Justyna Kajta and Elżbieta Opiłowska: The Return of a Border in Pandemic Times: The Imaginaries and Discourse of Re-bordering in Twin Cities

During the conference The Line Crossed Us 2021: New Directions in Critical Border Studies, held June 10-11, 2021, Justyna Kajta and Elżbieta Opiłowska  presented a paper: The Return of a Border in Pandemic Times: The Imaginaries and Discourse of Re-bordering in Twin Cities.

Covid-19 has once again brought borders to the centre of attention, as journalists, authorities and scholars have grappled with the pandemic. The coronavirus outbreak, which began in late 2019 and early 2020 has caused not only tremendous personal and economic upheaval, but also sparked numerous social challenges for societies across the world. Many European nation-states decided to close their internal borders in order to prevent the spread of the virus. However, this decision had major consequences for residents in border regions, for whom border crossing is an everyday practice, causing an abrupt change in lifestyle they had not previously expected. Hence, it prompted three kinds of reactions: protests, petitions and appeals, and performative initiatives expressed a longing for a neighbour. 

The aim of this presentation is to explore the main discourses on the rebordering experience as constructed by local authorities and residents of two twin cities in Central Europe, one on the Polish-Czech (Cieszyn-Český Těšín) and one on the Polish-German (Słubice-Frankfurt/Oder) border. Based on the discourse analysis of selected appeals, comments on Facebook city profiles, local media articles, and statements of local elites, we identify two main discursive strands – pro-rebordering and anti-rebordering – which deployed opposing imaginaries. Whereas the former built on an imaginary of the safely bounded nation-state, the latter made reference to the idea of a Europe without borders. Accordingly, borders in the first case were regarded as separating lines that provide security, while, in the second, they were seen as obstacles to carrying on with cross-border life.