The Öresunds Comparative Borderlands Research Group

Purpose
The Öresund Comparative Borderlands Research Group serves as a collaborative platform rooted in active dialogue over the ways that bordering in a northern European context intersects with the realities of an increasingly globalized world. The group aims to diversify the range of actors commonly associated with bordering events across EU regions by exploring novel approaches through which to interpret the complexity, permeability, and interdependence of bordering processes alongside more accepted notions of geopolitical boundaries. In doing so, the group seeks to challenge accepted wisdom about border-related actions and their outcomes from both a theoretical and practical standpoint.

Bakground
Cross-border integration stands as a fundamental principle within the EU, emphasizing that unity is the cornerstone of societal well-being. With the creation of the Nordic Council in 1952, Nordic states have been hailed as pioneers of European region-building over numerous socio-economic, legal and environmental issues. The opening of the Öresund Bridge in 2000 exemplified long-held aspirations for a European community founded on the free movement of people and capital. Yet, this ‘golden age’ of European integration is today increasingly under threat.

Starting in 2015, researchers and media outlets in the Öresund region have shed light on the growing normalization of hostility towards refugees and migrants in mainstream political discourse, border closures and mobility restrictions, coupled with ongoing disparities in socio-economic opportunities for residents on both sides of the Sound.

These challenges are foundational concerns in the field of critical border studies, and as events evolve, a pressing exists to better understand how borders are established, related to, and ascribed meaning by different societal groups.

Objectives
Facilitating Hands-On Knowledge Exchange: Creating opportunities for individuals, both within and outside academia, to explore innovative approaches for representing, understanding, and responding to European bordering processes and extended borderlands.
Supporting Education and Professional Development: Providing educational resources and professional growth opportunities for students and researchers with an interest in European borders and borderlands.
Fostering Collaboration: Connecting the efforts of the research group with other EU networks and initiatives through seminars, workshops, and similar activities.
Contributing to Public Discourse: Leveraging the collective expertise of group members to engage in public discussions on issues related to borders, migration, social inclusion, and regional integration in the Öresund region.
Developing New Approaches: Exploring alternative methodological practices to enhance theoretical understandings of European bordering.

A space for researchers, artists and practitioners in the Öresund to advance wider knowledge about the conditions and experiences of European bordering and borderlands. We take a particular interest in how bordering occurs across diverse social, cultural, historical and geographical outlooks. The group takes an assertively interdisciplinary and comparative approach to critical border studies, and seeks to generate conceptual frameworks and methodologies that strengthen awareness, understanding and action over the ways borders are constituted, inhabited and politicized within, beyond and in connection with the Öresund itself.