Open AccessThe Strategic Mobilisation of the Border in Gibraltar: The Postcolonial (Re)Production of Privilege and Exclusion
Author(s) -
Giacomo Orsini,
Andrew Canessa,
Luis G. Martínez del Campo
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
cromohs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.101
H-Index - 3
ISSN - 1123-7023
DOI - 10.36253/cromohs-12503
Subject(s) - opposition (politics) , obstacle , privilege (computing) , politics , frontier , political economy , political science , national identity , sociology , economic geography , economy , geography , law , economics
The border separating/unifying Gibraltar with Spain is reproduced in public discourse as a threat and an obstacle to the normalisation of political life in the small enclave. Yet, an in-depth socio-historical analysis of local cross-border relations over the 20th century, shows how the Gibraltarian national identity and local government originate from the border rather than in opposition to it. The fencing of the frontier imposed by the Franco’s regime between 1969-1985 allows the discursive (re)production of a Gibraltarian identity distinct from that of the Spanish neighbours - and, in part, from that of the English colonisers.