The Border as a 'Broken Middle

Pursuing an Ethical Approach to Bordering

Bibliographic Data

ID3948382
AuthorsJenny Ombler (0000-0003-3509-1902, Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume26
Issue2
Pages564-588
Publication date2021-03-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueGeopolitics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1465-0045 • E-ISSN: 1557-3028
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14650045.2019.1600507
OpenAlexW2937071140
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited54

Critical border studies is increasingly articulating ethical approaches to borders and bordering practises. In this paper, I heed this impulse, by articulating a notion of the border as a ‘broken middle’ in which the bounds of the absolute are challenged and held answerable for injustices. The ‘broken middle’ is a concept developed by British theorist Gillian Rose, for whom it represents a dialectic conceptual space both between and within apparent binaries. The broken middle requires a reassembly of the bounds of each—a confrontation of self—in the pursuit of an evasive yet hopeful ethics. The application of the broken middle to the border illuminates the ambiguities of its physical space, and the ways in which bordering practises represent the imposition of unjust binaries. I finish by considering how a work by Beit Sahour-based collective, Decolonising Architecture Art Residency (DAAR), begins the difficult, pragmatic, and ever-hopeful work of the broken middle in the border

Archaeology · Dialectic · Dichotomy · Epistemology · Middle East · Political science · Sociology · Feminism, Gender, and Intersectionality · History · Law · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Philosophy · Urban Planning and Governance · Architecture

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