Towards ‘a progressive sense of thick time’ and the future of geographical thinking

Abstract

In this commentary, I reflect on a ‘nascent temporal turn’ in geography and its future possibilities. I draw on and extend Kitchin's (2023) concept of ‘a progressive sense of time’ by juxtaposing it with other temporal frameworks such as ‘thick time’ (Datta, 2022) as well as practices of temporal politics such as ‘relational remembering’ (Hunfeld, 2022) and ‘anticipatory action’ (Anderson, 2010). I also draw upon the temporal politics of labour among the Gorkhas, an ethno-racial community in Darjeeling, a colonial hill station in India. I argue and show that the Gorkhas connect their resistance against external platforms such as ride-hailing and food delivery platforms with their longstanding subnationalist struggles for a separate state to reverse past colonial injustices and reconfigure their future. I reflect on how the temporal politics of labour among Gorkhas and the concept of a ‘progressive sense of thick time’ not only inform each other but also open up future pathways for geographical thinking and praxis.