NON-FICTION: Questioning the holy grail of borders

Borders, Histories, Existences: Gender and Beyond by Paula Banerjee is a gripping inquiry into the nature of South Asian borders. The book forces us to look anew at the construction of discourses surrounding national identity. These discourses, says Banerjee, are legitimised by privileging certain spatial units, such as borders, over others. Corresponding to this spatial aspect of national identity is its ideological construction which marginalises ethnic and religious minorities by creating sociological borders. However, these borders or demarcations can be as much a source of resistance on the part of the marginalised as of power exercised over them by the majority. The shifting nature of bordered existences can be a great threat to national identity which is often portrayed as fixed and unchangeable to make it impossible for people to go against anything that is supposedly against 'national interests'. Banerjee describes how borders are created by states and how bordered existences — marginalised groups such as migrant workers, women, and people suffering from AIDS — destabilise these apparently fixed constructs. Banerjee's brilliant analysis delves deep into the recent developments in border studies while at the same time going back to different histories only to give them a new rendering with the help of the contemporary concept of borders. Instead of looking at borders as just a line of divide on certain geographical locales, she sees them as borderlands with fluid politics and history. This polysemic nature of borderlands ensures not just their own heterogeneity but that of their inhabitants, too. When the reader looks at borders with this new perspective, the resulting effect is a radical transition from the unquestionable geographic demarcations to markers of differences, referred to as "absolutely non-democratic condition of democratic institutions". Divided into three sections, Borders, Histories, Existences is an exhaustive study of three important aspects of bordered existences. The first part, "Borders and Their Pasts" consists of three chapters. The first chapter is an account of the historical construction of borders through the colonial times while the second and third chapters present a detailed study of the Sino-Indian border and the Line of Control, respectively. Banerjee believes that these apparently postcolonial borders are still haunted by traumas of colonisation and are thus still in a strange condition of decolonisation. Because of this vacillating nature of borders, the bodies that inhabit them are perma-nently in a state of identity crisis, oscillating between factors of decolonisation and postcoloniality. The second section, titled "Life on the Border," focuses on the experiences of women who are geographically located on the borders of India, Bangladesh and Myanmar. The three chapters in this section make a brilliant case-study of the peculiar relationship between critical feminist theory and ethnographic studies, and how these two can be effectively used to expand the field of women studies. The third section, "Law and the Border," deals with border laws and its relation with the extremely troubled politics of territoriality in South Asia. It is because of this politics of territoriality, asserts Benerjee, that the issues of territory and borders have become impossible to solve. Paying close attention to borders both as a reflection of history and events and as evidence of their unsettled identity throughout this book, Banerjee affirms the thesis she presents in the introduction, which is that borders are not fixed lines of geographical markings but are rather used as a tool of inclusion and exclusion, running deep into ethnic and religious politics, in the hands of the state. She questions the internal logic of the discourse on national identity which does not let people question the legitimacy that is accorded to borders. This book helps us analyse the contradictions inherent in national ideologies. Borders, Histories, Existences is a distinctive and broadening contribution to Asian studies. Students of politics, history and gender will find it very beneficial to their respective fields. Furthermore, Benerjee has successfully shown how important it is to indulge in a discourse that challenges the present hierarchical and biased structures of our society. The most attractive feature of Borders, Histories, Existences is its emphasis on borderlands as a unique form of existence instead of going for the notorious defense and strategic studies. Despite the large academic scope of the work it is quite accessible and can be used as an introduction by those who are interested in border studies. Borders, Histories, Existences: Gender and beyond (POLITICS) By Paula Banerjee Sage Publications, India ISBN 8132102266 300pp. Price not listed