Bodies and Structures 2.0: Deep-Mapping Modern East Asian History

On Border and Boundary

Traditionally, international law scholars and political geographers have been concerned about determinations of borders and boundaries. However, in observing ethnic conflicts and rise of nationalism after the Cold War era, scholars in various disciplines have paid special attentions on borders/boundaries issues, in particular, with regard to the questions on belonging and identity. Although approaches to border/boundary issues are diverse, the contemporary scholars share the recognition that ethnic/national/regional boundaries are unstable and both notions of border/boundary and practices of delimitations have been altered in different place and time.

If taking border/boundary as fundamentally spatial concepts, Henri Lefebvre's Production of Space (1991) is the first and foremost book that demonstrates the dynamic nature of border/boundary. In reconsidering the conventional understanding of space that is divided into "physical space"and "mental space", Lefebvre (1991) demonstrates the theory of "social space". Social space is is distinguised from both physical space that is defined by practico-sensory activity and mental space that is defined by philosophers and mathematicians. 

In re-theorizing the concept of space as a space as a social product, Lefebvre (1991) explores the history of space, and points out the dominance of nation-states in production of space in the contemporary age. He maintains that neither a substantive "legal person"nor an ideological fiction can define a nation state. Rather, the combined forces of the market, which is a complex ensemble of commercial relations and communication networks, and military violence produce the space of a nation-state (Lefebvre, 1991, 112).

The sovereignty of a nation-state is not the only force that produces social space, yet it is a dominant force. In recognizing the dominance of state sovereignty over other modes of productions os space, a limit of sovereignty or national territory, which is determined by a government or international negotiations, is indicated as "(national) border". It is distinguised from "boundaries"that are delimited by other modes of production of space.

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