The Border as a Marker of Territoriality: Multi-Scalar Perspectives and Multi-Agent Processes in a South American Borderland Region

Abstract

The ambivalence of borders, as both bridges and barriers, is analysed in the South American borderlands, in the cross-border region between Bolivia, Peru and Brazil. The main hypothesis behind this work is that borders not only refer to the state but they are also a result of a social construction. Through their practices and narratives, the actors involved shape the border configuration. Through a multi-scalar approach (from a continental to a local level) and by collating practices and representations of various social agents (from continental organisations to the complexity of social groups on the border), I show that different territorial complexes converge on the border and I explain the spatial dialectic of the latter. Two ideas emerge as a conclusion to this study: the co-existence of territorialities that are not so exclusive and the key role played by the state despite the changes it undergoes.