Paper short abstract:

By drawing on empirical data from borderlands in Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso and Niger we argue both for a place-based understanding of security and the analysis of relational connections between various expressions of insecurities to grasp the wider assemblage of violent borderlands.

Paper long abstract:

Depending on place, routes and mobilities the worsening security situation in West African borderlands is experienced, interpreted and dealt with in very different ways. (Global) narratives of the security services about causes and violent actors as well as state practices of reconnaissance and counterinsurgency are contrasted by the everyday spatial knowledges, experiences and practices of the borderlanders which are not homogeneous either and make sense of violence very differently. In our presentation, we will systematically analyse these contrasts (and similarities) in various overlapping in/securityscapes using case studies from borderlands in Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso and Niger. Hence our view on security is necessarily spatial. Starting from the violent spatial dimensions of biopolitical control at borders we argue for a place-based understanding of security but simultaneously highlight the relational connections between various expressions of insecurity to grasp the wider assemblage of violent borderlands