ABSTRACT
President Trump’s promise to build a ‘big, beautiful wall’ renews attention to the character of walling and the significance of technologies for state control particularly in times of uncertainty. His appeal highlights his ability to manipulate the liminality of his supporters who confront social and economic transformations. His election illustrates a victory for an ideology which values metaphorical and concrete walls as a means to a mythical security in contrast with traditional American myths associated with Lady Liberty, the frontier and Horatio Alger. While President Trump might not actually construct a 2000-mile border wall, the acceptance of the need for legal, institutional and material walling freezes people into separate communities and bounded spaces, and thereby limits possibilities for life. Within borders, the void overwhelms reality, allowing space for confusion and violence.
