Introductory Topics in Middle East and North African Studies (290-3-1)
Topic
Porous Borders? Geography, Power, & Techniques of
Instructors
Emrah Yildiz
1819 Hinman Ave, #103
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 1-3pm
Meeting Info
ANTHRO Sem Rm 104 - 1810 Hinmn: Tues, Thurs 3:30PM - 4:50PM
Overview of class
At the advent of "globalization" some scholars argued that the movements of capital, goods, people and ideas across nation-states have rendered their borders increasingly porous. The erosive effects of this porosity in the age of the multi-national corporations heralded the death of the nation-state. Yet, in the epoch of border walls and offshored refugee processing centers, this assumed porosity of borders begs a reexamination of broader geographies of power and tactics of movement. In this course, we ask: What is a border? Is it the physical line drawn between two states? When is a border artificial and when natural? Who gets to draw these lines? How does the border become an architecture of regulation that extends access to mobility to some and denies it to others? We will probe these questions by working towards rethinking borders as equally the products of mobile social actors, contraband commodities and fluctuating values as they are of state policies aimed at managing their movements. By the end of the course students will be exposed to diverse theories of space and formations of borders in the Americas, Europe, and South Asia. They will be able to articulate what an attention to space and the relations of power inscribed in border formations can contribute to our conceptions of space and power.
Class Materials (Required)
Readings: All required text apart from the book-length manuscripts below can be found under files on the course website.
Heath Cabot, 2014. On the doorstep of Europe: Asylum and Citizenship in Greece. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN-13 : 978-0812246155
Ieva Jusionyte, 2018. Threshold: Emergency Responders on the US-Mexico Border. University of California Press. ISBN-13: 978-0520297180
Malini Sur, 2022. Jungle Passports: Fences, Mobility, and Citizenship at the Northeast India-Bangladesh Border. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN-13 : 978-0812224788
Class Attributes
Social and Behavioral Science Foundational Discipl
Social & Behavioral Sciences Distro Area