Living on the both sides of an invisible border – the impacts of Covid-19 in the Tornio River Valley

In her article “Living on the both sides of an invisible border – the impacts of Covid-19 in the Tornio River Valley” Helena Ruotsala discusses what impacts the Covid-19 had in the cross-border region between Finland and Sweden. She uses concepts of transnationalism and multilocality when studying local everyday life. The area is divided by a national border, which has been invisible until March 2020, but when Covid-19 spread over the nations, Finland and Sweden, the border became visible and was marked by a riot fence. The effects of Covid-19 and closing the border from the point of view of local inhabitants are discussed in this article.

Development of Premium Ecotourism in the Outermost Islands

The tourism sector is the economic sector hardest hit during the Covid-19 pandemic. A breakthrough is needed in line with health protocols to maintain physical and social distance. Tourism on the outermost islands is an alternative solution. As the largest archipelagic country globally, Indonesia has the potential for the outermost islands that can be used as tourist destinations. A breakthrough policy is needed in the management of ecotourism in the outermost islands related to the limited capability of the Government, such as the high costs for transportation and logistics arrangements in the outermost islands. Tourism in the outermost islands must be directed towards premium tourism. Its market share is middle to upper-class tourists who want a new atmosphere and challenges and are willing to pay quite a lot of money. This study presents a management model that divides each government agency’s duties in managing ecotourism in the outermost islands with a premium scheme and the National Border Management Agency being the operator. The model is expected to encourage the formulation of targeted policies for the management of the outermost islands, including the presence of cruise ships.

Confirmation of Leptobrachella ventripunctata (Fei, Ye, and Li, 1990), based on molecular and morphological evidence in Thailand

Thailand is considered a global biodiversity hotspot that is known to harbour a striking diversity of endemic species. However, several research studies have determined that the level of amphibian diversity in the country has been significantly underestimated. The megophryid genus Leptobrachella Smith, 1925 is currently known to include 89 species that are primarily distributed throughout southern China and Southeast Asia; however, only seven species have been found in Thailand. Based on an integrative approach encompassing genetic and morphological analyses, we have concluded that the population identified from Chiang Rai Province of Thailand is conspecific with Leptobrachella ventripunctata (Fei, Ye, and Li, 1990). Importantly, this is the first confirmation record of this species, based on molecular and morphological evidence in Thailand. The discovery of this species reaffirms that the diversity within the genus has been underestimated with many species yet to be discovered. In addition, the findings of our study further highlight the lack of existing knowledge on amphibian taxonomy and an underestimation of the biodiversity that exists along these national border areas.

Nationalism in Border Community: Temajuk, Sambas District, West Kalimantan, Indonesia

The low level of nationalism is one of the noticeable problems that often occur in the border-region, and the Indonesian border in Kalimantan witnesses the same problem. This issue arises because border-areas tend to be underdeveloped areas, with inadequate development and facilities. The lack of state attention to border communities is claimed to be the reason for people’s disloyalty toward the state. Additionally, national border violations and illegal trade are increasingly being considered as an indicator of the low levels of nationalism prevailing among border communities. This research attempts to examine how the border communities in Temajuk have built their attachment to their living environment in a way that would enable them to reinterpret the nationalism of border communities. In doing so, this study uses a descriptive–qualitative approach. Data collections have been obtained from document-tracking and interviews with local district/village officers, Badan Pengelola Perbatasan Daerah officers, border military guards, and several residents in Temajuk. The finding indicated that bonding and emotional experience encourage citizens to remain committed to being Indonesian citizens although neighboring countries have better development and prosperity levels. Contrastingly, nationalism promotes a stronger territorial awareness, which then encourages the proborder welfare policies.

Impact of Coronavirus Lockdown among the Seventh - day Adventist Community Members in Masvingo Urban, Zimbabwe

This study sought to establish the financial, spiritual and social impact of the Coronavirus lockdown among the Seventh-day Adventist community members in Masvingo Urban, Zimbabwe. The study focused on how the households, the informally employed parents and students perceived their financial, spiritual and social status during the lockdown, especially pertaining to the positives and negatives that might have emanated from the period. The study employed the participant oriented interpretive phenomenological approach, which allowed the respondents to share their lived experiences during the period. The four SDA districts in Masvingo have about 4000 members who were all given a chance to participate in the study. From these, 35 members who comprised 20 males and 15 females of between 16 and above 55 years, from the parent and student categories returned the questionnaire within the stipulated two week period directly to the researchers and via their pastors. Collected data was coded according to the financial, spiritual, and social experiences, which were further divided into subthemes. Key findings revealed that members of the church, who were involved in the formal and informal sectors of the economy, were financially affected during the lockdown. Some members were spiritually affected, due to boredom; hence some broke the Sabbath regulations. Some found the alternative radio, television and online Christian programs spiritually uplifting, though. Socially, members were affected by the inter-provincial, inter-district and national border restrictions imposed at the time. Evidently, some members took the time to bond with their immediate family. The study recommends that there be plans in place to address the financial and physical needs of the members on the part of the government and the private sector, including the church during lockdowns; such plans should also include effective distribution methods of these resources to the households. Further, the church needs to introduce more radio and television programs.

Unequal Neighbors

San Diego and Tijuana are the site of a national border enforcement spectacle, but they are also neighboring cities with deeply intertwined histories, cultures, and economies. In Unequal Neighbors: Place Stigma and the Making of a Local Border, Kristen Hill Maher and David Carruthers shift attention from the national border to a local one, examining the role of place stigma in reinforcing actual and imagined inequalities between these cities. Widespread “bordered imaginaries” in San Diego represent it as a place of economic vitality, safety, and order, while stigmatizing Tijuana as a zone of poverty, crime, and corruption. These dualisms misrepresent complex realities on the ground, but they also have real material effects: the vision of a local border benefits some actors in the region while undermining others. Based on a wide range of original empirical materials, the book examines how asymmetries between these cities have been produced and reinforced through stigmatizing representations of Tijuana in media, everyday talk, economic relations, and local tourism discourse and practices. However, both place stigma and borders are subject to contestation, and the study also examines “debordering” practices and counternarratives about Tijuana’s image. While the details of the study are particular to this corner of the world, the processes it documents offer a window into the making of unequal neighbors more broadly. The dynamics of this case present a framework for understanding how inequalities between places rest in part on cultural practices that produce asymmetric borders.

Global Master Workman

This chapter analyzes the story of a transnational figure who hardly ever crossed a national border in his career as labor leader. Terence Powderly (1849-1924) was born in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, in 1849, to Irish immigrants. He entered the labor force as a switchman for the Delaware and Hudson railroad at the age of 13, as the Civil War raged across the United States, and became a machinists’ apprentice at the age of 17. He was marked out very early as a rising star in the American labor movement, rising quickly in the Machinist and Blacksmith’s Union after joining it in 1871. In 1874, a year after the Panic of ’73 brought economic depression to the United States and forced Powderly west to find work, he joined a relatively new, secret union that he would be associated with for the rest of his life: The Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor.

Lest We Forget: Politics of Multiculturalism in Canada Revisited during COVID-19

Since COVID-19, we have witnessed a rise in hate crimes and xenoracism globally. Some commentators on COVID-related racism claim that this hate is apolitical. We question this claim, and in this paper, we strive to reveal the underlying politics especially around the ramifications and impact of this hate on racialized (im)migrants and the multiculturalism ideal. Drawing from Foucault’s construct of biopolitics and using Canada as a case study, we wonder how Canadian multiculturalism, which is a source of national pride, has been politically constructed to serve white settler hegemony from its inception to the present. We link political debates around the emergence of a multiculturalism policy in 1971 to the recent debates on multiculturalism and immigration during the 2015 and 2019 federal elections, and the current COVID-19 related national border policies in 2020. Our critical analysis illustrates how immigrants and racialized minorities have been systemically positioned in our legislation as a site to demonstrate the politics of governance, often scapegoated for national unrest and questioned on the legitimacy of their belonging and contribution to the nation. Meanwhile, the very ideal of multiculturalism in Canada has been evoked as the centre of biopolitics to govern ‘Others’ and all.

Refugee Policy as Border Governance: Refugee return, peacebuilding, and Myanmar's politics of transition

Refugees have been largely overlooked in analyses of Myanmar's transition, apparently considered peripheral to more prominent topics such as negotiation with armed groups, economic reform, and political elections. By analysing approaches to return and repatriation in three distinct contexts—refugees in camps in Thailand, Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, and Chin refugees in Malaysia and India—this article shows that proposals for the return and repatriation of refugees are a form of ‘border governance' (that is, governance in, of, and through borders). This operates at three scales: (1) global border control by keeping refugees in their region of origin or returning them to their country of origin, (2) national border control by reinforcing boundaries between Myanmar and its surrounding states, and (3) the governance of political transition by reinforcing the Myanmar government’s narrative of peacebuilding by recasting continuing conflict as conditions suitable for refugee return. Premature promotion of repatriation has a number of harmful outcomes for refugee communities: encouraging the withdrawal of international aid, escalating fear and uncertainty, and political bolstering of a Bamar-dominated government and military vis-a-vis ethnic minority groups. This analysis supports a broader understanding of repatriation and its consequences, recognising that the promotion of refugee return can have significant political implications that are apparent even before mass returns have been carried out and which may reverberate far into the future.