ABSTRACT

This chapter presents two overriding theoretical approaches in border studies, namely liminality and borders-as-margins, are reviewed and singled out for their strengths and limitations for this study. Then, these threads are developed to show how the analysis of community and change could be pinpointed on the spatiality of border regions, embedded in networks of symbolic and economic exchanges. The illegalization of cross-border exchange practices by the law enforcers in fact contributes to the marginalization of poor border dwellers. Ethnography at the state margins may also contribute to our knowledge of state territorialization and sovereignty by focusing on the goods and people that weave in and out of legality. The "borders-as-margins" approach draws on the post-modern theories of power—such as biopolitics and affect—in order to inquire into the micro-realities of the state–society relations. The chapter explores to border studies in the Middle Eastern/Turkish context.