Observations on the China-Nepal Border

BACKGROUND:The China-Nepal border extends for 1400 kilometers with a total of 79 general markers and 98 border wood markers that are stretched over seven counties as well as the Ngari     

Exploring the Concept of (Un)familiarity: (Un)familiarity in Border Practices and Identity-Formation at the Slovenian–Croatian Border on Istria

In border region studies, the concept of (un)familiarity is applied in empirical studies of consumer culture across borders, illustrating how feelings of unfamiliarity can have an off-putting influence on cross-border interaction (e.g. because of dislike of or lack of attraction to the other side) at the same time as it can be an incentive for people living at borders to cross them (e.g. to explore the exotic other side). The concepts explanatory scope has, thus, far responded to the normative claim that a borderless Europe encourages and increases mobility. However, in previous studies applying the concept of (un)familiarity, an explanatory problem remains concerning people's unarticulated and perhaps deeper reasons for mobility and lack thereof. This leaves a question mark as to why feelings of (un)familiarity occur in the first place as well as the actual degree to which they constitute barriers and provide incentives for mobility. The concern in this article is to deepen our understanding of the concept of (un)familiarity. It enriches the bandwidth of the unfamiliarity concept by relating it to a notion of socio-spatial identity-formation, which takes into consideration the psychological aspects involved when identities form. By doing so, the concepts explanatory scope is extended, making it possible to explain some of the complexity involved when feelings of (un)familiarity occur. It, thus, also answers the question why (un)familiarity cannot be translated into normative claims about cross border mobility.     

Outlaw Capital: Accumulation by Transgression on the Paraguay–Brazil Border

Outlaw economies are a key, but under-appreciated, feature of late capitalism. With an ethnography of what one journalist called “the largest illicit economy in the Western Hemisphere” on the Paraguay–Brazil border, this article contributes empirical findings about the production of space for extralegal economies. Contributing to debates about geographies of the illicit, I theorise outlaw capital, a form of capital that negotiates profits and distributes rents through situated forms of deals, bribes, and schemes. Outlaw capital zones particular places as sites of useful transgression. Powerful spatial imaginaries then cast them out of thought, despite their connections to spaces of authorised economic practice. Outlaw capital’s diverse, flexible spatio-economic forms benefit from explicit and tacit state support. As an example of theory building from the South, outlaw capital can help us think broadly about the power and politics of accumulation by transgression as a key logic of outlaw capital.     

Border Trade Flourishes In Zham

WalkingdownthemainstreetinZham,oneisamazedtoseecrimsonsmallbuildingsshadedbyemeraldtrees.Thestreetisflankedhereandtherebyhotels,businessbuildings,postoffices,telecomoffices,andTibetancompatriots'receptionhalls.Thetown,perchedattheChina-Nepalhorder,coversanareaof70squarekm,slantingatanangleof30-45degrees.Withanelevationof2,200meters,itistheonlyState-levellandPortinTibet.ThepopulationisprimarilyfromtheXarbaethnicgroup,totaling1,000.Onthefirstfloorofthesmall,crimsonbuildingsarestoressellingme…     

Border People Enjoy Good Life

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Governing from the Border? Quebec’s Role in North American Security

ABSTRACT

This article aims to shed light on Quebec’s role in cross-border security governance. It exposes the challenges Quebec is facing in this area and what cross-border activities fall within its jurisdiction. The supported hypothesis in this article is that security is subjected to an increasing politicization from the Quebec government in a post-9/11 context, which contributes to the edification of an embryonic “multilevel governance.” If this politicization was noticeable in political statements and international agreements, it seems that it was more driven by conjectural imperatives than a real desire to make Quebec a leader in transnational security. Therefore, there were no diplomatic and financial commitments to make security part of the Gérin-Lajoie doctrine and develop a similar paradiplomacy as in other fields. However, on different technical and bureaucratic levels, transgovernmental relations between certain Quebec governmental organizations, including police corps, and their American counterparts were created. Consequently, they contributed to make continental action more effective, at least in a certain measure.     

Colouring Inside What Lines? Interference of the Urban Growth Boundary and the Political–Administrative Border of Brussels

This paper discusses the relationship between the political–administrative border and the urban growth boundary (UGB) around Brussels, the Belgian capital. Our hypothesis is that the interests of the various regions and language groups in Belgium interfere strongly with urban planning policies, implying that the administrative border of the Brussels-Capital Region (BCR) operates in reality as an unintended UGB. Based on demographics, commuter data and property market features, we argue that this situation may cause excessive urban compaction of the BCR, while spillover effects to municipalities that are rather distant from Brussels may result in undesired forms of suburbanization and long-distance commuting.     

Archaeology of the Border Fort Achiras,Córdoba (1832–1869)

During the nineteenth century, the existence of a southern border in the Córdoba province resulted from a complex situation where an expanding national state was inserted into a global economic system and into an environment occupied by various Indian groups. This situation created a mixed society on the borderlands. The military line was defended by forts, with one of them being the Achiras Fort (1832–1869). The fort was situated at the end of the mountain range of Comechingones. This paper considers the archaeological investigation of this fort. The most important and consistent part of the archaeological record is the Command. The Command was formed by two rooms. This work also presents the results of the excavations into the fort and describes the archaeological remains found. Finally, a general model for archaeology in the South Córdoba Border is presented.     

Bicycles, ‘Barrows,and Donkeys: Pinning a Tale on the Irish Border

A popular smuggling story still told in Ireland concerns a man who crossed the border every day, either on a bicycle or wheeling a wheelbarrow, and usually carrying some sort of load; hay, turf, potatoes, or vegetables—goods that were free from customs duty. The suspicious officials subjected the traveller to regular searches but could never catch him out. This article contextualizes that story in the history of the Irish border during the mid twentieth century, and locates it within Irish folklore traditions, before exploring its probable origin in similar tales found outside Ireland.     

Border collapse and boundary maintenance: militarisation and the micro-geographies of violence in Israel–Palestine

Drawing upon subaltern geopolitics and feminist geography, this article explores how militarisation shapes micro-geographies of violence and occupation in Israel–Palestine. While accounts of spectacular and large-scale political violence dominate popular imaginaries and academic analyses in/of the region, a shift to the micro-scale foregrounds the relationship between power, politics and space at the level of everyday life. In the context of Israel–Palestine, micro-geographies have revealed dynamic strategies for ‘getting by’ or ‘dealing with’ the occupation, as practiced by Palestinian populations in the face of spatialised violence. However, this article considers how Jewish Israelis actively shape the spatial micro-politics of power within and along the borders of the Israeli state. Based on 12 months of ethnographic research in Tel Aviv and West Jerusalem during 2010–2011, an analysis of everyday narratives illustrates how relations of violence, occupation and domination rely upon gendered dynamics of border collapse and boundary maintenance. Here, the borders between home front and battlefield break down at the same time as communal boundaries are reproduced, generating conditions of ‘total militarism’ wherein military interests and agendas are both actively and passively diffused. Through gendering the militarised micro-geographies of violence among Jewish Israelis, this article reveals how individuals construct, navigate and regulate the everyday spaces of occupation, detailing more precisely how macro political power endures.     

Disorienting Rhythms: Gypsyness, “Authenticity” and Place on the Greek–Albanian Border

Against a located background—a focus that highlights the significance of place in the constitution of Gypsy identifications and runs counter to most of the assumptions shared by recent studies on Gypsies—the article tries to explore the tensions, ambiguities and contradictions generated by the involvement of the Gypsy musicians of Parakalamos, a village on the Greek–Albanian border, in issues concerning “tradition” and “authenticity”. More specifically, the article considers how Gypsy music playing practices initially allowed Gypsy practitioners to be included in the nation‐state project in a somewhat “dishevelled” form as local musicians; however, in the face of recent shifts in politics, culture and representation in Greece concerning multiculturalism and “cultural heritage”, Gypsy musicians find themselves in the position of being recognised as “musical outsiders” that should by implication adhere to their distinct musical tradition. In this respect, although it has hardly been admitted, such a move runs counter to what constitutes the core of Gypsy musicianship: their locatedness. The article argues that within such “identitying” practices lurks an occlusion of the ways Parakalamos Gypsyness has been, and continues to be, dependent on place and music, and not on a separate, distinct and self contained Gypsy identity, thereby casting doubts on assumptions about what constitutes identity as such.     

Ethnicity and Identity in the Cold War: The Carinthian Border Dispute, 1945–1949

In the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution, the British, German and Ottoman armies sought to exploit the chaos within the southern borderlands of the old Tsarist Empire. The Ottomans primarily sought to recover lands lost in the nineteenth century while for Germany, expansion into the Black Sea littoral not only broke the Allied Naval Blockade, but also offered the possibility of menacing British India via the Central Asiatic or Transcaspian Railway. Britain's involvement in Transcaucasia during the final months of the Great War has received relatively little scholarly attention, being seen as little more than a bargaining chip to be used at the Paris Peace Conference. This article suggests that the true aim of Lord Curzon's Transcaucasian policy was the incorporation of Persia into Britain's informal empire, a task that he doggedly pursued all the way down to the 1923 Lausanne Conference.     

Navigating the “International Dots and Dashes”: David W. McFadden's Great Lakes Suite and the Canada–US Border

In Great Lakes Suite (1997), David W. McFadden fictionalizes his travels around three Great Lakes bisected by the Canada–US border. McFadden both uses and subverts generalizations and stereotypes as the text destabilizes categories of sameness and difference, illustrating an unsettled and unsettling Canada–US relationship. McFadden demonstrates that the “hospitable” relations between Canada and the US are rife with power imbalances: the positions of host and guest, and relations of hospitality and hostility, do not remain fixed, often undermining the Canadian host position. Writing in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, at the time of US intervention in Nicaragua, and leading up to the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), McFadden demonstrates that power constitutes the clearest distinction between Canada and the US. In the midst of Canadian struggles for political and economic power, McFadden uses an ironic humor to reclaim a cultural power for Canada as he argues in favor of maintaining the border.     

Guada-narco-lupe,Maquilarañas and the Discursive Construction of Gender and Difference on the US–Mexico Border in Mexican Media Re-presentations

This article explores the ways in which Mexican media works to construct gender and difference in relation to the US–Mexico border. Through a discourse analysis of one Mexican newspaper, I argue that discursive violence, ‘narratives of eviction’ and silences are implicated in the construction of women as weak, sexualized objects, and Mexicans as raced, backward ‘others’. In so doing, I elaborate several discursive moments, specifically, ‘woman as anonymous, replaceable body’; ‘woman as victim of the border city’; ‘Guada-narco-lupe’; ‘woman as dependent appendage’; and ‘othered Mexican’; to illustrate that the production of knowledge about gendered subjects is a political and discursive practice embedded in national ideologies. Mexican media representations present a rich palette for thinking about constructions of gender and difference along a raced, sexed border. An investigation of the unequal and essentialist elements present in specific newspaper articles offers a fresh perspective on the socio-spatial aspects of particular discursive strategies and their role in underpinning dominant textual images.

Guada-narco-lupe, Maquilarañas y la construccíon Discursiva de Género y Diferencia en la frontera entre los Estados Unidos y México através de representaciones en la media Mexicana. A través de un análisis de tres artículos este ensayo investiga las maneras en que la prensa mexicana funciona para construir la diferencia y el género en relación a la frontera México-Estados Unidos. Yo discuto que la violencia discursiva, las narrativas de evicción, tanto que los silencios están involucrados en la construcción de mujeres como objetos sexualizados y débiles, y la construcción de Mexicanos como ‘racializados’, atrasados, y diferenciados a través del método de análisis de discurso de un periódico mexicano. Para llevar a cabo este análisis, yo elaboro varios momentos discursivos, específicamente, ‘la mujer como cuerpo reemplazable y anónima’; ‘la mujer como victima de la ciudad fronteriza’; ‘Guada-narco-lupe’; ‘la mujer como apéndice dependiente’; y‘el mexicano diferenciado’, para ilustrar que la producción de conocimiento sobre los sujetos géneros es una practica política tanto que discursiva arraigado en las ideologías nacionales. Las representaciones de los medios mexicanos presentan una pallete amplia par reflexionar sobre las construcciones de diferencia y géneros por la frontera norte, la cuál es a frontera ‘racializada’, y sexualizada'. La investigación de los elementos desiguales y esencialcitas colocados en varios artículos de la prensa mexicana provee una nueva perspectiva sobre los aspectos socio-espaciales de estrategias discursivas específicas y el papel que juegan estos aspectos en sostener imágenes dominantes textuales.     

Border wars: the ongoing temple dispute between Thailand and Cambodia and UNESCO’s World Heritage List

This article traces the history of the ongoing tension between Thailand and Cambodia over a beautiful Khmer temple located on the unresolved border between the two countries. The struggle is noteworthy for its transethnic character, the deep and imbricated history of the players, and the fight’s intersection with dramatic contemporary politics in both countries. The paper argues that the dispute implicates existential challenges to ancient and contemporary political legitimacy. It emphasizes the significant role iconic sites can play in the construction of national identity as well as in the competitive global tourism market. The paper questions UNESCO cultural heritage policy concerning contested nominations to the World Heritage List and offers a recommendation for future treatment of similar cases.     

Tang Dynasty Stone Tablet Found In Border Town of Gyilung

LobsangisthechiefofZongkaTownship,GyilungCounty.Oldasheis,heknowseachbladeofgrassinthelocalitylikepalmofhishand."Icantellexactlywhateverythingishere,becauseIhaveatelescope,"explainstheoldman,whosefaceiscoveredwithwrinkles.LobsangcapturedthetelescopefromBritishinvadersinthepreviouscenturyandnowcarriesitwhereverhegoes.Whenevertheneedarises,hewillbringitoutofhispockettocarryoutexaminationwhilstotherswatchwithgreatrespect.WhentheChinesearchaeologistsreachedhisvillage,theoldmandisplayedgreatent…     

Constructing (Un)familiarity: Role of Tourism in Identity and Region Building at the Finnish–Russian Border

This paper investigates the role of tourism in the construction of (un)familiarity in Karelia at the Finnish–Russian borderland. From a historical perspective, it deals with a culturally homogenous space, which more recently became divided by the border into two nation states that differ politically, ethnically and linguistically. In the course of the Cold War, unfamiliarity was one of the tools used by the Soviet political elite in construction of national identity. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the border regime became liberalized and cross-border interaction began, familiarity became one of the key factors of the regional identity construction. The case of Sortavala, on which this study focuses, allows us to analyse how identity was constructed in official and media discourses. Although familiarity in the local context is more prominent, unfamiliarity is also at stake, not only in a negative sense, but also from a sense of curiosity about historical ties between the different parts of Karelia. This paper contributes to an understanding of EU external bordering politics. It also highlights the role of local actors in the (re-)construction and (re-)interpretation of borders. Tourism is seen as one of the facets of local identity formation. This study attempts to understand tourism-driven cross-border region-building processes.     

Cross-Border Networks in Informal and Formal Cooperation in the Border Regions Andalusia–Algarve–Alentejo and South Finland–Estonia

Fostering border relations among the people in border regions seems a precondition for the future envisagement and success of cross-border regions and European Integration. Related studies to border relations observe the weakness of these informal border contacts and relations. However, weak ties represent an opportunity for interaction, and little has been said about how they might play in the construction and performance of institutional cross-border cooperation (CBC). In this work, we examine the nature of personal border networks of professionals working in CBC and how they are interconnected with the institutional CBC. This paper is based on a mainly qualitative research of two different border regions: Andalusia, Algarve and Alentejo (AAA) and South Finland and Estonia (SFE). Nevertheless, the methodology is multi-method, using semi-structured interviews, with specific questions for applying a social network analysis. Conclusions point out different patterns of border relations in both border regions. In AAA, most of the cross-border relations are weaker and related to their professional involvement in institutional CBC. In SFE, border relations rely both on working and personal reasons. All of these cross-border relations imply a significant value as opportunities for social capital construction across the borders and, hence, for greater interaction and cross-border integration.     

Wood Charcoal from Border Cave’s Member 1RGBS: Evidence for the Environment and Plant Use During MIS 5

African Archaeological Review - We conducted an anthracological analysis of charcoal remains from Border Cave’s member 1RGBS to provide environmental context for the site’s occupation...