Bordering in Transition: Young People’s Experiences in ‘Post-Conflict’ Belfast

Abstract

Borders are static and dynamic, materially inscribed on the landscape, spatially negotiated and symbolically and mentally (de/re)constructed. While built upon contested histories and memories, they are also everyday constructions and socially organised achievements that reflect and reinforce notions of identity, belonging, territoriality and ‘othering’. Moreover, while the social conditions that give support and saliency to borders can be disrupted, certain preconditions, tendencies and dispositions may continue to affect embodied processes and practices and the everyday dynamics of those who live in or near border spaces. Emotions are deeply embedded in borders and thus border spaces can remain relevant even if the rationale for their continued significance has apparently gone. As Agnew (2008, p. 1) succinctly notes, ‘borders matter both because they have real effects and … trap thinking about and acting in the world in territorial terms’.