Border identities
Subtitle: nation and state at international frontiers
By: edited by Thomas M. Wilson and Hastings Donnan.
Contributors: Wilson, Thomas M., 1951-; Donnan, Hastings.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Cambridge, UK; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 301
Subjects: Boundaries -- Case studies.; Ethnicity -- Case studies.; Nationalism -- Case studies.
Description: This book offers fresh insights into the complex and various ways in which international frontiers influence cultural identities. The ten anthropological case studies collected here describe specific international borders in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America, and bring out the importance of boundary politics, and the diverse forms that it may take. The frontier itself may be of great symbolic importance; in other cases the symbolism lies rather in the disappearance of the traditional border. A frontier may be above all a barrier against immigration, or the front line between hostile armies. It may reinforce distinctive identities on each side of it, or the frontier may be disputed because it cuts across national identities. Drawing on anthropological perspectives, the book explores how cultural landscapes intersect with political boundaries, and ways in which state power informs cultural identity.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and indexes.