Introduction to the Special Section

Borders are not just lines on a map. They are social, political, and symbolic practices that shape how we live, move, and belong. Whether materialized as fences and checkpoints or enacted through technologies, discourses, and everyday encounters, borders are constantly made and remade. This special section explores how borders emerge through processes of inclusion and exclusion, control, and identity-making, and how they are also resisted, negotiated, and subverted. Drawing on rich empirical material and critical theoretical tools, the contributions of the special section of this issue of CIMR collectively push the field of border and migration studies toward a deeper understanding of bordering as a multifaceted and dynamic phenomenon.