That nation-states form the foundation of the global order is so often taken for granted that we often do not stop and ask how this system came to be or what it means. In this lecture, we will take a step back to consider the more complicated history of the territorial division of the world, and the role that the movement (and non-movement) of people has played within this. Moving into the modern era, we will examine why and how states control the movement of people, and the meaning assigned to different kinds of movement.

A record number of people are on the move across the world. Yet their access to mobility, freedoms, and resources are unevenly distributed along the lines of race, gender, class, and more. In the lecture, we discuss some of the violent processes of dispossession and expulsion that have caused these movements, but also the desires, struggles and political forces behind human mobility. We ask what functions borders serve today, and explore together whether and how it is possible to imagine the world without them

Teacher: Joe Anderson

Obligatory Readings:

Doty, Roxanne Lynn. 2019. ‘Why is people's movement restricted?’ (Chapter 10), in Global Politics : A New Introduction, edited by Jenny Edkins and Maja Zehfus. New York: Routledge, pp: 188-211.

Eldén, Stuart. 2019. ‘Why is the world divided territorially?’ (Chapter 11), in Global Politics : A New Introduction, edited by Jenny Edkins and Maja Zehfus. New York: Routledge, pp: 212-233.

Optional further readings and audio:

Torpey, John. 1998. “Coming and Going: On the State Monopolization of the Legitimate ‘Means of Movement.’” Sociological Theory 16 (3): 239–59.

Vigneswaran, Darshan. Territory, Migration and the Evolution of the International System. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. (Chapter 2)

Achiume, Tendayi. 2019. Migration As Decolonization. Rochester, NY: Social Science Research Network. SSRN Scholarly Paper. https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=3330353Links to an external site. (October 22, 2019).

Borderline Podcast with Isabelle Roughol. 2021. Leah Cowan: Should we abolish borders? Podcast available at: https://www.borderlinepod.com/episode-30-should-we-abolish-borders/Links to an external site.

Relevant novels, feature films and poetry:

Alavi, Elyas. 2020. Selected poems. PARSE Journal, spring 2020. (poems) Available in English and Farsi at: https://parsejournal.com/article/selected-farsi-poems/Links to an external site.

Darwish, Mahmoud. 1964. “Passport”. (poem) Available in English and Arabic at: http://poemsintranslation.blogspot.com/2011/06/mahmoud-darwish-passport-from-arabic.htmlLinks to an external site.

Diop, Mati (Director and producer). 2019. Atlantics. (Feature film)

Hamid, Mohsid. 2017. Exit West. Hamish Hamilton Publishing (Novel)

The Terminal Film (2004). Film by Steven Spielberg.

Other sources:

"The History of Passports" A Point of View. BBC Radio 4 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sq2nm

"The U.S.-Canada Border Runs Through This Tiny Library" https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-us-canada-border-runs-through-this-tiny-library