ABSTRACT
Shedding light on the traditional features of borderwork, this interlude offers a detailed description of everyday life in the commercial sections of ports of entry at the Canadian land border. It focuses on the micro-geography of ports and its role in shaping customs’ image as a behind-the-scene, administrative and uneventful type of borderwork – a reality that, in turn, supports customs officers’ tendency to underplay their authority. This interlude then examines how the land border has long constituted a space of familiarity, where it was common for officers and border crossers to know each other from childhood. This sets the stage for the following chapters that expose how the port of entry is shaken to its core by the arrival of the smart border and of a new type of border officer.
