A Companion to Border Studies

In the first chapter, Thomas M. Wilson and Hastings Donnan provide a timely introduction to “Borders and Border Studies”. They claim that: “If border studies are to be more than a collection of fascinating case studies, or more than a subfield within the parent disciplines of its practitioners, they must address a set of unified thematic, conceptual and theoretical concerns and questions.” (p. 14).

The first part of this companion is dedicated to “Sovereignty, Territory and Governance”. Brendan O'Leary starts with a contribution on “Partition”. He distinguishes different types of partition and provides an input on the explanation, the politics, and the justifications of partition. The arguments of antipartitionists are headlined as well. Adressing the US–Mexico Border, Josiah McC. Heyman discusses the idea of “border culture” in “Culture Theory and the US–Mexico Border”. He offers a basic typology of three culture-forming processes and looks at the historical construction of “Mexico” and the “United States”, as well as the production of identities and cultures in these borderlands. Anthony I. Asiwaju examines “The African Union Border Programme in European Comparative Perspective”. James Wesley Scott critically discusses “European Politics of Borders, Border Symbolism and Cross-Border Cooperation”. He provides an overview of the categories of bordering that have been applied in European border research. Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly dedicates his contribution to “Securing Borders in Europe and North America”. John Borneman discusses “Border Regimes, the Circulation of Violence and the Neo-authoritarian Turn” with a focus on the new European border regime and security.

In the second part, the authors elaborate on the role of borders of “States, Nations and Empires”. Focusing on “capitalisms contradictory unity or partial and contested separation of ‘politics/economics’ ” (p. 153), James Anderson examines “Borders in the New Imperialism”. Liam O'Dowd states in his contribution entitled “Contested States, Frontiers and Cities” that contested national state borders have to be analyzed with reference to two other territorial entities, namely empires and cities. Allan K. McDougall and Lisa Philips dedicate their contribution “The State, Hegemony and the Historical British-US Border“ to the instrumental potential of borders. In “Nations, Nationalism and ‘Borderization’ ” in the Southern Cone”, Alejandro Grimson uses the concept of ”borderization” to analyze the state- and nation-building period in the Southern Cone. Cathal McCall focuses “Debordering and Rebordering the United Kingdom”. Olivier Thomas Kramsch develops the potential “ ‘Swarming’ at the Frontiers of France, 1870–1885”. By focusing on the Isreal-West Bank border, David Newman elaborates on “Borders and Conflict Resolution”.

The third part is dedicated to “Security, Order and Disorder”. By looking at the border between (Soviet) Georgia and Turkey, Mathijs Pelkmans aims to understand “Chaos and Order along the (Former) Iron Curtain”. In “Border Security as Late-Capitalist ‘Fix’ ”, Brenda Chalfin investigates the economic means of border securitization as well as their political ramifications. Dan Rabinowitz is looking at the Israeli preoccupation with its borders and analyses the sociocultural load associated with stability, boundaries and security (“Identity, the State and Borderline Disorder”). Timothy Raeymaekers deploys the concept of political scale to analyze the “African Boundaries and the New Capitalist Frontier”. Jonathan Goodhand’s contribution is dedicated to “Bandits, Borderlands and Opium Wars in Afghanistan”. By looking at biosecurity and quarantine, Alan Smart and Josephine Smart attempt to bring animals, plants and microbes back in the study of borders (“Biosecurity, Quarantine and Life across the Border”). In “Permeabilities, Ecology and Geopolitical Boundaries”, Hilary Cunningham sets political, cultural, and economic aspects of borders in an ecological context and explores bordering and environment.

Part four is devoted to “Displacement, Emplacement and Mobility”. In her contribution on “Borders and the Rhythms of Displacement, Emplacement and Mobility”, Pamela Ballinger takes up the spatial and temporal aspects experienced by displaced/emplaced persons. Henk van Houtum dedicates his chapter to “Remapping Borders”. He intends to further the theorization of b/ordering processes by studying the visual representation in the mapping of migration. By highlighting the growth of “nonborder landscapes of US immigration control”, Mathew Coleman invites the reader to rethink methodological nationalism (“From Border Policing to Internal Immigration Control in the United States”). Based on the case of the Riau Islands, Michele Ford and Lenore Lyons dedicate their contribution “Labor Migration, Trafficking and Border Controls” to the nexus between human trafficking, labor migration and people smuggling. Alison Mountz and Nancy Hiemstra identify three strategies that are employed by states in order to relocate their borders offshore (“Spatial Strategies for Rebordering Human Migration at Sea”). In “ ‘B/ordering’ and Biopolitics in Central Asia”, Nick Megoran provides a theoretical reflection on the shortcomings of boundary studies before exemplifying his argument with a biography of the Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan boundary. Nicholas De Genova interrogates the discursive construction of migrant “illegality” in “Border, Scene and Obscene”.

Part five is dedicated to “Space, Performance and Practice”. David B. Coplan elaborates on the “Border Show Business and Performing States” and emphasizes the need to review the types of these performances at borders. Robert J. Kaiser's contribution is devoted to “Performativity and the Eventfulness of Bordering Practices”. In “Reconceptualizing the Space of the Mexico–US Borderline”, Robert R. Alvarez, Jr invites the reader to rethink the spatial imaginary of the border by including a deep and multilayered concept of bridges in the analysis. Paul Nugent maps out some of the variations of border towns through comparisons drawn from North America, Europe and Africa (“Border Towns and Cities in Comparative Perspective”). In “A Sense of Border”, Sarah Green highlights the multiplicity and parallel existence of worlds, and thus also of border ontologies.

Content

• Borders and Border StudiesThomas M. Wilson et Hastings Donnan
• Part I Sovereignty, Territory and Governance
  • PartitionBrendan O’Leary
  • Culture Theory and the US–Mexico Border Josiah McC. Heyman
  • The African Union Border Programme in European Comparative Perspective Anthony I. Asiwaju
  • European Politics of Borders, Border Symbolism and Cross-Border CooperationJames Wesley Scott
  • Securing Borders in Europe and North AmericaEmmanuel Brunet-Jailly
  • Border Regimes, the Circulation of Violence and the Neo-authoritarian Turn John Borneman
• Part II States, Nations and Empires
  • Borders in the New Imperialism James Anderson
  • Contested States, Frontiers and CitiesLiam O’Dowd
  • The State, Hegemony and the Historical British-US BorderAllan K. Mc Dougall et Lisa Philips
  • Nations, Nationalism and ”Borderization” in the Southern Cone Alejandro Grimson
  • Debordering and Rebordering the United KingdomCathal McCall
  • “Swarming” at the Frontiers of France, 1870–1885 Olivier Thomas Kramsch
  • Borders and Conflict Resolution David Newman
• Part III Security, Order and Disorder
  • Chaos and Order along the (Former) Iron Curtain Mathijs Pelkmans
  • Border Security as Late-Capitalist “Fix” Brenda Chalfin
  • Identity, the State and Borderline DisorderDan Rabinowitz
  • African Boundaries and the New Capitalist Frontier Timothy Raeymaekers
  • Bandits, Borderlands and Opium Wars in AfghanistanJonathan Goodhand
  • Biosecurity, Quarantine and Life across the Border Alan Smart et Josephine Smart
  • Permeabilities, Ecology and Geopolitical Boundaries Hilary Cunningham
• Part IV Displacement, Emplacement and Mobility
  • Borders and the Rhythms of Displacement, Emplacement and MobilityPamela Ballinger
  • Remapping Borders Henk van Houtum
  • From Border Policing to Internal Immigration Control in the United States Mathew Coleman
  • Labor Migration, Trafficking and Border Controls Michele Ford et Lenore Lyons
  • Spatial Strategies for Rebordering Human Migration at Sea Alison Mountz et Nancy Hiemstra
  • “B/ordering” and Biopolitics in Central AsiaNick Megoran
  • Border, Scene and Obscene Nicholas de Genova
• Part V Space, Performance and Practice
  • Border Show Business and Performing States David B. Coplan
  • Performativity and the Eventfulness of Bordering Practices Robert J. Kaiser
  • Reconceptualizing the Space of the Mexico–US Borderline R. Alvarez, Jr
  • Border Towns and Cities in Comparative PerspectivePaul Nugent
  • A Sense of Border Sarah Green