2: Borders of engagement

Abstract

The extensive literature on border studies is spread across many disciplinary fields, and there are just as many ways of approaching the subject. This study is primarily inspired by anthropological studies that embrace different attempts to theorize on the dynamics of state borders, adjoining borderlands and their populations. Here state borders are not merely lines drawn on maps where the nation-state enforces its outer territorial sovereignty and imposes its strict authority, but also places of intricate local agency. The object of this research is not the border itself, that bold line drawn on maps, but the practices and opportunities for local agency it fosters. Studies on the political and economic aspects of border regions within the social sciences have traditionally taken a top down approach, mostly focusing on state level activities, especially on the ways in which states deal with borders and their populations by exercising control and exerting power.Keywords: anthropological studies; border studies; economic aspects; outer territorial sovereignty; political aspects; top down approach