Geopolitics and memorialisation of borders

Abstract

Geopolitics pervades memorialisation of borders worldwide. Border heritage sites commonly form powerful geopolitical bordering by creating myths of division and difference to serve the nation-state, and secure hegemonic narratives. Attention to multiplicity and polyphony of border memorialisation voices reveals coincidence and collision of memories and spatial orders to form resistance to the illusionary hegemonic border. Multiple temporalities may accrue in different settings, and borders of memory occur where different understandings and ideas of national heritage sites or everyday border memorialisations meet. The memoryscapes shaped and enabled in processes of heritage making extend beyond time-bound renditions of linearity to open a wider conversation around the politics of border heritage, approach border memorialisation as spaces of encounter, possibility and hope and confront the touristic fascination and engagement with dark border heritage. In this Geopolitical Forum, 13 scholars of border heritage studies explore the global dimensions of border memorialisation and debate its impact.