Borders Revisited: Discourses on the UK Border

ISBN-13: 9783030783303 / Angielski / Twarda / 2021 / 130 str.

Bastian A. Vollmer

O autorze

Bastian A. Vollmer is Professor of Social Sciences at the Catholic University of Applied Sciences in Mainz, Germany. Previously, he was a Fellow at the University of Oxford. He is author and co-editor of several books and special issues, and he has published in journals such as Political Geography, Mobilities, Geopolitics and Environment and Planning D: Society and Space. He is co-editor of the journal Migration Studies and an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. 

Blurb

 “This book is a must-read for all scholars, students, and concerned citizens interested in border studies and contemporary questions on migration. The original empirical insights and rigorous historical and theoretical analysis present a compelling framework to rethink our understanding of borders. This is an important and timely book.”

–         Henk van Houtum, Radboud University, The Netherlands

“Bastian Vollmer has written a concise and original contribution to the ongoing debates on what borders are and do, demonstrating convincingly that borders, migration, fear, and othering have to be reflected critically together. I recommend this book highly not only to border and migration scholars but also to politicians and administrators dealing with ever more violent borders.”

–         Anssi Paasi, University of Oulu, Finland

 

The nature and configuration of borders, and the relationship between state borders and societies, have changed. In the 21^st century, internationalism, transnationalism, and super-diversity have further provoked complexities and anxieties. It seems that as border and migration regimes undergo dramatic transformations, their public profile increases.

This book revisits borders, bordering practices, and meanings, with a particular focus on the United Kingdom as a case study. Bastian A. Vollmer examines not only the theoretical and historical dimensions of borders but also various empirical data, including extensive text corpora and dozens of in-depth interviews. Expanding on the concept of vernacular security—that is, an everyday understanding of security—he argues that the existential value of borders is not merely physical, but extends into the order and future construction of states and societies.

This book demonstrates decisively that the concept of the border has not left the centre stage of philosophy, political theory, and political sociology, but has instead emerged as a focal point for multidisciplinary engagements. It further demonstrates how attention to a vernacular perspective can inform those engagements, yielding vital insights. As such, it should appeal to students and scholars across disciplines interested in the contemporary development and relevance of borders and their discursive cultures.

Bastian A. Vollmer is Professor of Social Sciences at the Catholic University of Applied Sciences in Mainz, Germany.