The UniGR-Center for Border Studies Border Textures working group was set up in 2015 to pursue and further develop the cultural orientation of Border Studies in the Greater Region. This research orientation focuses on the symbolic-social dimension of borders, which it addresses from both high and popular cultural angles and everyday cultural angles. To do this the working group has developed the Border Textures approach, which, as a methodology and heuristic, addresses the practises and discourses around borders with their actors, media, materialisations, effects, places and the complex interactions between them. The approach forms an instrument for analysis and refection that helps to understand the social and cultural workings and mechanisms of border (de)stabilisation.
There is significant renewed interest for borders. Empirical observation has shown that border stabilisations and destabilisations are multifaceted and are therefore increasingly perceived as complex processes. With this publication project, the 20 authors critically and productively address the concept of “border textures” in order to produce an analysis and reflection instrument likely to strengthen the complex research on borders from all angles.
