ABSTRACT
Borders separate "us" from "them". The life we live on our side is different from the life of those on the other. The preservation of this difference is regulated by border-crossing points. These points allow us to meet "them", to become aware of our culture as we stand at the point of difference, the border. This chapter is about how borders are constructed, and how space has been restructured, after the Cold War. In concrete terms it is about the border between North Karelia, Finland and the Karelian Republic, Russia. It is about a border that was closed for 70 years in spite of the common collective experience of Karelian culture. The border now allows the mobility of not only timber and goods but also people and ideas. The chapter explains how the Iron Curtain has been reconstructed into a zone of economic cooperation, although a number of barriers still exist.
