Territoriality

Performing Schengen: myths, rituals and the making of European territoriality beyond Europe

by Ruben Zaiotti

Review of International Studies April 2011 Vol. 37 No.2 : pp 537-556

Myth-making has historically been an essential component of the modern state's quest for territorial control and... more Myth-making has historically been an essential component of the modern state's quest for territorial control and legitimacy. As a sui generis post-national political entity in search for identity and recognition, the European Union (EU) seems to mimicking its more established national counterpart. By formulating and reproducing a narrative that hails Europe's border control regime (‘Schengen’) as a success story of European integration and by deploying evocative imagery at Europe's common borders, the EU is in fact trying to establish itself as an integral part of the European political landscape. This article argues that what we are witnessing today in Europe is indeed the emergence of the ‘myth of Schengen’; however, the regime's mythopoiesis goes beyond the EU's official narrative and symbolic representations. To capture the full range of actors, locations and activities involved in the establishment and reproduction of this post-national myth, it is necessary to shift the attention to the performative dimension of this process. To support this argument, the article relies on the insights of anthropological and sociological works that have emphasised the role of rituality and performativity in constituting social structures and identities. These insights are then applied to examine the rituals and performances characterising four cases of ‘unofficial’ Schengen myth-making beyond Europe: a hotel in Beijing, street kids in Kinshasa, a British music band, and a group of Eastern European artists.

Mundane physical law - a series

by Luke Bennett

In this series of papers and blog-essays I'm looking at the role of material artefacts in the expression of mundane... more In this series of papers and blog-essays I'm looking at the role of material artefacts in the expression of mundane law of territoriality, pedestrian channelling, safety and use-control. Technologies investigated so far have included parapets, railings, bollards, studs and jagged pavers. This series seeks to side-step the 'obvious' focus upon gated communities, and instead look at more subtle (and less 'total') forms of spatial shaping. These studies also look at how ownership is enacted at the day-to-day level, and with particular regard to how these spatial practices express in under-used and 'waste-land' settings.

Territoriality and Order in the North of Ireland

by Niall O Dochartaigh

The Territorialization of Power in the Icelandic Commonwealth

by Sverrir Jakobsson

A draft version of an article published in Statsutvikling i Skandinavia i middelalderen, eds. Sverre Bagge, Michael H. Gelting, Frode Hervik, Thomas Lindkvist & Bjørn Poulsen (Oslo 2012), 101-18.

It's Still About the Power of Place

by helga tawil-souri

Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, Volume 5, Number 1, 2012 , pp. 86-95

Against the claim that the uprisings in Egypt were driven by social media, this article argues that territorial place... more Against the claim that the uprisings in Egypt were driven by social media, this article argues that territorial place continues to be a fundamentally important aspect of political change—even within the realm of media. Two key arguments are made: first, that territoriality and place are integral to media networks and infrastructures themselves; and second, that media studies needs to give greater importance to such a geography. The author argues that while the uprisings displayed a shifting spatiality, it is nonetheless one that is rooted in real places and embodied practices.

De los “no lugares” a los espacios sociales conminados: una cartografía de la identidad laboral en un hotel “todo incluido” del Caribe Mexicano

by Luis Alberto Velasco Ruiz

On Religiosity and Spatiality: Lessons from Hezbollah in Beirut

by Mona Harb

in AlSayyad N. and Massoumi M. (eds), The Fundamentalist City? Religiosity and the Remaking of Urban Space, London: Routledge, pp.125-154 (2010).

La Dâhiye de Beyrouth: Parcours d'une stigmatisation urbaine, consolidation d'un territoire politique

by Mona Harb

in Genèses, 51: 70-91 (2003).

As Noções de Territorialidade e Supraterritorialidade fragmentos de um debate

by Eduardo Karol

Mapping Scale Change: hierarchization and fission in Castilian rural communities during the tenth and eleventh centuries

by Julio Escalona

Escalona, Julio: 'Mapping Scale Change: hierarchization and fission in Castilian rural communities during the tenth and eleventh centuries', in People and Space in the Middle Ages (300-1300), ed. Wendy Davies, Guy Halsall and Andrew Reynolds (Turnhout: Brepols, 2006) 143-66.

The typical medieval image of the local community, with defined territorial boundaries, social community bonds and a... more The typical medieval image of the local community, with defined territorial boundaries, social community bonds and a religious dimension as parish is pervasive in both the sources and the literature. Despite being generally admitted that such a model only became fully implemented as late as the eleventh century, this pattern often tends to be projected upon the earlier period, thus shaping our understanding of those less well-documented situations. This paper argues for consideration of a more complex early medieval pattern than is commonly admitted, and one in which the coexistence of multiple nested levels of territorial articulation provided the main framework for local sociability. Quite often, this can only be perceived by studying the traces of how larger territorial units became fragmented into the local territories that are typical of the later period. In doing so, the tenth centiry emerges as a critical period in which many of the earlier territorial and settlement structures began to change, although the outcome did not fully crystalize before the late eleventh century.

Aproximación a un análisis comparativo de la territorialidad en los siglos IX-XI: el Territorium legionensis y el Condado de Castilla

by Julio Escalona

Escalona, Julio: "Aproximación a un análisis comparativo de la territorialidad en los Siglos IX-XI: el Territorium legionensis y el Condado de Castilla", en Monasterios, espacio y sociedad en la España Medieval Cristiana, ed. José Ignacio De la Iglesia Duarte, (Logroño: Instituto de Estudios Riojanos, 2010) 273-94.

(NB: The bibliography appended is that of the whole volume, and is structured in thematic blocks).

This paper compares the territorial structures in the County of Castile and the "territorium Legionensis"... more This paper compares the territorial structures in the County of Castile and the "territorium Legionensis" (the area surrounding the city of León) in the 9th-11th centuries. The first is defined as a political periphery and the second as a centre, in terms of the king's capacities for direct territorial intervention. The analysis follows a double perspective: a) that of the local populations, by discussing local communities and their supralocal articulations; b) that of the higher powers, by considering the role played by royal districts, bishoprics and aristocratic powers in shaping territoriality in those regions.

Comunidades, territorios y poder condal en la Castilla del Duero en el siglo X

by Julio Escalona

Escalona, Julio. "Comunidades, territorios y poder condal en la Castilla del Duero en el siglo X", Studia Historica. Historia Medieval, 18-19 (2000-2001) 85-120

Este artículo pretende investigar las estructuras políticas y sociales del sector meridional del condado de Castilla... more Este artículo pretende investigar las estructuras políticas y sociales del sector meridional del condado de Castilla en el siglo X, hasta ahora habitualmente entendidas como resultado directo de la expansión castellana sobre unos territorios anteriormente despoblados. El análisis de las estructuras territoriales abre la puerta a una interpretación centrada en la dialéctica entre procesos de continuidad a largo plazo, que se remontan a la época tardoantigua e incluso más atrás, y alteraciones recientes de gran calado resultantes de la incorporación de estas áreas al condado de Castilla. Un análisis detallado de los procesos históricos que afectan al sector meridional de Castilla entre fines del siglo X y comienzos del XI desaconseja utilizar este caso –como se hace a menudo– a manera de modelo extrapolable a otros espacios peor documentados, y, en cambio, proporciona una interesante muestra de cómo reaccionan unas comunidades de pequeña escala, en función de la presencia o ausencia de un sistema político englobante de escala mayor y sus fluctuaciones. El material analizado también mueve a conside-rar la necesidad de desarrollar enfoques más complejos para abordar la relación entre las divisiones políticas y administrativas –alfoces– y las estructuras sociales subyacentes.
The aim of this article is to explore the social and political structures of the southern fringes of the tenth-century Castilian county. These have long been interpreted as the direct result of the Castilian expansion over thitherto depopulated territories. The analysis of territorial structures, though, makes a case for considering long-term continuities running from the post-Roman period and beyond. The late tenth-century can therefore be reinterpreted as the dialectic result of long-term processes, and very recent, dramatically intense transformations taking place in the aftermath of Castilian expansion. Thorough analysis of the complex historical processes affecting southern Castile from the late tenth to the early eleventh century suggest that these regions should not be taken –as is often done– as a model for other ill-documented areas. It rather provides a unique, extremely interesting picture of how small-scale communities behave in the presence/absence of a large-scale, overlapping political system, such as the County of Castile. The evidence also calls for more complex approaches to the relationship between political/administrative divisions –the so-called "alfoces"– and local society.

Fregonese, S. Beyond the ‘weak state’. Hybrid sovereignties in Beirut

by Sara Fregonese

Forthcoming (2012) Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, Issue 4

Charting the Tibet Issue in the Sino-Indian Border Dispute

by Tsering Topgyal

The Metamorphosis of the Functional Synthesis: A Continental European Perspective on Governance, Law, and the Political in the Transnational Space

by Poul F. Kjaer

Wisconsin Law Review, Vol. 2010, No. 2, p. 489, 2010

States remain a central form of ordering but only one among several. In the transnational space, a wide range of... more States remain a central form of ordering but only one among several. In the transnational space, a wide range of autonomous public- and private-norm producing organizations and regimes operates, which is not, or only partly controlled, by states. The consequence is that the contemporary world is characterized by a multiplicity of overlapping normative orders that rely on different organizational principles: for example, some are territorially bound and some are functionally delineated. Governance structures have emerged as the form through which the multiplicity of orders is linked together. They are inter-contextual forms which simultaneously serve as buffer zones and transmission belts between these orders. As such, governance structures can be understood as institutional mechanisms that fulfill the function of ensuring the societal embeddedness of autonomous normative orders in the wider world through increased reflexivity.

The type of law which has emerged in order to structure the governance phenomenon reflects the societal function of governance structures. Transnational law is an “in between worlds” law in the sense that a central aspect of transnational law is the framing of learning processes capable of ensuring mutual adaptability between normative orders. As such transnational law fulfills a different function than nation-state law which in essence remains oriented towards the upholding of already established normative expectations. As governance structures are the no man’s land between normative orders, they possess an intrinsic political quality. They are the battlefields were the delineation of normative orders are established and continuously reaffirmed. Grasping the kind of political processes unfolding within governance structures is however conditioned by the development of a concept of the political which reflects the inter-contextual function of governance structures.

Beyond Territory: Revisiting the Normative Justification of Self-Government in Theory and Practice

by Janique Dubois

The association of sovereignty with control over territory is being challenged both internally and externally in... more The association of sovereignty with control over territory is being challenged both internally and externally in modern societies. Demands for political autonomy from sub-state minorities undermine the natural link between nation, state and territory from within, while the movement of capital, goods and information across borders contests the relationship between these concepts from without. Scholars of international relations,
law, philosophy and political science have already suggested that the sovereignty of nation-states is under attack; however, scant attention has been paid to the way in which changes in the relation between nation, state, and territory affect the normative weight associated with each of these concepts in discussions about sovereignty and self-government. The objectives of this article is to examine the way in which nation, state, sovereignty, and territory are addressed in normative justifications of indigenous self-government and to better understand how these notions are being treated in its implementation.

Territory and Identity in the pre-Columbian Andes of Northern Peru

by Alexander Herrera

Theborder within': inhabiting the border in Trieste

by Claudio Minca

Co-authored with L. Bialasiewicz. Published in Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 28(6): 1084-1105, 2010.

In this paper we look to the Italian border city of Trieste at various points in its past, a cosmopolitan port,... more In this paper we look to the Italian border city of Trieste at various points in its past, a cosmopolitan port, Austria's urbs europeissima, but also a battleground for competing understandings of territoriality, identity, and belonging and a paragon of the violent application of an ethnoterritorial logic to a plurinational, plurilingual urban context; a paragon of the violence of modern borders. At the same time and precisely by virtue of its border condition Trieste has often found itself within the cracks of European modernity, rendering it a unique site for the rearticulation and reappropriation of that which Walter Mignolo terms “global designs”'. In our analysis, we ask what lessons the experience of a city like Trieste in ‘inhabiting the border’ can hold for Mignolo's notion of “border thinking” and for the elaboration of alternative geopolitical imaginaries.

Die Pforten der Christenheit

by Florian Kührer

Double Presence: Proselytism and Belonging in an Angolan Prophetic Church's Diaspora in Europe

by Ruy Llera Blanes

2011. Journal of Religion in Europe, Volume 4, Number 3, pp. 409-428 (20).

This article discusses the issue of proselytism and belonging among Angolan Christians in Europe, namely those... more This article discusses the issue of proselytism and belonging among Angolan Christians in Europe, namely those belonging to the Tokoist Church, a propheticbased movement originated in Angola in the 1940s and later transnationalized into other African countries and Europe. Invoking fieldwork performed with the church in Lisbon and Luanda, I suggest that religious proselytism in diasporic contexts, as an expression of transnational religiosity, cannot be analyzed without approaching the issue of identity and belonging, which in turn is processed through the production of 'double presences,' a reflection of the multiple agencies and territorialities in which migrants are involved.