iBorder: Bringing STS into Border Research

Abstract

Recently, the role of technology in processes of dislocating and dispersing borders has attracted increasing attention. Vukov and Sheller (2013, page 225), for instance, note a transformation of borders toward "sophisticated, flexible, and mobile devices of tracking, filtration, and exclusion". According to the authors, "new technologies of bio-informatic border security and remote surveillance" (page 226) lead to a paradigm shift that demands "sustained attention to the technocultural and communicative infrastructure of these bordering devices and technologies" (page 227). As such, a vernacularisation of border studies as the one called for by Perkins and Rumford