110^th Annual Meeting Call for Papers Traces, Tidemarks and Legacies Montréal, November 16–20, 2011

Abstract

Keywords: association affairs, 2011 Annual Meeting, Montreal, 2011 Annual Conference

Frontier Effects and Tidemarks: A Commentary in the Anthropology of Borders

“…Also against the line metaphor, Green (2009) advocates the border as a site of relatedness and connectedness. There are no absolute differences between the two sides of the line as far as distinctions are products and effect of an ideological assumption of the 'natural border'.…”

“…In addressing borders as activity and agentive capacity beyond the atemporality and fixed spatiality of culture and territory, it is particularly interesting to discuss two recent contributions in the anthropology of borders: Green (2009) and Donnan and Wilson (2010). Examining these two materials comparatively and complementarily brings to light a promising effort to spatialize and temporalize borders and a productive framework for future analysis.…”

“…Territoriality, linked with the enforcement of sovereignty leave us with the understanding of the border as duality, barrier and separation. All these ideas linked to territoriality converge to the representation of the border as a line (Green 2009). However, an unproblematic notion of territory seems less desirable in explaining borders.…”

“…In distancing from the view of borders as lines and barriers, Green (2009) proposes two alternative representations of frontiers. First, it is the border as 'trace', that incorporates both space and time, simultaneously and irreducibly.…”

“…Two notions recently developed in relation to these prove particularly helpful. One of these notions is Green's (2009) concept of 'tidemark'. The other one is Donnan and Wilson's (2010) 'frontier effect'.…”