Undergraduate Course: A World of Borders (AFRI10006)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | New multi-disciplinary scholarship has drawn attention to borders and borderlands in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, shifting away from the privileged attention that North American and European cases have conventionally received. This course introduces students to the main strands of this scholarship, emphasizing the analytical and policy stakes of the debates they have generated. We will focus both on the 'big stories' of nation-state construction and the 'small stories' capturing the day-to-day experience of borders. Thematic sessions will be built on case studies on border dynamics in various parts of the world, while using these cases as the basis of comparative perspectives. |
| Course description |
The course provides an understanding of how borders are changing due to major transformations in the global political economy but also how borders often help explain these changes. The first weeks will introduce students to key concepts and theoretical positions. Course topics might include:
-spatial histories and colonial/postcolonial legacies,
-border making, conflict, violence and secessionism
-security and securitization
-urbanism, border cities and towns
-infrastructure and regional integration
-economies, cross border-trade and smuggling
-mobilities and migration
-border identities and cultures
Weekly lectures will be followed by interactive seminars (centred on audiovisual materials and class exercises to consolidate lecture materials) and tutorials (discussion loosely structured around previously announced guiding questions about required reading materials).
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of key theories and concepts relating to borders and borderlands and the disciplinary traditions in which they have originated
- Analyse competing perspectives in debates on the political, economic and cultural significance of borders and borderlands across the world
- Identify policy challenges and evaluate policy approaches developed to address those challenges in specific borders and borderlands
- Communicate knowledge and understanding of borders and borderlands
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Reading List
-Billé, F., & Humphrey, C. (2021) On the Edge: Life Along the Russia-China Border. Cambridge: Harvard UP.
-Donovan, K. (2021) Magendo: Arbitrage and Ambiguity on an East African Frontier, Cultural Anthropology 36 (1), 110-137.
-Ghosh, S. (2023) A Thousand Tiny Cuts: Mobility and Security across the Bangladesh-India Borderlands. Oakland: U of California P.
-Muñoz, J.-M., & Peña, E. (2025). The inconspicuous power of border festivals: insights from the Chad-Cameroon border. Journal of Borderlands Studies 40(4), 959-977
-Nugent, P. (1996) Arbitrary lines and the people's minds: a dissenting view on colonial boundaries in West Africa, in Nugent and Asiwaju (eds.), African Boundaries: Barriers, Conduits and Opportunities. London: Pinter. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Critical and reflective thinking abilities in approaching a significant range of the key theories, concepts and policies relating to borders and borderlands.
Skilled communication, both verbal (through participation in classroom activities and discussions) and written (through final essay) |
| Keywords | borders,borderlands,critical border studies,conflict security & development,global studies |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Jose Munoz Martin
Tel: (0131 6)51 5678
Email: J.Munoz@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | |
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