Borders

Yesterday I attended a workshop organized by Dr. Chris Rumford about the theorising of borders. In his introduction Dr. Rumford made reference to a number of instances, such as farmers being asked to lock up their fertilizers by the government, and shop keepers similarly being asked to watch out for specific purchasing patterns that give rise to suspicions of terrorism. Although I am not completely convinced that these are instances we can talk of in terms of borders, the theme of the introduction – that borders should not be thought of only in terms of nation-states – is insightful and informative.

A discussion I had with a colleague during one of the coffee breaks reminded me of a lecture given by the geographer Derek Gregory that I happened to download and listen to (glorious podcasts!). In it he talks of ‘vanishing points’, areas where the structures and norms of society break down: bounded areas within society that are nevertheless excluded from society – spaces of exception. These are not only socially but also temporally separated, they are perpetual and indefinite; they do not have an end date stamped upon them. The most enduring example of these zones is of course the concentration camp and more recently we have the American facility at Guantanamo Bay. But a recent article in the New York Times gives an example of how these spaces of exception need not be attached to geographical sites such as the camp, but also function at the level of the individual.

The article in question concerns a music scholar, Ms. Ghuman, originally from the UK but who has for the last 10 years lived and worked in California. On arriving at San Francisco airport in 2006, Ms. Ghuman was inexplicably detained by airport security, questioned for hours and then forced to leave for London. When she asked to contact the British embassy officials Ms. Ghuman recounts: “they told me I was nobody, I was nowhere and I had no rights”. Her valid visa was ripped up. To this date (13 months later) she has heard nothing of her visa status, and has been denied access to her records due to security issues.

To my mind this account is an example of border, not just at the level of a nation-state choosing who can and cannot come in and out of their territory, but also a border erected at the site of the individual that restricts access to the mechanisms, norms of conduct, laws etc. that make them a ‘somebody’: a recognised member of society. The vocabulary used by the immigration officials – ‘nobody’, ‘nowhere’, ‘no rights’ – is the vocabulary of the camp, of Guantanamo Bay; it is spatially and temporally removed, it is an explicit denial of existence. This border is a particularly dark instrument of control that plays on security fears to create social purgatory for those who fall into the profile.

The New York Times article makes for chilling reading, mainly because Ms. Ghuman is clearly (as admitted by officials at the time) the victim of a mistake. But this example could have been a lot worse. Ms. Ghuman could have been placed in a detention centre where her non-existence would be ever more difficult to challenge, where the not only the laws of the US are suspended but also those of her home country and the international community. This should be a wake up call for all of us, as anyone can be a victim of arbitrariness. If the study of borders can help us understand and critique instances like these then it is most definitely a worthwhile pursuit.