MOBEDGE - Mobility on the Edge: Mapping Borders Through a Multidisciplinary Perspective

In today’s world, the concept of borders extends beyond geographical lines etched on maps. Borders are dynamic and constantly evolving. They shape, and are shaped by, the flows of migration, the rise of nationalism, and the stories of people, ideas and objects moving across them. As Etienne Balibar (2002: 84) reminds us, “Borders are no longer the shores of politics, or the edges of power; they have become the space of the political itself.”

 

In a world grappling with migration crises, reactionary nationalism, and the never-ending building of walls, MOBILITY ON THE EDGE offers a multidisciplinary approach across geography, history, and anthropology to reflect on the profound impact borders have on human mobility and the environment we inhabit, asking how we can create a more sensitive cartography of these edges.

 

By exploring “zones of transition” where borders do not neatly divide but overlap and entangle (Mezzadra & Neilson, 2013), the project is thus interested in mapping spaces of friction and negotiation, where movement and containment are constantly renegotiated. “Borderworlds”—a term coined by Gloria Anzaldúa to capture the hybrid spaces at the margins are also “borders-as-skins” — a term used by Franck Billé (2017) to highlight the perceptual, bodily, aptic and sensous processes that challenge walling and de-walling practices.

 

Borders, in this sense, are seen by participants of this project as dynamic processes that affect human and nonhuman actors alike—maps and technologies, but also bodies, animals, and plants, all of which co-create these boundaries.

 

The project is also anchored in geo-philosophies of movement and processuality (Merriman, 2019), drawing attention to the ways in which human and nonhuman mobilities both transgress and reproduce borders and aims to engage with critical cartography to unpack the inherent instability of territorial borders and the ways they are continuously re-inscribed.

 

In this sense, one of the project’s highlights is its innovative approach to critical and cultural cartography. Students of the MA in Mobility Studies will be actively involved in the project by creating an “Alter-Atlas of Borders” — a cartographic project that rethinks borders (and mapping) using graphic, tactile, cinematic and sound-based approaches.

 

 

Some of the questions we will afford are:

 

• In what ways do borders materialise through everyday practices and state policies, and how do they shift in response to geopolitical changes, migration flows, or environmental factors?

 

• How do the movement of human and nonhuman actors, as well as data and ideas, complicate and transgress borders?

 

• What kinds of experiences emerge in liminal spaces, or “borderworlds”, where traditional divisions between inside and outside, citizen and foreigner, are blurred?

 

• How can critical cartography challenge dominant representations of borders as fixed lines on maps and propose alternative ways of understanding borders, migration stories, and mobility patterns?

 

 

We will try to tackle these questions through the following activities:

 

• Organising a series of seminars held at the MoHu Centre, inviting international experts on borders, critical cartorgaphy, mobility, and migration.

• Conducting an overseas mission at the Department of Geography and the Centre for Silk Road at Berkeley University to open scientific discussions on the project theme and explore potential future collaborations.

• Collaborating on creative outputs, engaging students in producing a critical and artistic exploration of borders through mapping. This creative exploration will challenge traditional map-making and offer new perspectives on global migration issues.

 

By focusing on these activities, participants will be able to explore the multifaceted ways in which borders are enacted, negotiated, and contested through mobility, mapping, and interdisciplinary research.

 

 

External Collaborators:

• Frank Billé, Cultural Anthropologist, Assistant Professor, Berkeley University
• Peter Merriman, Geographer, Full Professor, Aberystwyth University
• Clancy Wilmott, Geographer and Media Scholar, Assistant Professor, Berkeley University

 

Contact & More Information
For further details on the Mobility on the Edge project, upcoming events, or collaboration opportunities, please contact Laura Lo Presti at  laura.lopresti@unipd.it.