Border Studies: A Multidisciplinary Approach

by Thomas M. Wilson (Editor)

Overview

This multidisciplinary book provides a diverse overview of social science approaches to geopolitical borders, social boundaries and cultural frontiers. It discusses the multiplicity of borders with a view to addressing the question: how far have we come?

Chapters present narratives on statecraft, law and violence relating to geopolitical borders, adopting cultural and historical perspectives. An array of esteemed specialists examine political imaginaries of border security and identify methodological innovations that will enhance future scholarly work in the field. They highlight regional and global problems tied to borders, looking at issues such as sovereignty, citizenship, security, migration and social justice. Ultimately, it illustrates that metaphorical borders delineating identity and culture are as real as any political, economic or social boundary.

Border Studies: A Multidisciplinary Approach draws on perspectives from geography, political science, international relations, history, social anthropology, law and economics, making this an invigorating read for scholars in these fields. Practitioners in politics, government, international relations and law will also greatly benefit from its unique insights.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781800375383
Publisher:	Edward Elgar Publishing
Publication date:	08/10/2025
Series:	Multidisciplinary Movements in Research
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Edited by Thomas M. Wilson, Professor of Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University, State University of New York, USA

Table of Contents

Contents
PART I INTRODUCTION
1 The multilectics and multiplicities of borders and border studies 2
Thomas M. Wilson
PART II APPROACHES TO MULTIPLE BORDERINGS
2 Political imaginaries of border security 26
Nick Vaughan-Williams
3 Geographies of borders and bordering 47
Anssi Paasi
4 From bordering to border thinking: interdisciplinarity and the significance of cognition in border studies 68
James W. Scott
5 Borders have never been linear: moving beyond the borderline map trap in political cartography 85
Rodrigo Bueno Lacy and Henk van Houtum
6 Anthropology and border studies: from critique to contingency 106
Sarah Green
PART III APPROACHES TO PAST AND PRESENT OTHERING
7 Borderlands and bordered lands: historical approaches to border studies 125
C. Patterson Giersch re democratic life in the central US–
Mexico border commons 289
16 Rethinking the border in times of crisis 308
8 Border studies and contemporary history from a European perspective 149
Birte Wassenberg
9 Stories of legal borders: on statecraft, law and violence 167
Tugba Basaran
10 The economic approach to political borders 183
Enrico Spolaore
11 Borders and tourism: dynamic relations, mobilities and the touristic other 203
Dallen J. Timothy
PART IV APPROACHES TO THE TIMES AND PLACES OF CRISIS
12 Living through the amplification of differentiation: borders and the international in the twenty-first century 225
Benjamin J. Muller
13 The ‘living border’: critical border studies in a time of climate change 241
Hilary Cunningham and Stephen Bede Scharper
14 A history of borders and disease, written with the vectors 267
Alan Smart and Josephine Smart
15 Multi-disciplinary perspectives on politics in borderlands: toward a fairer, more democratic life in the central US– Mexico border commons 291
Kathleen Staudt
16 Rethinking the border in times of crisis 310
Ruben Andersson

Editorial Reviews

‘This is a superb and indispensable book for everyone interested in multidisciplinary perspectives on borders. Tom Wilson and his contributors invite us to rethink what it really means to practice border studies as a field of diverse disciplinary inquiry.’

Hastings Donnan

'Tom Wilson has forged an impressive collection on borders and borderlands that emphasizes their fascinating complexity. Seasoned border studies scholars are at the top of their game here, augmented by the new wave of academics writing on the subject. History is omnipresent but the emphasis is on the contemporary world of borders and their multifarious crises. A must-read for those interested in borders, bordering, debordering and rebordering.'

Cathal McCall

‘Reading this book is akin to being immersed in a fascinating global and interdisciplinary masterclass with world-renowned experts on borders. By coming together in this way, they not only convincingly explain the increasing complexity and significance of borders but ably demonstrate how border studies can and should respond.’

Katy Hayward

‘Embracing the conceptual multiplicity of borders, borderlands and bordering processes, this volume offers a timely account of the state of border studies. The contributions range across time, space and disciplines to highlight historic processes and enduring genealogies of border concepts even as they simultaneously advance well beyond conventional Westphalian notions of the state and its sovereign boundaries. The volume offers readers a snapshot of a globe in which new critical framings – of nature, cartography, epidemiology, migration and tourism, among many other topics – compel scholars to reassess the work that borders do in our contemporary moment. A rich and provocative collection of essays that challenges scholars to rethink the border as both concept and site of lived experience, urging us to consider the potential for more democratic borderland commons.’

Pamela Ballinger