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Accepted Paper:
Borders show business: performing states at the margin
David Coplan
(University of the Witwatersrand)
Paper short abstract:
Bordering is never stable, never complete. What is performed goes beyond geo-political delimitation to enactments of identity, community, relations of self and other, and narratives of inclusion and exclusion.
Paper long abstract:
Like money, borders are cultural. The necessity is to create the impression that one has them; to leverage resources into power. Too big - too disciplined, too dangerous, too formidable, too well-informed - to fail. So every sovereign entity must perform its border and its effective control - the more so the less effective control it has. Like its on-going performance, the process of bordering is never stable, never complete. What is performed goes beyond geo-political delimitation to enactments of identity, community, relations of self and other, and narratives of inclusion and exclusion. Ultimately, performing borders is an essential vehicle for adapting the old 'national' model of sovereignty to the debordering forces of globalization. Having said all that, performing borders is always most essentially a dyadic encounter between gate keeper and entrance seeker.
Borders show business: performing states in the borderlands
Session 1