Placing the Border in Everyday Life

'A compelling and richly illustrated collection examining the everyday practices and impacts of bordering. If it is an exaggeration to say the border is everywhere, then the cases examined here nonetheless perceptively examine its diverse, uneven and variegated contemporary instantiations.' Stuart Elden, University of Warwick, UK 'Border research is today one of the most vibrant interdisciplinary fields in social and cultural sciences. Instead of seeing borders as fixed lines, scholars increasingly regard them as mobile elements that may be located far away from the edges of territories. Borders are produced and reproduced by various state and non-state agents in border areas and elsewhere in societies and influence the everyday lives of individuals and social groupings in many ways. This excellent collection, written by experienced border scholars, provides the reader with some exciting and novel perspectives to understand the complexities of current border work. The collection not only includes useful concrete illustrations from various states but is also theoretically informed.' Anssi Paasi, University of Oulu, Finland 'The study of borders has undergone a major renaissance during the past two decades. This has been partly due to the mistaken notion that the world was becoming borderless as a result of globalization and because of the collapse of the walls separating countries inside Europe. But we have also witnessed a growth in the number of walls and fences which have been constructed by states ever since the events of 9/11 as they seek to create secure spaces against the new external threats - be they terrorism or illegal migrants. Jones and Johnson's text highlights these contrasting trends and processes as they draw on diverse border experiences throughout the world, clearly showing the impact of borders at the local level and on the daily life practices of thousands of people who live nearby or who attempt to cross these borders. The book is to be recommended for anyone who wants to understand just how important borders remain in the contemporary world but equally how the significance and functions of borders are redefined as a result of global and geopolitical change.' David Newman, Ben-Gurion University, Israel, and Editor, Geopolitics