BIG Talk — The Seascape Unites Us: Tribal Journeys and Coastal Indigenous Relationality

with Dr. Rachel yacaaʔał George (Assistant Professor of Indigenous Studies at the University of Victoria) | Victoria, BC & Zoom | October 31, 2023

In Person: CFGS C168 (Sedgewick building, University of Victoria) or Zoom. The meeting will take place from 12:00pm to 1:30pm PST. Register in advance for this meeting here. Registration is free but required.

Generations of settler colonial policies have sought to sever Indigenous peoples from each other and their homelands and waters. Despite recent commitments to reconciliation, many of these harmful policies continue and are evidenced in the ongoing removal of Indigenous children, and the pushing through of various extractive industry projects. These moves attempt to erase understandings of justice and self-determination that explore the intimate connection between lands, waters, and bodies. As coastal Indigenous nations—as nuučaańuł and Coast Salish peoples—we are intimately connected to our waters. We endure, guided by our kinship and deeply embedded in our relationality, responsibilities, and reciprocity. Drawing on two summers traveling with Kwumut Lelum during Tribal Journeys, this talk centers Indigenous youth experiences and voices on the annual canoe journey bringing together nations along the Pacific. Through their reflections and personal experience, this talk explores how we resist colonial violence and erasure by honouring and renewing our relationality to each other and the water that sustains us.

Rachel yacaaʔał George is nuučaańuł of Ahousaht and Ehattesaht First Nations and grew up in the Metro Vancouver area of British Columbia on the territories of the Qayqayt, Musqueam, Skwxwú7mesh, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. She holds a BA in History and English from the University of Victoria, an MA in Genocide Studies from the University of Amsterdam, and a PhD in Indigenous Governance from the University of Victoria. She specializes in Indigenous politics—particularly on Indigenous conceptions of justice and their intersections with projects of reconciliation. Her current areas of research include coastal Indigenous governance, relationality, resurgence, and storytelling.

BIG Talk — The Seascape Unites Us: Tribal Journeys and Coastal Indigenous Relationality

#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 PodcastsSpotify, YouTube, and the Podcast App!

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

Academic Partner – University of Victoria

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. Jeff 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.

Jeff Ganohalidoh Corntassel

Program Overview

The 21st Century Borders grant is a seven-year SSHRC Partnership Grant. The research program builds off the work of the previous Borders in Globalization SSHRC Partnership Grant (2013-2020) which sought to understand the changing nature of borders through six thematic areas in order to document how state-centred and territorially-fixated research limits our understanding of borders. 21st Century Borders builds off the work done in the first grant with the goal of exploring and advancing the required epistemological shift from a state- centric and territorial logic to nodal and mobile logics that focus on both the internal and external forces that challenge the territorial integrity of states. While the first grant revealed the limitations of state-centred and territorially bound understanding of borders, this grant seeks to understand how we, as academics and policymakers, can move beyond that model.

We do this by focusing on three interrelated themes:

  • Pillar 1: Looking inside of states at how Indigenous awareness and resurgences, along with increasingly prevalent politics of nationhood and nationalism, affect, fragment, and re-draft intergovernmental relations.
  • Pillar 2: Examining the relationship between bordering processes and states’ territoriality, with particular attention paid to examining trade flows and human mobility – both within a states’ international boundaries and across international and transnational legal and regulatory regimes.
  • Comparing how the politics in both the above-mentioned cases affect the geopolitics of borders across global regimes.

Program Structure

The grant itself is comprised of two parallel research pillars. Pillar one, led by Jeff Corntassel, and pillar two, led by Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly. While these two pillars work parallel to each other within the grant, the conceptual knowledge base and program understandings will flow between the two pillars and through into country specific case-studies. The two vertical pillars are cross-sectioned by two overarching themes: ecology and security. These themes will address issues of both ecology and security from within the contexts of the two primary pillars. Additionally, partners in the grant may choose to use their expertise to focus on country-specific case studies.

Pillar 1

Nationhood & Nationalism

Pillar one explores how claims of nationhood and nationalism exist in the Indigenous and regionalist experiences in borderlands. There is a growing body of literature that examines Indigenous nationhood claims and another, separate, body literature that looks at regionalist and nationalist claims in Europe. The goal of this pillar is to bridge the gap between these two literatures and explore how claims of nationhood and nationalist claims are similar, how they are different, and how they factor into claims of Indigenous self-determination. Through the work done here, this project examines ways that Indigenous nations, communities, and peoples challenge the territoriality of states and other patriarchal institutions in order to generate new understandings of how Indigenous relationships develop and persist beyond boundaries. By interrogating terms such as nationhood, international, self-determination, and borders, this project seeks to advance a deeper understanding of how these terms and relationships are viewed from diverse Indigenous perspectives. View the full vision statement.

Pillar 2

Territory & Connectivity

While pillar one deals with issues of territory, pillar two deals with issues of human mobility and trade flows by identifying and examining the instruments and infrastructures of connectivity. This includes structures, regulations, and functions of borders. Research occurring in this pillar may focus on issues such as pre-border clearance mechanisms, the externalization of borders, state-to-state security agreements, integrated border management regimes, strategies for preserving life in cross-border regions during crises. (List is not exhaustive and new projects will be reviewed by the academic and international advisory boards annually).

Partnership Composition

21st Century Borders is funded by a seven-year Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Partnership Grant. In addition to funding from SSHRC, our academic partners contribute matching funding and our non-academic partners provide cash and in-kind support for research and knowledge mobilization activities. This project is directed by Dr. Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly at the University of Victoria (Victoria, Canada) and co-lead by Dr. Jeffrey Corntassel (University of Victoria). The academic partnership consists of eight Canadian university partners: Carleton University, École Nationale d’Administration Publique, Royal Military College of Canada, Trent University, Université du Québec à Montréal, Laval, Flemming College, and the University of Victoria; and six international university partners: Radboud University (The Netherlands), Université de Grenoble (France), University of Southern Denmark, South Asia University (India); Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil), and Western Washington University.

Our policy partners include: the Canada Border Services Agency, the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region (USA/Canada), the Association of European Border Regions (Europe), the World Customs Organization (Brussels), Transfrontier Euro-Institut Network – TIEN (Europe), Mission Opérationnelle Transfrontalière – M.O.T (France).

Research Affiliates

The 21st Century Borders research partnerships includes a number of scholars from around the world working with us on a variety of different projects. This list is updated regularly as we add new projects and expand the partnership.

Aileen Espiritu (UiT The Arctic University of Norway); Alan Bersin (Harvard University); Alex Buhk (Victoria University of Wellington); Amael Cattaruzza (Institut Français de Géopolitique); Budd Hall (University of Victoria); Can Mutlu (Acadia University); Daniel Meier (PACTE); Eve Tuck (University of Toronto); Evert Lindquist (University of Victoria); Fabienne Leloup (UCLouvain); Francisco Lara-Valencia (Arizona State University); Frédérique Berrod (Université de Strasbourg); Glen Coulthard (University of British Columbia); Guadalupe Correo Cabrera (George Mason University); Heidi Stark (University of Victoria); Irasema Coronado (Arizona State University); Isabel Altamirano-Jiménez (University of Alberta); Jamie Ferrill (Charles Stuart University); Katy Hayward (Queen’s University Belfast); Michelle Daigle (University of British Columbia); Mirza Zulfiqur Rahman (Institute of Chinese Studies – Delhi); Naomi Chi (Hakkaido University); Said Saddiki (Université Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdallah); Simon Dalby (Wilfrid Laurier University); Tamara Krawchenko (University of Victoria); Whitney Lackenbauer (University of Waterloo).

Funding Partners

BIG Inaugural Conference

Abstracts

Carleton | 2014

Donald Alper (Western Washington University)
Perimeters and Frontiers: Evolving Border Governance on the Canada-US border

William Anderson (University of Windsor)
Passenger Car Flows Across the Canada-US Border: The Effect of 9/11

David Atkinson (Purdue University)
Sovereignty at the Border: A Historical Perspective

Christopher Brown (New Mexico State University) and Asim Zia (University of Vermont)
Environmental diplomacy & community-based efforts to enhance resilience of the Lake Champlain Basin Ecosystem

Mert Coskan (Carleton)
“”Illegal Aliens” and the Inconspicuous Geographies of US Immigration and Border Policing within 100 Miles of the US-Canada Border

Karine Cote-Boucher (Université de Montréal)
Becoming a Border Officer: A Changing Apprenticeship

Simon Dalby (Wilfrid Laurier University)
Borders, Boundaries and Sustainability in the Anthropocene

Michael Darroch (University of Windsor)
1950s Media and Communication Studies across the Canada-US Border

Jay Drydyk (Carleton)
Ethics across Borders: the Concept of Global Ethics

Furio de Angelis (Representative in Canada, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees)
“Refugee Protection and the Management of International Borders: Challenges and Good Practices”

Simona Epasto (University of Macerata, Italy)
Borders, security and globalization: comparison between the border policies of North America and the European Union

Greg Finnegan (Yukon Research Centre)
New Northern Borders: Analyzing the Growth of Aboriginal Public Administration in Yukon and its impacts on the economy and self-determination

Geoffrey Hale (University of Lethbridge)
Engaging Market Flows, Borders and Globalization in Alberta: Switzerland or Uganda?

Geoffrey Hale (University of Lethbridge)
Market Flows, Migration, and Territoriality: Managing Multi-Dimensional Complexity Amid the Challenges of Continuing “Fragmegration” “

Charles Heller and Lorenzo Pezzani (Center for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths, University of London)
Liquid Traces: Investigating the Deaths of Migrants at the EU’s Maritime Frontier

Michel Hogue (Carleton)
Plains Indigenous Peoples and the Shaping of Nineteenth-Century Canada-U.S. Relations

Colin Howell and Heidi Weigand (Saint Mary’s University)
Northeastern Sporting Borderlands and the Globalization Process: Virtual, Theoretical and Geographical Borders and the Contested Nature of Representative Identities

Michael Ircha (Carleton and University of New Brunswick)
Borders as Social, Cultural and Economic Divides. A Reflection on Canada’s Maritime Provinces

Michael Ircha (Senior Advisor, Association of Canadian Port Authorities)
Protectionism at the Border. Canadian Ports and the U.S. Harbor Maintenance Tax

Manina Jones (University of Western Ontario)
Border Noir: Crime Fiction and the Representation of Borders and Bodies

Reece Jones (University of Hawaii)
The Violence of Borders

Harlan Koff (University of Luxembourg) and Carmen Maganda (INECOL)
Balancing Regulation with Security in the Balance: How Public Policies Affect Cross-Border Human and Environmental Security

Elaine Koren (Public Safety Canada)
Fusion Centres in Selected Countries

Jussi Laine (University of Eastern Finland)
New Old Neighbourhood: Fear and paranoia at the Finnish-Russian Interface

Frédéric Lasserre (Université Laval)
The Management of the Canada – USA Border: the Case of the Border Villages in Quebec

Fréderic Lasserre (Université Laval) and Stéphane Roussel (ENAP)
« Code postal H0H 0H0 ». Le Pôle nord comme enjeu et objet des revendications canadiennes dans l’Arctique

Daniel Macfarlane (Carleton)
The International Joint Commission, Sustainability, and Great Lakes Water: A Historical Appraisal

Anelynda Mielke (Carleton)
Showing Border Identities. How Art & Media Portray ‘Crossers’ in Canada and the United States

Richard Mueller (University of Lethbridge)
Assessing Labour and Skills Shortages in Canada: A Knowledge Synthesis

Heather Nicol (Trent University)
Globalization and its Territorial Context in the Territorial North

Joseph Nyemah (Government of Nova Scotia)
Does Culture Matter When Refugees are Crossing Borders: The Case of Liberian Refugees in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Joseph Nyemah (Government of Nova Scotia)
What is Culture: A Critical Review of the Literature

Tony Payan and and Pamela L. Cruz (Rice University)
Crossborder Governance on the U.S.-Mexico Border

John Reid (Saint Mary’s University)
Indigenous Historical Centrality and the Significance of Borders in Early Modern Northeastern North America

Bernard Reitel and Francois Moullé (Université of Artois, France)
Experience in networking Border Studies:Institute of Borders and Discontinuities (IFD)

Bernard Reitel and Francois Moullé (Université of Artois, France)
Cross-border Metropolitan Regions in Europe: integration, governance and rescaling

Lee Rodney (University of Windsor)
Logistics Inverted: art, psychogeography and traffic management after NAFTA

Rebecca Sciarra, Annie Veilleux and Joel Konrad (Archaeological Services Inc.)
Regional Borders and Cultural Heritage in Ontario

Lindsay Scorgie Porter (University of Western Ontario)
The Allied Democratic Forces: Islamist Militants or Borderland Rebels?

Stephanie Soiffer (Carleton)
Expanding the Debate: The Effect of Reserve Borders on National and Human Security in Canada

Scott Stephenson (University of Connecticut)
“Trans-border shipping in the North American Arctic”

Aleksandra Szaflarska (Wilfrid Laurier University)
Boundaries in Terrestrial Protected Areas: How and where we draw the lines

Laurie Trautman (Western Washington University)
Border Issues for Washington State

Tiffany Vinci (Carleton)
Adapting Sustainably to Climate Change at the Canada/U.S. Border: Assessing the Role of IJC Stakeholder Engagement

Joni Virkkunen (University of Eastern Finland)
Integration and Everyday Conflict: Ambivalent Borders of the post-Soviet Central Asia

William Walters, Professor of Political Science and Sociology, Carleton
The Art of Bordering

Cindy Warwick (International Joint Commission)
The International Joint Commission: Facing the challenges of transboundary water management

Randy Widdis (University of Regina)
History, Borders and the Borderlands

Randy Widdis
Research Directions for the Prairies/Plains Region

Ugur Yildiz (Carleton)
Precarity’ of the Territorialized State: Individuals Re-Shaping and Re-Drawing the Imagined Borders

Co-Principal Investigator | Pillar 1: Indigenous Internationalism & Nationhood

Jeff Corntassel

2021-Present

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.

Jeff Corntassel

Publication Highlights

AlterNative An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples

Everyday Indigenous Resurgence During COVID-19: A Social Media Situation Report

For Indigenous Nations on Turtle Island (Canada and the USA), the onset of COVID-19 has exacerbated food insecurity and adverse health outcomes. This situation report examines ways that Indigenous peoples on Turtle Island have met the challenges of the pandemic in their communities and their daily practices of community resurgence through social media. Drawing on the lived experiences of four Indigenous land-based practitioners, we found that social media can offer new forms of connection for Indigenous peoples relating to our foods, lands, waterways, languages, and our living histories.

Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society

Re-envisioning Resurgence: Indigenous Pathways to Decolonization and Sustainable Self-determination

By drawing on several comparative examples of resurgence from Cherokees in Kituwah, Lekwungen protection of camas, the Nishnaabe-kwewag “Water Walkers” movement, and Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) revitalization of kalo, this article provides some insights into contemporary decolonization movements. The politics of distraction is operationalized here as a potential threat to Indigenous homelands, cultures and communities, and the harmful aspects of the rights discourse, reconciliation, and resource extraction are identified, discussed, and countered with Indigenous approaches centered on responsibilities, resurgence and relationships. Overall, findings from this research offer theoretical and applied understandings for regenerating Indigenous nationhood and restoring sustainable relationships with Indigenous homelands.

International Review of Education

Educate to Perpetuate: Land-based Pedagogies and Community Resurgence

The authors of this article examine ways in which land-based pedagogies can challenge colonial systems of power at multiple levels, while being critical sites of education and transformative change. Drawing on a multi-component study of community practices in the Cherokee Nation conducted by the second author, this article examines strategies for fostering what have been termed “land-centred literacies” as pathways to community resurgence and sustainability. The findings from this research have important implications for Indigenous notions of sustainability, health and well-being and ways in which Indigenous knowledge can be perpetuated by future generations.

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.

British Columbia’s Borders in Globalization

Borders in Globalization Partnership Grant (2013-2020)

Hadrian’s Wall – Photo Credit: Dr. Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly

About the program:

The Borders in Globalization program began in 2013 thanks to a seven-year Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Grant. In addition to funding from SSHRC, our academic partners contributed matching funding and our non-academic partners provided cash and in-kind support. This project was directed by Dr. Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly at the University of Victoria (Victoria, Canada) and was co-directed by Dr. Victor Konrad from Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada). The academic partnership consisted of ten university partners: Carleton, école Nationale d’Administration Publique, Lethbridge, Ottawa, Regina, RMCC, Sherbrooke, Trent, Université du Québec à Montréal, and Wilfrid Laurier; and eleven from around the world: Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez (Mexico), Ben-Gurion University (Israel), Radboud University (The Netherlands), Queen’s University Belfast, University of Eastern Finland, Université de Grenoble (France), University of Luxembourg, University of Southern Denmark, The University at Buffalo (SUNY), and Western Washington University.

The Borders in Globalization (BIG) Research Partnership sought to understand the changing nature of borders through six thematic areas (culture, flows, governance, history, sustainability, security). Our outstanding colleagues, located across Canada and around the world, documented how state-centered and territorially-fixated research limits our understanding of borders. We worked with policy makers through summer institutes, conferences, policy forums, and participated in their own activities to present our comparative and policy relevant research. Over its lifespan, BIG trained and mentored about 100 senior undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral fellows; organized 11 summer institutes and three major international conferences; and produced over 100 scholarly publications and policy briefs, dozens of videos, and an ongoing open online course. These activities resulted in a strong partnership and relationships between our academic and non-academic teams who have now been working together constructively for several years. For example, a direct result of BIG is an ongoing partnership between the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the University of Victoria. This partnership features the inclusion of CBSA policy questions into coursework, the development of policy-relevant research questions for student research, and a UVic-CBSA co-hosted summer school bringing together policy-makers, public/private sector actors, academics, and students.  With the funding from SSHRC, we were able to leverage over $1.8 million other funds from partners around the world, including several grants from the European Commission’s Jean Monnet Programme. Partnerships and collaborations established across our network during BIG continue into the future, including an innovative online open-source journal, The BIG_Review. BIG_Review provides a forum for academic and creative explorations of borders in the 21st century. BIG_Review publishes scholarship (academic articles, essays, research notes, book reviews, and film reviews) as well as artwork (photography, painting, poetry, short stories, and more). The journal is committed to academic peer review, public access, policy relevance, and cultural significance.

Research Agenda:

The original Borders in Globalization (BIG) partnership was an innovative, integrative, and sustainable network of academic partners from Canada, the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, which was engaged with non-academic organizations that are involved in the management of borders and borderlands in Canada and worldwide. Border studies are global in reach, and so we ground our core partnership in Canada and associate with key research centers worldwide.  This provided support for a global policy-research agenda that serves Canadian interests.

The goal was to build excellence in the knowledge and understanding of borders.  To this end, the partners worked together to create new policy and foster knowledge transfer in order to address such globalization forces as security, trade and migration flows, and also to understand the forces of technology, self-determination and regionalization that are affecting borders and borderlands in regions around the world. Our program of research placed Canadian scholars at the core of an international partnership, with the objectives of developing policy and knowledge from an international perspective and thus developing professional and academic training. A central tool to this end was round-tables between policy makers and academics that inform all our work from its inception; Round-tables lead to research, policy forums, summer schools, conferences, policy reports, briefs and books, and inform both theory and practice related to orders. 

Our research was interdisciplinary across all social sciences, and was organized around a few critical themes that frame key discussions: self-determination, governance complexity, local culture, political clout, market and migration flows, and borders in motion. Policy makers, policy activists and social scientists needed more than the existing partial – narrowly defined or territorially limited – explanations of border issues that are available. They needed to go beyond, for example, the study of the internal and external borders of the European Union or the study of the maritime borders of Japan. This research program moved the field forward by developing a global scholarship to theoretical conceptual thinking on borders, while privileging the practical issues that policy-makers face daily.

You can view all events and outputs from this project on the events and outputs page. You can find more information on each research themes including research questions and background information at the links below. The regional studies covered each of the six themes and the goal of each regional study was to be comparable across regions and remain policy relevant within each region.

Project Reports

2018-2020

Final Report

We are currently drafting our final report. Expected publication date: Winter 2022.

2016-2017

Program Report

2013-2015

Program Report

Research Affiliates

The Borders in Globalization research partnership included over 100 scholars from around the world working with us on our research agenda. We would like to thank them all for their contributions to the Borders in Globalization grant and to helping further the field of border studies.

Akihiro Iwashita (Hokkaido University, Japan); Amael Cattaruzza (Centre de recherches des Ecoles de Coëtquidan, France); Barry Prentice (University of Manitoba); Ben Muller (King’s College, University of Western Ontario); Bernard Reitel (Institut des Frontières et des Discontinuités (IFD), Université d’Artois, France); Beverly Diamond (Memorial University); Bidisha Biswas (Western Washington University, USA); Brennan Gillis (Mitacs, Atlantic); Bruno Dupeyron (University of Regina); Cathal McCall (Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland); Cedric Parizot (Aix-Marseille University, France); Charles-Philippe David (L’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)); Christopher Kukucha (University of Lethbridge); Colin Howell (Saint Mary’s University); Dan Lynch (Dalhousie University); Danny Blair (University of Winnipeg); David Atkinson (Purdue University, USA); David Black (Dalhousie University); David Davidson (Western Washington University, USA); David Good (University of Victoria); David Grondin (University of Ottawa); David Long (Carleton University); David Miller (University of Regina); Donna Townley (University of Lethbridge); Doug Ramsey (Brandon University); Edward Boyle (Kyushu University, Japan); Emily Gilbert (University of Toronto); Evelyn Mayer (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany);  Heather Exner-Pirot (University of Saskatchewan); Francois Moullé (Institut des Frontières et des Discontinuités (IFD), Université d’Artois, France); Frédéric Giraut (Université de Genève, Switzerland); Frédéric Lasserre (Université Laval); Greg Anderson (University of Alberta); Grégory Hamez (Université de Lorraine, France); Guy Saez (Sciences Po Grenoble, France); Hastings Donnan (Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland); Heidi Weigand (Saint Mary’s University); Himanshu Grover (State University New York, Buffalo, USA); James Scott (University of Eastern Finland, Finland); JC Boucher (Dalhousie University); Jeff Corntassel (University of Victoria); Jennifer Andrews (University of New Brunswick); Jessica Shadian (University of Lapland, Finland); Jill Hobbs (University of Saskatchewan); Jill Kerr (University of Saskatchewan); Jiyoung Park (SUNY Buffalo); Joël Plouffe (L’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)); John Lehr (University of Winnipeg); John Reid (Saint Mary’s University); John Schoales (Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and Sport); Joseph Nyemah (Nova Scotia Economic, Rural, Tourism Development); Cedric Juillet (Trent University); Kathryn Friedman (SUNY Buffalo); Katy Hayward (Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland); Kevin Quigley (Dalhousie University); Laetitia Rouviere (Carleton University); Lassi Heininen (University of Lapland, Finland); Laura MacDonald (Carleton University); Lee Rodney (University of Windsor); Marie-Christine Fourny (Université Joseph Fourier (Grenoble 1), France); Martin Geiger (Carleton University); Martin Pratt (Bordermap Consulting); Matthew Schnurr (Dalhousie University); Melissa Kelly (Carleton University -former BIG Post-Doc); Michael Darroch (University of Windsor); Michael Ircha (Carleton University); Oliver Schmidtke (University of Victoria); Paul Storer (Western Washington University); Peter Nyers (McMaster University); Peter Stoett (Concordia University); Richard Mueller (University of Lethbridge); Rob Huebert (University of Calgary); Rob McInnes (Port of Halifax); Robert Lecker (McGill University); Robert Young (University of Western Ontario); Rod Dobell (University of Victoria); Ron Williamson (ASI); Ross Burkhart (Boise State University); Ruben Zaiotti (Dalhousie University); Sarah Mekdjian (Universite Pierre-Mendes France, France); Sarah Zell (University of British Columbia); Stephane Paquin (ENAP); Steven Schwinghammer (Pier 21 Immigration Museum); Susan Gray (Arizona State); Suzanne Lalonde (Université de Montréal); Thomas Cantens (World Customs Organization); Tim Porter (Council of Atlantic Premiers); Todd Hately (Royal Military College); Whitney Lackenbauer (University of Waterloo); William Anderson (University of Windsor); William Kerr (University of Saskatchewan); William Straw (McGill University); William Walters (Carleton University); Yale Belanger (University of Lethbridge); Yukari Takai (York University).

Funders & Academic Partners