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Lecture – The political agency of terrain in bordering
This lecture explores the conception of borders as a process co-constituted by the entanglement and interaction of multiple material entities, whether human or non-human. This perspective differs from the deterministic understanding of “natural borders”, as well as from the understanding of borders (and its materialization) as socially constructed and produced.…
New publication – Cultural Border Studies
With the implementation of cultural studies perspectives on borders, the spectrum of border studies has broadened considerably. This is reflected not only in the research questions and objects but also in the research approaches. In the recently published “Handbuch Kulturwissenschaftliche ‘Studies’” (Nesselhauf and Weber 2025), Cultural Border Studies is, for the first time, systematized and…
Lecture – Eco-frontiers, or the very nature of borders of nature (conservation)
What is the process that motivates humans to conquer a boundless, timeless and invaluable wilderness to serve their own political interests in control and territory building?
The ecological frontier (or eco-frontier) a neologism produced by a contemporary greened civil society, can be considered a new paradigm that embraces the mental representations and…
Lecture – Selective fencing at Denmark’s biological, politico-geographical, and genomic ‘borders’
This lecture tracks the regulation of the border crossings of pigs and people in and out of Denmark and makes an argument for investigating under one lens the biological, geographical, and genomic margins by which the nation defines itself.
It discusses three key areas: how pig breeding and human reproductive policies regulate biological ‘borders’; how wild…
Retrospective – The UniGR-CBS Anniversary Year 2024
In 2024, the UniGR-CBS as the first Interdisciplinary Center of Expertise of the University of the Greater Region, celebrated its tenth anniversary. Researchers, stakeholders, and partners from the Greater Region and beyond were invited to the events held throughout the year to mark this milestone.
The highlights of the anniversary year are:
April…
UniGR-CBS guest researcher: Dominik Gerst
The UniGR-CBS strengthens its network with international border scholars and welcomes researchers from other European countries and beyond regularly. The latest guest was Dominik Gerst, a sociologist and communication scholar from the University of Duisburg-Essen. During his two-week stay at the University of Luxembourg, he worked with Christian Wille on…
Lecture – The Darien Jungle: A Natural Frontier as a Moral Alibi? Unraveling Political and Media Instrumentalization of Migration Crossing the Colombia-Panama Border
This talk presents the Darien Jungle, often termed the "Tapon del Darien," as a pivotal site where geopolitical and humanitarian narratives intersect. Situated between Colombia and Panama, the jungle serves as a natural border traversed by over 500,000 migrants in 2023, seeking passage to the United States. Despite its portrayal in political and media discourses as a…
Review – International Study Day “The return of imperial borders?”
Discussing imperial borders and understanding current developments - that was the ambitious aim of twenty historians, geographers and cultural scientists who met at the Goethe University Frankfurt am Main from 4 to 6 November.
Numerous case studies of imperial borderizations were discussed, from the Roman Empire to the most recent expansionist efforts in Eastern Europe. Looking…