GEOGRAPHY AND BORDER

There has been an increasing interest in borders from a variety of disciplines. This paper scrutinizes an extensive range of literature in the border studies. Initially, it draws a conceptual framework that clarifies how to approach and study borders. Later, it identifies constantly evolving concerns in the border studies from a historical perspective. It provides valuable insights into how to understand this continually progressing research area. It argues that borders are not just about producing a bounded space but also producing a social collectiveness. Bordering is an on-going process through which socio-spatial homogenisations and differentiations occur. Borders inform individual and collective identities; they shape and are shaped by collective and individual consciousness. Borders, by definition, are about creating and taking sides, which construct many more associated dichotomies: inside-outside; we-they; inclusion-exclusion; and us-the other. The process of imagining the existence of 'other' is crucial in creating borders. The paper also argues that there is a need to move beyond many dichotomies in border studies: symbolic or material; real or imaginary; barriers or zones of cultural encounters; top-down or bottom-up; and frontiers or multiple sites. This paper provides an important insight into this constantly evolving research area.