‘Silencing’ the border as a strategy to conceal the ‘other’ side: the case of the Curonian Spit

Abstract

Borders do not have to be visible to be effective. However, the ways they are marked in the landscape, and the relation of these manifestations to broader border regimes and practices are questioned by border researchers and other scholars. Building physical barriers is often used to conceal the ‘other’ side, while reducing border manifestations mostly reveals the other. In this article, a hybrid border management strategy of ‘silencing’ the border (reducing border manifestations) to conceal the other side is discussed, drawing on the case study conducted at the borderland in the Curonian Spit (Russia–Lithuania). Based on a mixed method approach, but especially focussing on the visual data, this study investigates how the border splitting the peninsula in half, is latent in the landscape and in the narratives of the locals. It proposes that the border is silenced and the other is concealed on both sides because of the lack of cross-border coordination of the shared landscape and heritage. This resonates with the experiences and understandings of borderland inhabitants, this research shows. It proposes a view on border hybridity, which challenges the dominant ways of understanding borders, their functions and impact on space and on different borderland actors.