Rivers as borders? Navigating in-between the tensions of water-state-society geographies

Abstract

What is unique about bringing rivers and borders into conversation with one another, and what are the implications for geographical research? This article and Special Section charts new directions in the study of rivers as borders. By emphasising a river-centric approach, we collectively challenge traditional terra-centric views prevalent in border research and show that rivers as borders are much more than just convenient tools for territorial demarcation and securing state sovereignty. The contributors engage rivers in conversation with border studies and conceptually navigate the liminal spaces in-between the inherent tensions of fixity and flow by drawing on perspectives from cultural, political and environmental geography. River-borders meander between land and water; violence and opportunity; artefact and landscape; dynamism and control. By bringing these multifaceted river-borders and bordering practices into dialogue, we advance geographical understandings of what happens at the meeting point when rivers become borders. We argue that geographical research on water-state-society relations must analyse the relations between rivers' material agency and the differently entangled lifeworlds of border dwellers and crossers, considering their historical, material, cultural and social ties to the river.