Description
Borders and frontiers are often taken to be synonymous, yet it is the border that receives attention in International Studies. With practices of offshoring, narratives of invasion, hostile environment strategies, and ‘borderwork, borders are no longer taken to be at the limit of a state’s sovereignty; they are dispersed internally and externally. Thus, the border is simultaneously an everyday phenomenon, a technology of governance, and an event. However, the interrelated concept of the frontier has received comparatively little attention. Borders were the limits of territory, but their delocalisation has resulted novel approaches to their study. Through analyses of biometrics, narratives, vernaculars, and irregularity, this panel interrogates what happens to the frontier when the border is no longer where it was once thought to be.
Imbued with notions of coloniality, exploration, expansion, and humanitarianism, the frontier is more than metaphor, it is a site of social convergence and disjuncture. Therefore, this panel interrogates the relationship between the frontier and the border and whether a change in the border changes the frontier. Through analyses of novel ‘bordering’ practices, and the narratives around them, we offer multiple conceptions of the frontier and how to approach it.
