more meaningfully fulfilled duties/obligations through their varied individual and collective efforts.

Chapter 4 examines the politicization of diaspora, that is, the ways in which successive Chinese states made claim upon Chinese overseas, seeking to mobilize overseas Chinese for the cause of the Chinese nation. Concomitant with these efforts was the emergence of a concept of the overseas Chinese, or the Chinese diaspora, as a coherent, ideally unified population. The chapter traces the role of Chinese reformers, revolutionaries, and students in politicizing Chinese in diaspora. It also shows how Chinese states sought to coopt or create such diasporic institutions as native-place associations, schools, and chambers of commerce. The chapter asserts that World War II, known to Chinese as the War of Resistance against Japan, was an important “diasporic moment” in which overseas Chinese channeled resources for the nation. The chapter culminates by introducing the work of the early twentieth-century Chinese sociologist Chen Da, showing how his study of emigrant communities in China sought to answer the question of how Chinese migration affected the Chinese nation.