A bordered world
Summary
This course explores borders as powerful political tools that structure global inequalities, security practices, and everyday life. Through social theories of borders and contemporary case studies, you will critically examine how and where contemporary borders emerge, how they work, and how they are challenged.
About
Never before have so many borders – physical, social, and technological – divided people and places. For some, borders are deadly; for others, they are experienced as protective, or managed and manipulated as sources of profit. This course equips you with the tools to critically examine the role of borders in global politics. How and where are borders enacted, whose mobility is controlled, how does this control operate, for what purposes, and with what consequences?
Borders occupy a central place in politics and society, profoundly shaping people’s conditions of life – including exposure to violence, access to resources and work, intimate relationships, and future opportunities. But borders are neither natural nor neutral; they are instruments of power that regulate social inequalities, and they are sites where these inequalities can be challenged.
In this course, you will be introduced to social theories of borders that conceive of borders variously as material and geographic objects and as dynamic social practices, and work with contemporary case studies, addressing key questions such as: Why are borders established, and what are they designed to achieve? What political, economic, and security logics drive the current expansion of border controls? How are borders contested and reimagined?
The course is organized into thematic weeks. Through lectures and readings, you will engage with a range of conceptual tools and perspectives, including critical border studies; border actors and technologies; borders, war, and security; and political economy. Each week, you will practice applying these perspectives through group assignments, seminars and research tasks, strengthening your ability to analyse how borders shape global politics and society.
The course focuses on collective learning, and the assessment consists of two group assignments and one individual research paper.
Teaching
Teaching combines lectures with student-led, group-based activities such as literature seminars, smaller research tasks, and peer review of individual research papers.
Prerequisites and selection
Entry requirements
Entry to the course requires 20 credits of completed second cycle courses in the field of global studies, social sciences or equivalent.
Selection
Selection is based upon the number of credits from previous university studies, maximum 165 credits.
After graduation
The course helps you develop strong analytical skills and the ability to apply social theories to pressing political and societal issues. These skills are valuable for further studies and for future work related to borders, migration, and global studies more broadly.
Facilities
The teaching facilities of the School of Global Studies are located in central Gothenburg. Most classes are held in the historic building of Annedalsseminariet, which faces a beautiful English garden. Our locales are well-equipped with learning technology and we offer teaching in gallery-seated lecture halls and smaller rooms for seminars or group sessions. We also have group rooms and study places that you may use on both weekdays and weekends. Annedalsseminariet is accessible with an elevator, orientation signs in Braille, a ramp at the entrance door, accessible WC, and automatic door openers. Tram and bus stops are nearby. The Social Sciences Library, where you find your course literature, is within a 10-minute walk, and in the surrounding areas, Linnéstaden and Haga, there are plenty of cafés and vibrant student life.
