Spy, track and archive: The temporality of visibility in Eurosur and Jora

Abstract

This article focuses on the temporalities of visibility that are at stake in the functioning of two mapping monitoring softwares devised by Frontex: Eurosur and Jora. Through a study of border practices and security devices that builds on interviews and direct observation, the article shows that while these two systems elaborate on data and information collected in real time, they work as archives for generating future migration risk scenarios and not for border surveillance purposes. After illustrating in detail the functioning and modes of visualization of Jora and Eurosur, the article takes into account how police officers, Frontex and navies use these devices, and how risk analyses are produced. The article demonstrates that these monitoring mapping devices are sustained by coeval temporalities: the detection of migrants ‘on the spot’ coexists with both a future-oriented temporality and an archival one. The second part of the article analyses the impact that mapping monitoring softwares have on migrant journeys and migrant lives. The article concludes by bringing attention to the ways in which migrants in part strategically appropriate and twist the temporality of security and the field of visibility enacted by these devices.