Border studies at 45

This essay takes stock of the work conducted in border studies so far and discusses some of the challenges ahead. It argues that, nearly half a century after border studies emerged in the social sciences, much remains to be done to turn our field into an academic discipline. As we approach a metaphorical middle age, it is high time for border studies scholars to invest a substantial part of our energies into developing common theoretical and methodological frameworks to better understand how borders, borderlands and borderlanders evolve. Doing so holds promise to make our work more relevant to the numerous academic and civil society stakeholders for whom borders and borderlands remain a crucially important though often underexamined issue.