ABSTRACT
The author focuses on the fluidity of borders and scrutinizes identity production and reproduction through bordering, state power, citizenship and sovereignty but goes beyond these normative discussion points to consider more closely the emotional and other social connections among borderland peoples and communities on either side of, and across, international borderlines. He examines the emotional and social connections among borderland people through the prisms of border space and place, transfrontier cultures, as well as tourism and tourists as agents of cultural change in frontier regions. Borders are arenas for political action, frames of reference for interaction and spaces of emotionally charged narratives for different national groups. He examines the role of borderland liminality and in-betweenness in creating unique lives, spaces and interdependencies at national borders. He provides a great deal of empirical evidence in the chapter from the Ireland–UK border, which exudes a sense of fear in light of Brexit and the uncertainties associated with the future of the Irish border in light of cross-border mobility, trade, friendships, interdependence and identities.
