ABSTRACT
The 21st century is witnessing a reawakening of boundary disputes, most of them secondary to war and related social unrest. Many of these conflicts are residuals of the long-term Euro-American colonial wars that provided two world wars during the 20th century in addition to numerous “lesser” conflicts, such as Korea, Vietnam, the Balkan Wars (former Yugoslavia), and the Gulf Wars (Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan). Added to this list are conflicts in Africa, again among former European colonies, and continued disputes among members of the former Soviet Union. These conflicts are being addressed by the emerging Association of Border Studies, which provides research and insights from a number of academic disciplines, including geography, political sciences, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, and psychology. These studies generally address fixed borders, another Euro-American conceptualization stemming from the colonial era. Our work goes beyond fixed boundaries to include precolonial aboriginal or tribal societies as well as the psychology of geopolitical boundaries. Often ignored is the concept of sociocultural superiority imposed upon the colonized peoples and the intergenerational impact this has had. It is necessary to address contravening psychocultural differences among North America’s peoples, both historically and today, in order to better understand the “ethics” of border politics. This analysis also addresses race, ethnic, or sectarian divides as well.
