Apologies for cross-posting
CfP for the 2020 RGS-IBG Conference, London, 1-4 September 2020.
Borders, Mobilities and Frictions
Session organisers: Debbie Hopkins & Tim Schwanen, University of Oxford

Borders and practices of bordering are undergoing substantive symbolical and material changes, at least in/around the UK (Hagen, 2018). The EU has a unique relationship with borders between individual countries; transport networks unite territories, and 'freedom of movement' enables frictionless bordering. The June 2016 UK Brexit campaign and referendum and subsequent negotiations have contributed to the construction of new boundaries and borders between (parts of) the UK and (parts of) the European Union with talk of 'hard', 'soft', and 'strengthening' borders.
This is just one example of recent trends to re-entrench formal borders, reversing long term patterns of dismantling and reducing borders. While often defined as lines which divide political, social, or legal territories, these spaces are central features within political geography, transport and mobilities scholarship. There is a long tradition of studying borders in political geography. Borders are heterogeneous with diverse characteristic, a variety of symbolic meanings, and more-or-less visible spaces. In mobilities research, authors have pointed to the heightened surveillance which occurs in border zones (e.g. Adey, 2004; Vukov & Sheller, 2013), and developed theorisations of borders as part of a 'world in motion'.
Re-bordering has major implications for mobilities in terms of migration patterns and flows, but also for the everyday mobilities of goods and people as individuals and businesses prepare for the potential of 'hard' borders. These processes of bordering shift social, economic and political relations. Thus, research on borders and bordering is entwined with thinking on movement and mobilities (Richardson, 2013) and associated concepts including friction and fluidity.
For example, the trucks that move goods between Continental Europe and the UK have been at the front line of preparations for Brexit, with warning signs on UK motorways for trucking to 'prepare' for changes, as "the seamless flow of goods through borders rests on the conjuncture of transnational regulations, the routing of goods through particular gateway ports or passage points, data surveillance, labour discipline and risk management algorithms" (Gregson, 2017: 343), all of which are changing through increased bordering. Moreover, trucks have also been sites of concern relating to illegal migrations and people-smuggling across borders.
Thus, changes to the UK's relationship with the EU and associated changing border practices are raising a range of implications which have yet to be explored. The potential of Brexit - in its current configuration - offers an opportunity to start new conversations about the intersections of borders, mobilities and frictions.
We are seeking papers which may include, but are not limited to the following topics:

  *   How flows of goods and people are affected by processes of 'strengthening' borders
  *   The experience of mobile workers and working at borders
  *   Representations and subjectivities of people crossing, or wanting to cross, borders
  *   Illegal and clandestine border crossings
  *   Borders as places of rest, waiting, conflict and conviviality
  *   Implications of re-bordering for just-in-time production and logistical systems
  *   Border crossings and nationalism
We are seeking abstracts (c.250 words) for oral presentations. Abstracts should include a title, and the names, affiliations and email addresses of all authors.
Timeline:

  *   Deadline for submission of abstracts: Monday 3rd February 2020
  *   Responses from session convenors by: Friday 7th February 2020
  *   The session convenors will communicate the RGS response as soon as informed by the organisers after the 14th February session proposal deadline
  *   Deadline for reduced rate ('early-bird') registrations: 12th June 2020
  *   RGS-IBG International conference: Tuesday 1st- Friday 4th September 2020
Abstracts should be submitted to [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> by Monday 3rd February 2020.

With very best wishes
Debbie & Tim
-----------------------------------------------------------
Dr Debbie Hopkins
Associate Professor in Human Geography
University of Oxford
Oxford, UK
@debbiehopkins_

New paper (2020): Not more but different: A comment on the transitions research agenda<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210422419302850>
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New paper (2020): Sustainable mobility at the interface of transport and tourism<https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09669582.2019.1691800?journalCode=rsus20>
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New Paper (2019): Gender discourses in academic mobility<https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/gwao.12413?af=R&>


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