Grenser i nord

I forbindelse med Forskningsdagene 2016 er vi vertskap for arrangementet Grenser i nord. Utstillingen Uprooted danner bakteppe for fem akademiske innlegg som tar for seg grenseproblematikk med ulike innfallsvinkler:

 

Gerd Bjørhovde: Grensen mellom Canada og USA – verdens lengste og mest fredelige?

Grensen mellom Canada og USA er 8 891 km. Dette er verdens lengste grense mellom to land. Det er en fredelig, det vil si ikke-militarisert grense – begge landene er jo medlemmer av Nato og er dermed nære allierte. Begge er også vestlige, kapitalistiske og industrialiserte land, og de er medlemmer av G7. Dessuten har både USA og Canada en felles historie i og med at de ble opprettet som kolonier av europeiske stormakter med ambisjoner. Likevel finnes det interessante forskjeller mellom de to landene, både i måten de har utviklet seg på og i hvordan de organiserer seg, lever og tenker. Og det har skjedd en klar utvikling mot en sterkere grensekontroll mellom de to landene i senere år. Dette vil jeg –– ut fra både historiske, kulturelle og aktuelle politiske perspektiver, snakke mer om i mitt innlegg.

Stephen Wolfe: Everyday Borders and Everyday Bordering Practices: Can you leave home without them?

Whether around your room in forty days, or around the world in eighty days, whether still or still moving, the self is an act of cartography, and every life a study of borders. This presentation will begin with the one border we all cross, the threshold of our own home. We open the front door, we close the front door: it’s the most basic geographical habit. From this beginning the talk will move to the everyday borders that have become political acts of border crossing. Passing through borders, or making a border crossing means you have to have a password, a key to the front door, and for years we have assumed a “safe passage”. What are the consequences of such an assumptions, today?

Aileen Espiritu: Refugee Arctic Crossings

The ongoing war that has led to the massive outmigration of 4 million Syrians from their homeland has led to immigration into Europe and beyond. In the Autumn of 2015, refugees from the Middle-East, primarily Syria, made their way to the Arctic Schengen border between Norway and Russia. Analysing this moment in time, as thousands of refugees desperately found their way to what they hoped would be safe havens in Europe, I explore the reaction of the Russian and Norwegian states in the governance of this remarkable event. I do this by examining the media and social media communication on these refugee border crossings in the Norwegian Arctic.

Ruben Moi: Forestilte fellesskap i Nord-Norge: Kaare Espolin Johnson og Bjarne Holst’s kunst

Hvordan forestiller vi oss selv og vår landsdel? Hvor kommer våre forestillinger fra? Innlegget diskuterer slike spørsmål i henhold til Espolin Johnson og Holst’s visuelle kunstverk.

Andrei Rogatchevski: Crossing Borders by Imaginary Misplacement, or The Molvania Travel Guide

In 2003, shortly before the EU enlargement that integrated eight Central and East European countries from the former Soviet bloc, a tourist guide to a European country called Molvania had been published in Australia. In keeping with the genre, the 176-page book was supplied with a historical overview, maps, photographs, a useful phrases section, an index of names and subjects and a conversion table for local measures and weights – not to mention the detailed information on transportation, accommodation, sightseeing, sustenance, health and safety, modern conveniences, shopping opportunities and local customs. A book reviewer described Molvania thus: “Made up of the Western Plateau, the Great Central Valley, the Eastern Steppes and the Molvanian Alps, it is nevertheless one of the smallest countries in Europe” (Smith 2004: 54). Where exactly is Molvania? And if it does not really exist, why did it have to be invented?