Border Narratives at Work: Theatrical Smuggling and the Politics of Commemorationстатья из журнала
Аннотация: Abstract This paper discusses how cultural and artistic work constitutes a powerful means for mediating the collective memory of state borders. The empirical case study concerns the commercialisation of a borderland culture in the form of a ‘Smuggling Opera’ in a cross-border project on the Finnish-Swedish border region where border crossing has been unrestricted for decades. This theatrical performance constructs a particular local narrative which contests the authorised representation of borders in the discourse of the nation-state. The narrative analysis method is applied to this popularised border narrative and its interpretation among local participants, leading to the conclusion that the understanding of state borders differs between authorised border narratives and the stories of borderland people for whom it represents part of the everyday surroundings, although both serve to fix the meaning and moral justification of the border or argument for its rejection. The narratives of people living in the ‘borderless’ Finnish-Swedish border region show the continuing significance of the border in people's lives as both a barrier and a place of contact. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author would like to thank the editor, David Newman, and the anonymous referees for their helpful comments. Many thanks are also due to Anssi Paasi, Jarkko Saarinen, Tanja Löytynoja and Juha Ridanpää for their encouragement and comments. This study is related to the research project “Crossing borders, building identities: New regionalization, tourism and everyday life in Northern Europe” funded by the Academy of Finland (project no. 1210442). Notes 1. D. Ley, ‘Shaky Borders? Transnational Migrants as Strategic Actors’, in H. Van Houtum, O. Kramsch, and W. Zierhofer (eds.), B/ordering space (Aldershot: Ashgate 2005) pp. 61–73; see also D. Newman, ‘The Lines that Continue to Separate Us: Borders in Our ‘Borderless’ World’, Progress in Human Geography 30/2 (2006) pp. 143–161. 2. A. 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Год издания: 2008
Авторы: Eeva‐Kaisa Prokkola
Издательство: Taylor & Francis
Источник: Geopolitics
Ключевые слова: Philippine History and Culture
Открытый доступ: closed
Том: 13
Выпуск: 4
Страницы: 657–675