June 09 – 11, 2022 Marburg Centre for Canadian Studies University of Marburg, Germany
Deadline: January 15, 2022
https://www.uni-marburg.de/de/fb10/mzks/journeys-across-b-orders-in-canadian-studies
It has almost become a truism that the Covid19-Pandemic has thrown the notion of borders into greater relief once again. While borders between states were closed to people and traffic, the virus was able to transgress geographical and political borders as well as bodily borders, thus not only journeying across borders but also effecting a change in ordering systems and apparently stable orders. Such transgressions, which revealed the vulnerability of b/orders, present an interesting contrast to people’s inability to travel that ties in with the general idea that journeys appear as a dynamic movement, whereas b/orders seem to be stable constructs. In fact, journeys and borders, as well as systems of order, can be considered concepts that determine one another when we regard journeys across b/orders as transgressive movements that highlight the existence of physical as well as conceptual borders. So, while the concept of the border is often understood as a principle imposing and maintaining order, a matter of stability, Johan Schimanski and Stephan Wolfe insist on perceiving the border as “dynamic, a phenomenon constantly undergoing processes of both fixing and blurring” (2017). Moreover, journeys impact on the understanding/self-image of nation and individual, belief in liberal values, human rights, the other and the notion of belonging or the co-dependency between Global North/ South. Therefore, journeys across borders bring about unique narratives and questions.
Borders, as conceptual as well as highly visible lines that structure orders, realms and places, have always been at the heart of political, social or cultural endeavours and struggles. For example, only four years before the pandemic intervened in orders across the globe, borders and ideas of order became highly visible in migrants’ and refugees’ attempts to reach places they hoped would provide them with safety from war, hunger, and violence and with a better life. The interplay of bodies and borders in migration or their reciprocal definition and determination highlight how movements produce meaning and raise awareness of material borders and bodies. Such movements raise the question on whether the body of the migrant de/stabilizes the b/order – a question that cannot be limited to geographical journeys but that also includes metaphorical ones (inward/ outward).