The Unbearable Lightness of Bordering? Notes from a Wanderer’s Pocketbook as a Contribution to Empirical Unfolding and Theorizing the Polish-Ukrainian Borderland

Marcin Dębicki

doi:10.25167/brs5663

Published: 2025-07-26

Vol. 13 (2025)

The Unbearable Lightness of Bordering?

Marcin Dębicki

Border and Regional Studies

Section: Articles

https://doi.org/10.25167/brs5663

Notes from a Wanderer’s Pocketbook as a Contribution to Empirical Unfolding and Theorizing the Polish-Ukrainian Borderland

Abstract

The article deals with the cross-border dimension of the social reality in the Polish-Ukrainian borderland. My intention is threefold: to describe the local perception of the border and the nature of local cross-border practices, to identify the determinants of the diagnosed state, and to propose an entry of these findings into selected theoretical concepts of border(lands) studies. The basis for my claims were ethnographic activities: a series of observations and interviews conducted with residents of this borderland while walking the entire area (at least 450 kilometers, about 120 towns and villages visited) in 2017–22, that is before the escalation of Russian aggression against Ukraine. The main findings of the research are that the border is for my interviewees a largely tamed phenomenon, almost invisible on a day-to-day basis. Despite its relatively low permeability, it is generally not associated with a barrier or limitation of the possibility of contact with the Ukrainian side of the borderland. This is due to the locals’ perception of the low attractiveness of that area and its inhabitants. The underlying empirical findings thus suggest a rethinking of theoretical categories that would be useful in capturing the phenomena inherent in borderlands of this kind.

Keywords:

Poland, Ukraine, borderland, neighbourship, mutual relations

Download files

pdf

Citation rules

Dębicki, M. (2025). The Unbearable Lightness of Bordering? Notes from a Wanderer’s Pocketbook as a Contribution to Empirical Unfolding and Theorizing the Polish-Ukrainian Borderland. Border and Regional Studies, 13, 7–33. https://doi.org/10.25167/brs5663

Cited by / Share

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

References

Barth, F. (1969). Introduction. In: Ethnic groups and boundaries: The social organization of culture difference, ed. F. Barth (London: Allen & Unwin), 9–38.
Google Scholar

Bauman, Z. (1998). Globalization. The Human Consequences. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Google Scholar

Boesen, E. (2017). Introduction. Living in European borderlands. In: European Borderlands. Living with Barriers and Bridges, ed. E. Boesen, and G. Schnuer (London–New York: Routledge), 1–11.
Google Scholar

Böhm, H. (2023). Five Roles of Cross-border Cooperation Against Re-bordering. Journal of Borderlands Studies, 38 (3), 487–506.
Google Scholar

Brambilla, Ch. (2015). Exploring the Critical Potential of the Borderscapes Concept. Geopolitics, 20 (1), 14–34.
Google Scholar

Brambilla, Ch., Jussi, L., Scott, J.W. & Bocchi, G. (2017). Introduction: Thinking, Mapping, Acting and Living Borders under Contemporary Globalisation. In: Borderscaping: Imaginations and Practices of Border Making, ed. Ch. Brambilla, J. Laine, J.W. Scott, and G. Bocchi (London–New York: Routledge), 1–5.
Google Scholar

Bürkner, H.-J. (2017). Bordering, borderscapes, imaginaries: From constructivist to post-structural perspectives. In: Advances in European Borderlands Studies, ed. E. Opiłowska, Z. Kurcz & J. Roose (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlag) 85–107.
Google Scholar

Bürkner, H.-J. (2018). Decivilised ants and disquiet at European borders: scaling, geopolitics and everyday bordering. In: Post-Cold War Borders: Reframing Political Space in Eastern Europe, ed. J. Laine, I. Liikanen & J.W. Scott (London: Routledge), 35–53.
Google Scholar

Dell’Agnese, E. (2005). Bollywood’s Borderscapes. Paper presented at AAG Pre-Conference at the University of Colorado at Boulder, CO, April 3–5.
Google Scholar

Dell’Agnese, E. (2017). New Geographies of Border(land)-scapes. In: Borderscaping: Imaginations and Practices of Border Making, ed. Ch. Brambilla, J. Laine, J.W. Scott & G. Bocchi (London–New York: Routledge) 53–62.
Google Scholar

Dębicki, M., & Makaro, J., (2021). The category of national neighbourship as a complement to the concept of embedded bilateralism: The Polish–German case. In: Poland and Germany in the European Union. The Multidimensional Dynamics of Bilateral Relations, ed E. Opiłowska & M. Sus (London: Routledge), 74–89.
Google Scholar

Dolińska, K., Makaro, J. & Niedźwiecka-Iwańczak, N., (2017). Divided towns in the Polish-German borderland in the perspective of transborder processes (transnational/horizontal Europeanisation?) – opportunities and threats. In: Advances in European Borderlands Studies, ed E. Opiłowska, Z. Kurcz & J. Roose (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlag) 211–237.
Google Scholar

Fomina, J., & Konieczna-Sałamatin, J. ed. (2012). Granica do naprawy. Problemy pogranicza Polski i Ukrainy. Warszawa: Fundacja im. Stefana Batorego.
Google Scholar

Golka, M. (1999). Pogranicza—transgraniczność—transkulturowość. In: Transgraniczność w perspektywie socjologicznej. Kontynuacje, Ed. L. Gołdyka (Zielona Góra: Lubuskie Towarzystwo Naukowe) 13–26.
Google Scholar

Jakubowski A., Miszczuk A., Kawałko B., Komornicki T., Szul R. (2017). The EU’s New Borderland: Cross-border relations and regional development. London-New York: Routledge.
Google Scholar

Jańczak, J. (2017). Cross-border urbanism on the German-Polish border. Between spatial de-boundarization and social (re)-frontierization. In: European Borderlands. Living with Barriers and Bridges, ed E. Boesen & G. Schnuer (London–New York: Routledge) 47–63.
Google Scholar

Jaroszewicz, M. (2024). Jak przywrócić efektywność państwa na granicy polsko-ukraińskiej? Warszawa: Fundacja im. Stefana Batorego.
Google Scholar

Jaroszewicz, M., & Mrozek, K. (2020). How to construct a border for a modern neighbourhood. Warsaw: The Stefan Batory Foundation.
Google Scholar

Krasteva, A. (2017). Spaces, Lines, Borders: Imaginaries and Images. In: Borderscaping: Imaginations and Practices of Border Making, edited by Ch. Brambilla, J. Laine, J.W. Scott & G. Bocchi (London–New York: Routledge) 13–26.
Google Scholar

Kristof, L.K.D. (1959). The Nature of Frontiers and Boundaries. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 49 (3), 269–282.
Google Scholar

Kłoskowska, A. (1994). Conclusions: Neighbourhood of cultures and the training in reciprocity. In: The nieighbourhood of cultures, ed. R. Grathoff & A. Kłoskowska (Warsaw: Polish Academy of Sciences) 197–198.
Google Scholar

Kurcz, Z. (2008). Przedmiot socjologii pogranicza w świetle polskich doświadczeń. In: Polskie pogranicza w procesie przemian, t. I, ed. Z. Kurcz (Wałbrzych: Wydawnictwo Wałbrzyskiej Wyższej Szkoły Zarządzania i Przedsiębiorczości) 19–27.
Google Scholar

Kurcz, Z. (2010). Socjologia pogranicza i człowiek pogranicza w świetle polskich doświadczeń. In: Okolice socjologicznej tożsamości. Księga poświęcona pamięci Wojciecha Sitka, ed. Z. Kurcz & I. Taranowicz (Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego) 283–301.
Google Scholar

Kurcz, Z. (2017). Benefits of borderland sociology. In: Advances in European Borderlands Studies, ed E. Opiłowska, Z. Kurcz & J. Roose (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlag) 47–63.
Google Scholar

Kurczewska, J. (2006). Introduction. In: Polish Borders and Borderlands in the Making. From the Field Studies of Polish Sociologists and Anthropologists, ed J. Kurczewska (Warsaw: IFiS Publishers) 11–35.
Google Scholar

Kurczewska, J. (2009). Border Metaphors in the Polish Sociology of Borderlands. Polish Sociological Review, 166 (2), 193–212.
Google Scholar

Kurczewska, J. & Bojar, H. (red.) (2005). Granice na pograniczach. Z badań społeczności lokalnych wschodniego pogranicza Polski (Warszawa: Instytut Filozofii i Socjologii PAN).
Google Scholar

Kurczewska, J. & Bojar, H. (red.) (2009). Wyciskanie Brukselki? O europeizacji społeczności lokalnych na pograniczach. (Warszawa: Instytut Filozofii i Socjologii PAN).
Google Scholar

Laine, J. (2018). The Ethics of Bordering – A Critical Reading of the Refugee ‘Crisis’. In: How to Deal with Refugees? Europe as a Continent of Dreams, ed. G. Besier & K. Stokłosa (Zürich: LIT Verlag) 287–302.
Google Scholar

Laine, J. (2021). Beyond Borders: Towards the Ethics of Unbounded Inclusiveness. Journal of Borderlands Studies, 36 (5), 745–763.
Google Scholar

Laine, J., & Scott, J.W. (2018). Conclusions. On borderscapes of post-Cold War borders. In: Post-Cold War Borders: Reframing Political Space in Eastern Europe, ed. J. Laine, I. Liikanen & J.W. Scott (London: Routledge) 246–256.
Google Scholar

Laine, J., & Tervonen, M. (2017). Remaking the Border: Post-Soviet Borderscapes in the Finnish Media. In: Borderscaping: Imaginations and Practices of Border Making, edited by Ch. Brambilla, J. Laine, J.W. Scott & G. Bocchi (London–New York: Routledge) 65–75.
Google Scholar

Malešević, S., (2024). The Many Faces of Nationalism. Nationalities Papers, 52 (3), 487–496.
Google Scholar

Marcuse, G.E. (1995). Ethnography in/of the World System: The Emergence of Multi-Sited Ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology, 24, 95–117.
Google Scholar

Martinez, O.J. (1994). The Dynamics of Border Interactions: New Approaches to Border Analysis. In: World Boundaries: Global Boundaries Volume I, ed. C.H. Schofield (London: Routledge) 1–15.
Google Scholar

Miszczuk A. (ed.). (2017). Wyzwania rozwojowe pogranicza polsko-ukraińskiego. Lublin: Norbertinum
Google Scholar

Müller, N. (2017). A routine-based model of everyday mobility in border regions. In: European Borderlands. Living with Barriers and Bridges, ed. E. Boesen & G. Schnuer (London–New York) 15–29.
Google Scholar

Newman, D., & Paasi A. (1998). Fences and neighbours in the postmodern world: boundary narratives in political geography. Progress in Human Geography, 22 (2), 186–207.
Google Scholar

Ossowski, S. (1984). O ojczyźnie i narodzie. Warszawa: PWN.
Google Scholar

Paasi, A. (1999). Boundaries as Social Processes: Territoriality in the World of Flows. Geopolitics, 3(1), 69–88.
Google Scholar

Simmel, G.. (1997). The Sociology of Space. In: Simmel on Culture: Selected Writings, ed D. Frisby & M. Featherstone (London: Sage Publications) 137–170.
Google Scholar

Stokłosa, K. (2024). Die Ukraine auf dem Weg in die EU. Betrachtungen aus Polen. Berlin: LIT Verlag.
Google Scholar

Strüver, A. (2005). Stories of the ‘Boring Border’: The Dutch-German Borderscape in People’s Minds. Münster: LIT Verlag.
Google Scholar

Szlachcicowa, I. (2019). Borderscapes – alternatywna koncepcja antropologii granic. In: Polskie pogranicza w procesie przemian, t. V, ed. Z. Kurcz (Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar) 19–33.
Google Scholar

Szlachciowa, I. (2020). Borderscapes. In: Studia nad granicami i pograniczami. Leksykon, Ed. E. Opiłowska, M. Dębicki, K. Dolińska, J. Kajta, Z. Kurcz, J. Makaro & N. Niedźwiecka-Iwańczak (Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar) 41–47.
Google Scholar

Timothy, D.J. (2000). Borderlands: An Unlikely Tourist Destinations? IBRU Boundary and Security Bulletin, 8 (1), 57–65.
Google Scholar

Wojakowski, D. (2017). Boundary and borderland in traditional and new sociological paradigms. In: Advances in European Borderlands Studies, ed. E. Opiłowska, Z. Kurcz & J. Roose (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlag) 19–33.
Google Scholar

Wolff, L. (1994). Inventing Eastern Europe. The Map of Civilization on the Mind of the Enlightenment. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Google Scholar