Critical Reading: Borders in a Borderless World

"It should be obvious that the construction of borders reflects existing ethnic, group and territorial differences (subsequent) just as it is often responsible for the creation of those differences in the first place (antecedent).  Equally, many of the borders within which our personal and group lives are compartmentalized and regimented have been super-imposed upon us by the decision-making elites despite the fact that in many cases they do not reflect the true cutting points and edges of inter-group difference and separation--not least because there is rarely (if ever) such a clean line of division or separation." (Newman)

I found this quote to be the most fascinating excerpt of the entire article.  It really cuts to what I feel is the heart of the conundrum surrounding borders.  They are cyclical in nature performing a bizarre parody of the cliche chicken versus the egg philosophical question.  Ethnic differences often arise in part due to the simple fact that different groups originated in different geographical regions and the physical space that they inhabit plays a part in molding them culturally.  However once these societies expanded and came into contact with other cultures geographical boundaries came to demarcate the cultural boundaries that already existed.  These, once formed, serve to perpetuate the asymmetries responsible for their original formation, coming full circle.  Newman goes one step farther, although I am unsure I agree with him, and states that the boundaries are maintained even strengthened by the aristocratic elites who benefit through the control of these margins.  If true it would imply that which borders we encounter are dictated for us based simply on our place of origin, an interesting suggestion.  Finally I'd like to touch upon the ending sentence of the quote it is an important observation that despite the common mental image of a border as a clearly marked line there are often a variety of shades of grey, or transition zones, surrounding borders.