Disruptive borderlands. Unpacking the innovative potential of transbordering practices, imaginaries and policies

Border regions are key places for experimenting with innovative social and cultural practices, non-state centric spatial imaginaries, and pioneering forms of governance and public policies. This is primarily due to their peripheral location and the presence of national borders, which compel local actors and borderlanders to innovate in order to overcome constraints and obstacles and seize opportunities, thus highlighting the concept of borders as resources. However, the ongoing rebordering dynamic, characterized by the reinforcement of national-territorial ideas, border securitization and the hardening of border regimes, poses serious challenges to the functioning of border regions as permeable spaces conducive to cross-border movements, integration and cooperation. In such a context, the aim of this international conference is to question the capacity of borderlands' stakeholders and inhabitants to sustain the dynamics of territorial cooperation and cross-border integration developed over recent decades. More specifically, we invite border scholars from all social sciences and humanities as well as practitioners to present their work, reflecting on transbordering practices, imaginaries and policies that have arisen in response to rebordering dynamics within border regions in any part of the world. Through a critical examination of the innovative and emancipatory potential of everyday bordering experiences and policy initiatives, we aim to take stock of the disruptive capacity of borderlands, understood as the collective ability of local actors and borderlanders to develop innovative ways of negotiating borders and to meet the challenges posed by their hardening. Finally, this conference will explore groundbreaking research approaches, theories and innovative methodologies to account for and promote such transbordering experiences and initiatives emerging from cross-border contexts as spaces of possibilities.