This paper reports on the results of a commissioned scoping study that explored the extent of research available on time and community. Using a range of techniques designed to provide a rapid overview of this relatively indistinct research area, 885 studies were identified for inclusion in the study. Importantly, only 85 of these were identified as 'highly relevant' to the study's focus. An analysis of these articles revealed 11 core themes in work on time and community. Two cross-cutting themes that arose from the full range of included studies were then selected for further analysis. These were the role of time in inclusion and exclusion and 'critical temporalities', that is, work that develops critical temporal responses as part of addressing social inequalities. This broader analysis suggested three overarching concerns shared by both cross-cutting themes: past, present and future; continuity and discontinuity; and multiple rhythms of time use. After exploring how these concerns are addressed in the literature, the paper concludes with an outline of the gaps in research on time and community, as well as recommendations for further research.

While social geographers have convincingly made the case that space is not an external constant, but rather is produced through inter-relations, anthropologists and sociologists have done much to further an understanding of time, as itself constituted through social interaction and inter-relation. Their work suggests that time is not an apolitical background to social life, but shapes how we perceive and relate to others. For those interested in exploring issues such as identity, community and difference, this suggests that attending to how temporal discourses are utilised in relation to these issues is a key task. This article seeks to contribute to an expansion of the debate about time and sociality by contributing an analysis of a variety of ways in which Gloria Anzaldúa utilises temporal concepts as part of her work of rethinking social identity and community. In particular, I suggest that in contesting homogeneous identity, Anzaldúa also implicitly contests linear temporal frameworks. Further, in creating new frameworks for identity, I suggest the possibility of discerning an alternative approach to time in her work that places difference at the heart of simultaneity. I suggest that the interconnection between concepts of time and community within Anzaldúa's work indicates, more broadly, that attempts to rework understandings of relationality must be accompanied by reworked accounts of temporality.

Response to Reviewers: I have updated the manuscript removing the initial sections and referencing the original DRS paper. I have reframed the contribution in the abstract and highlights. I've also updated figure 1 and included a new image (now figure 2).

This is a repository copy of Empowerment as skill: the role of affect in building new subjectivities.