BIG_Review 4.2

Spring/Summer 2023

The long-awaited and much anticipated new issue of Borders in Globalization Review is here! This outstanding collection of scholarship and artwork enriches border studies and cultural reflections on (and against) borders, and it is available for free, in open access CC-BY-NC (except where stipulated).

Leading the issue, guest-editor Birte Wassenberg, historian and Europeanist, presents a Special Section with five research articles advanced from a doctoral seminar on Europe’s changing borders called Frontières en mouvement, or Frontiers in Motion. The papers (by scholars Claude Beaupré, Yaël Gagnepain, Nicolas Caput, Tobias Heyduk, and Morgane Chovet) illuminate diverse aspects of borders, cross-border governance, and the pursuit of continental integration. Together, the section works toward a more realistic assessment of European borders, demystifying euphemisms of ‘Europe without borders’ and moving beyond reductive binaries of open/closed or good/bad.

In the Chief Editor’s Choice Portfolio, readers experience the unsettling visual creations of Israeli artist Ariane Littman. Mapping the Wound: Feminine Gestures of Empathy and Healing (featured on the cover) curates years of performative art and multimedia sculpture in which Littman applies bandages and gauze to Israeli maps, landmarks, and citizens, treating subject and object alike as wounded and torn. The work is powerful and timely, as Israeli citizens have been protesting en masse since early 2023 the authoritarian overreach of the Netanyahu government; in this context, the Palestinian question is jarring, even when muted or unheard.

Following the special section and cover portfolio, readers are treated to an eclectic series of academic, artistic, and policy treatments of borders today. Our Poetry section features poems by Sotirios Pastakas and Dvora Levin with exquisite verses on the morbidity of borders. Our Art & Borders section brings you a special mixed-media collection called Embarked Lives, featuring Chilean artist Enrique Ramírez’s oceanic portrayals of cross-border migration. Readers are also treated to a Review Essay by a scholar of borders and film, Michael Dear, who constructs a history of the genre of US–Mexico-border cinema. And Malvika Sharma, student of border studies and native of the borderlands of Jammu and Kashmir, shares lived experiences of a homeland divided through the art form of Short Story, in a dreamy fiction inspired by real yearning and hope. Changing tempo, our Policy section presents two detailed reports on quite different technologies of cross-border governance, with Veasna Yong focusing on the behavioral technique of ‘nudging’ and Mary Isabel Delgado Caceres wading into the potentials of digital blockchain. This issue also features a Research Note in the form of an alternative map of the Canada–US border region, showing not the international boundary line but rather different kinds of Indigenous communities that straddle and thereby call it into question (even as the authors, Guntram H. Herb, Vincent Falardeau, and Kathryn Talano, are sensitive to their own adoption of settler knowledges and to themselves not being Indigenous). Readers will then enjoy two excellent Film Reviews of contemporary cinema showcasing the plights of refugees seeking access to European society, by borders scholars Şeyma Saylak and Natasha Sofia Martinez. Finally, the new issue closes with two Book Reviews: Michael J. Carpenter summarizes the contribution of Maurice Stierl’s important book Migrant Resistance, and Molly-Ann P. Taylor shines a light on Michel Hogue’s landmark Métis and the Medicine Line.

225 Years in the Making: How Canadian Universities Honour the Jay Treaty Through Cross-Border Tuition Policies

Michael O’Shea | 2022

Translation into Cree by Cameron Robertson: Cree Writer and storyteller.

Universities on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border can act on their historical Jay Treaty responsibilities to support Indigenous student success. In the last seven years, several Canadian universities have adopted policies that extend domestic tuition rates to Indigenous students living in the United States (U.S.), exempting them from international tuition fees. In doing so, the institutions referenced their responsibilities under the Jay Treaty of 1794, which recognizes the pre-existing right of Indigenous peoples to freely cross the U.S.-Canada border and engage in trade. While the United States does recognize the Jay Treaty — albeit with blood quantum and documentation requirements — the Canadian government does not. This brief policy explains how and why these universities adopted these policies and how other universities in Canada may follow suit, bringing their actions in line with their commitments to reconciliation and decolonization in the Trust and Reconciliation Commission (TRC, 2015) era.

Cree was chosen as a language of translation as it is one of the most commonly spoken Indigenous languages on Turtle Island (North America) —  despite centuries of colonial suppression. University of Saskatchewan, one of the case studies in the policy brief, is also located on Treaty Six territory and Homeland of the Métis. Treaty Six was signed between the British Queen and bands of Cree and Stoney First Nations. The author’s hope is that this translation is only the start in academia of funding and normalizing translation, appropriately and respectfully, into the many Indigenous languages of Turtle Island.

Michael O’Shea is a higher education practitioner and scholar. As a PhD candidate studying under Dr. Stephanie Waterman (Onondaga, Turtle Clan) at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, his research explores how Canadian universities can act on their historic Treaty obligations to better support Indigenous students across the U.S.-Canada border. He has been awarded a Fulbright student award and SSHRC graduate award for his research.

#15 BIG Podcast – “Indigenous Resurgence and Indigenous Internationalism”

featuring Jeff Ganohalidoh Corntassel – Professor in Indigenous Studies & Associate Director of CIRCLE, Victoria, BC, Canada

Indigenous nationhood movements are taking place worldwide in multiple ways and are all connected with the Indigenous resurgence. Indigenous autonomy and self-determination are fundamental to Indigenous resurgence. What are the effects of the Doctrine of Discovery on Indigenous Peoples? What are the Indigenous perspectives on International Relations Theory? Between the Buffalo Treaty, and the role of Indigenous Peoples in the Columbia River treaty renegotiation, Indigenous Peoples are using their internal sovereignty and external sovereignty to establish a stronger political and juridical self-determination. Elements of response and reflection with the Indigenous Scholar Jeff Ganohalidoh Corntassel.

Dr. Jeff Ganohalidoh Corntassel is a writer, teacher and father from the Cherokee Nation. He is a Professor in Indigenous Studies, and cross-listed Professor in the Political Science Department at the University of Victoria as well as Associate Director of the Centre for Indigenous Research and Community-Led Engagement (CIRCLE). Corntassel is a Co-PI with Dr. Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly on the 7-year SSHRC partnership grant entitled “21st Century Borders” and is the lead of Pillar 1 for that grant focusing on Indigenous Internationalism. Jeff’s research and teaching interests focus on “Everyday Acts of Resurgence” and the intersections between Indigenous internationalism, community resurgence, climate change, gender, and community well-being. situates his work at the grassroots with many Indigenous led community-based programs and initiatives ranging from local food movement initiatives, land-based renewal projects to gendered colonial violence and protection of homelands. He is currently completing work for his forthcoming book on Sustainable Self-Determination, which examines Indigenous climate justice, food security, and gender-based resurgence.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and the Podcast App!

#12 BIG Podcast – “Borderities and Territorialities of Indigenous Peoples”

featuring Brian Thom – Associate Professor in the department of Anthropology at the University of Victoria

Indigenous Peoples have a profound relationship with the land, the water and all the interlinked ecosystems. These relations are the basis of their conditions of existence and of their cultural, legal and political system. Better understanding this complexity of the existential interrelations of Indigenous peoples means better improving the government-to-government relationships and the consolidation of their sovereignties. It is also an opportunity to better understand the territorialities of Indigenous peoples and their types of borders. We discuss this with anthropologist Brian Thom.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and the Podcast App!

#7 BIG Podcast – “The Resilience of Indigenous Peoples Across Borders”

featuring Patrick Lozar – Assistant Professor in History, University of Victoria, British-Columbia, Canada

Borders between States are modern legal constructions. With colonial expansion, indigenous communities came to be cut into several pieces by many territorial boundaries. This is the case of the 49th parallel which serves as the border between Canada and the United States. How have indigenous peoples resisted the spatial imposition of these linear legal fictions? Elements of responses with the historian Patrick Lozar, specialist of the Indigenous Communities of the interior region of the NorthWest Pacific.

Les frontières entre Etats sont des constructions juridiques modernes. Avec l’expansion coloniale, de nombreuses limites territoriales sont venus coupées en plusieurs morceaux de nombreuses communautés indigènes. C’est le cas du 49e parallèle qui sert de frontière entre le Canada et les Etats-Unis. Comment les peuples indigènes ont-ils résistés face à l’imposition spatiale de ces fictions juridiques linéaires ? Eléments de réponses avec l’historien Patrick Lozar, spécialiste des Communautés Indigènes de la région intérieure du Pacifique Nord-Ouest.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and the Podcast App!

British Columbia’s Borders in Globalization

Nicole Bates-Eamer and Helga Hallgrimsdottir | Routledge | 2022

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Borderlands Studies. This book is a case-study collection examining the influences and functions of British Columbia’s (BC) borders in the 21st century; it examines bordering processes and the causes and effects of borders in the Cascadian region, from the perspective of BC. The chapters cover diverse topics including historical border disputes and cannabis culture and identity; the governance of transboundary water flows, migration, and pre-clearance policies for goods and people; and the emerging issue of online communities. The case studies provide examples that highlight the simultaneous but contradictory trends regarding borders in BC: while boundaries and bordering processes at the external borders shift away from the territorial boundary lines, self-determination, local politics, and cultural identities re-inscribe internal boundaries and borders that are both virtual and real. Moreover, economic protectionism, racial discourses, and xenophobic narratives, driven by advances in technology, reinforce the territorial dimensions of borders. These case studies contribute to the literature challenging the notion that territorial borders are sufficient for understanding how borders function in BC; and in a few instances they illustrate the nuanced ways in which borders (or bordering processes) are becoming detached from territory.

Whose Border? Contested Geographies and Columbia River Treaty Modernization

William Jesse Baltutis and Michele-Lee Moore | Journal of Borderlands Studies | 2019

This paper explores the links between contemporary bordering processes, Indigenous nations traditional territories, and transboundary water governance processes, using the case of the Columbia River Treaty (CRT) modernization process. We posit the Columbia River is shared not just by two nations, but also by multiple Indigenous nations with various inter-nation borders. To-date, the implications of this in practice do not appear to mean a re-imagination of borders, changes in legal authority for CRT renegotiation and implementation, or rethinking the state-centric institutions in which governance of the Columbia River is based. Three primary themes emerged from the empirical data that illustrate: (1) a reaffirmation of state-centric discourse on borders and bordering processes in CRT modernization, while (2) at the same time we see changes in the legal landscape in Canada and the U.S. that inform the obligations of colonial governments to move towards collaboration and shared governance with Indigenous nations on a government-to-government basis on issues impacting Indigenous interests. And, (3) emerging are the seeds of governance structures that seek to engage Indigenous nations within CRT renegotiation and implementation, including potentially providing a seat at the renegotiation table and including Indigenous nations within implementation structures for a modernized CRT.

Baltutis, William Jesse., and Michele-Lee Moore. “Whose Border? Contested Geographies and Columbia River Treaty Modernization.” Journal of Borderlands Studies (2019).

Bordering on Brexit: Views from Local Communities in the Central Border Region of Ireland / Northern Ireland

Katy Hayward | Queen’s University Belfast | 2017

The eight Member Councils areas of the Central Border Region include Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon; Fermanagh and Omagh; Mid Ulster and the counties of Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan and Sligo. The Region has a population of approximately 850,000 in 2011. This is a predominantly rural area, characterised by a dispersed population and distance from major urban centres. Approximately one third of the population live in settlements over 1,500 population; and two thirds in smaller settlements and open countryside. The Region accounts for 20% of the land area of the island of Ireland, with high quality landscapes of coastline, lakes, inland waterways and hills.

After generations of severe social, political, and economic challenges in the Central Border Region, not to mention the experience of violent conflict, the 21st century has begun to prove the viability and value of cross-border cooperation. Unremarkably and uncontroversially, cross-border connections have become a means of overcoming the dual challenges of underdevelopment and geographical peripherality. Economies of scale, small-step exports, social enterprise, cross-community projects, tourism initiatives, even bargain hunting – in the past fifteen years, habit of cross-border movement have been developing that have brought evident and practical gain. The European Union helped to create an environment that made such contacts easier; indeed, it did great deal to encourage it, as per the logic of the Single Market, legislative harmonisation and the European Regional Development Fund. Political parties of all hues have come to encourage local communities and businesses in the Border Region to make the most of such opportunities.

(Re)Defining Indigenous Economic Borders in British Columbia: An Examination of Forestry Revenue Sharing Policies in British Columbia

Astrid Niemann-Zajac | BIG Research Reports | #16

Throughout the past decade, the government of British Columbia (BC) has expressed a need for reconciliation and renewed positive relationships with Indigenous peoples in BC. However, rather than focusing on initiatives encouraging Indigenous resurgence, ‘reconciliation’ strategies are premised on the control and development of Indigenous territories and natural resources. Examples of efforts commonly thought of as geared towards reconciliation include modern day treaty agreements and self-government agreements. Recently though, the BC provincial government has made efforts toward renewing positive relationships in regards to revenue sharing agreements, particularly in the forestry industry. Forestry Consultation and Revenue Sharing Agreements (FCRSA) and Forestry Tenure Operation Agreements (FTOA) have been unilaterally developed by the Province with the hope of invoking the notion that Indigenous nations are being meaningfully consulted and fairly compensated for the timber that is being unjustly extracted and profited from, from unceded Indigenous territories. Signing one of these agreements forces Indigenous nations to concede to colonial notions of traditional territorial boundaries and provincial conditions for consultation and accommodation.

Astrid Niemann-Zajac

Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council (YRITWC)

Edda Mutter | BIG Research Reports | #32