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Title
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Lithuania at the borders : a visual and mixed-method study of border (in)visibilities in border spaces, discourses and experiences
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Author
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Abstract
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| In the last 20 years, the focus of border studies has shifted. It has moved from an exclusive nation-state lens to multiple perspectives of how the world is (b)ordered and how bordering regimes are experienced and co-created by different actors. This shift towards the theory of border multiplicity, contending that each border has multiple meanings based on individual experiences of different actors, has introduced the need to broaden and deepen our view on borders through an inquiry of narratives and discourses, which do not necessarily overlap with those of the geopolitical nation-state. This dissertation investigates alternative border discourses and their relation to the more dominant ones by focusing on border (in)visibilities, or on what and who are made visible or invisible in the border context, how, and to what end. Border (in)visibilities are maintained in dominant border discourses as a way to ritualise and re-affirm the (b)order. The dominant ways in which visibility and invisibility of various border elements (as well as actors) are maintained to reach concrete goals (e.g., delineating nation-states, grouping people and defining who is eligible to enter specific territories) have been well researched. However, the ways border (in)visibilities are adapted by – and to the individual needs of –those uniquely and individually experiencing borders and their created regimes (e.g., borderland inhabitants, dwellers and crossers) require a closer look. The focus on unique and personal uses of border (in)visibilities (shaping the visible border landscape, interpreting and using this landscape according to individual needs and narrating who and what should be (in)visible at the border) helps towards an understanding of the multitude of border meanings. It also sheds light on the alternative methodologies in border research. Through visual, linguistic landscaping and mixed methods, the case studies in this dissertation illuminate the ways border (in)visibilities are adapted, used and produced by various actors in the setting of several borderlands in/around Lithuania (Lithuania-Belarus, Lithuania-Poland and Lithuania-Kaliningrad region). The borders surrounding Lithuania exemplify different official regimes of proximity (inner EU and Schengen borders) and distance (external EU and Schengen borders), but the local views challenge these rigidly established ‘official’ types of contact. This yields a threefold relationship between dominant-hegemonic and their alternative border discourses: confrontation, where counter-hegemonic discourses oppose the official nation-state distinctions; alteration, or introducing alternatives to hegemonic border discourses; and appropriation, where hegemonic border discourses are accepted and used to seek own advantage. This dissertation aims to detach border (in)visibilities from officially proclaimed border discourses and to introduce other ways of how they can be and are used to maintain alternative border views, producing border multiplicity. |
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Language
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English
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Publication
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Antwerp
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University of Antwerp, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Communication Studies
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2022
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Volume/pages
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xi, 238 p.
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Note
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:
Pauwels, Luc [Supervisor]
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Full text (open access)
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