The Fabrication of the Border
Item
Title
The Fabrication of the Border
Description
Photograph of objects related to the 'Full Stack Feminism in Digital Humanities' team creative writing session, held at the University of Sussex, Sussex Digital Humanities Lab, June 2023, facilated by Sarah Lee. Team members were asked to bring along an object that represented their journey in the Full Stack Feminism project.
This digital image documents the objects brought by Irene Fubara-Manuel. Irene describes the object's relationship to the project as follows:
'This is a kitsch tourist souvenir I bought at Tarkwa Bay Beach in Lagos, Nigeria. It is a hand-carved wooden statue depicting four people with green books in their hands lining up for visas. It is not very durable—cheap wood held together with glue. In my notes at the workshop I wrote my interpretation of this object as the fabrication of the border. Its hand-made features recalls the process of social production and policing that makes national borders. The tracing of state boundaries—drawn with technologies such as passports and residence permits—are similar to the chisel marks on the wood that create the form of the ornament. Instead of seeing this knick-knack as a cheap fabrication of the border, I think it represents the everyday struggle of crossing unstable national boundaries—the endless pain of post-colonial biometric capture. It calls to the need for alternate fabrications of borders that decriminalise migration and encourage freedom of movement.'
'This is a kitsch tourist souvenir I bought at Tarkwa Bay Beach in Lagos, Nigeria. It is a hand-carved wooden statue depicting four people with green books in their hands lining up for visas. It is not very durable—cheap wood held together with glue. In my notes at the workshop I wrote my interpretation of this object as the fabrication of the border. Its hand-made features recalls the process of social production and policing that makes national borders. The tracing of state boundaries—drawn with technologies such as passports and residence permits—are similar to the chisel marks on the wood that create the form of the ornament. Instead of seeing this knick-knack as a cheap fabrication of the border, I think it represents the everyday struggle of crossing unstable national boundaries—the endless pain of post-colonial biometric capture. It calls to the need for alternate fabrications of borders that decriminalise migration and encourage freedom of movement.'
Creator
Irene Fubara-Manuel
Artist: Unknown
Date
09/06/2023
Identifier
FFS003_O
Publisher
Full Stack Feminism in Digital Humanities
Rights
CC-BY-NC-SA
Subject
Borders
Wood Carving
Creative Writing