Bordering

'What is a border?' In this book a multi-disciplinary approach to the cultural, geographical and historical existence of borders is employed to answer this seemingly simple question. The author explores the cultural, historic and political processes that have shaped our world by dividing us from others by borders. Using the Danish-Swedish border to illustrate the actions and inactions of groups and individuals engaged in bordering since the 1600s, the text provides a richly theoretical discussion which highlights the complexities of political and cultural identity processes. The comparative perspectives provided emphasize the dynamics of identity processes as well as the modern foundations for personal experiences of nationhood. On the background of these dynamics, the writer examines how people at different times have lived with and manipulated/been manipulated by borders, why some borders historically have become uncontested while others remain constant generators of cross-border conflicts, how borders work both on an imagined national and experiential personal level, and how bordering processes today are affected - or not - by deliberate manipulations.