ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the role of music in border spaces and human displacement, contextualised with an examination of national borders, their form, function, and application. The paper leads with musical encounters from makeshift refugee camps in Calais, Northern France, documented by the author from 2015 to today, in 2023. Focusing on the Franco–British border, including references to ideas from Balibar, Agamben, Arendt, and Rancière, it simultaneously offers a critique of the border system, arguing that, rather than the naturally occurring lines we might imagine, borders are produced spaces of exception that extend beyond the edges of a country. The concept of a Certain Human’s Land is introduced, denoting a border space that is owned and ruled by certain people to the detriment of Others. Through extreme hardship, abuse, and dehumanising inequality, music persists. It is explored here, through examples, as a tool of resistance and resilience, including in momentary escape, reclamation of space and agency, and explicit political statement. The chapter is presented creatively, in three distinct voices: first person, human stories from the border; wider discussion, reflection and theory; and a series of Pieces (text scores to perform or reflect upon), inviting readers to explore these subjects in new ways.
