| Publication |
2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
WHY SEEK A VISUAL UNDERSTANDING OF BORDERS?
Their common border can be seen as a synecdoche of the complex relations
between Canada and the United States: not only is it the longest border in the
world (at 8,891 kilometres-5,061 kilometres on land and 3,830 kilometres
at sea), but it also represents a line where strong and soft politics and
geopolitics converge. One can say that the border not only divides the two
states but reflects their relations. Until recently, the border was considered
one of the most "benign" the world-an exceptional label, considering the border's length.1
For over two centuries, political divisions between the two
countries, inherited in part from a colonial divide in the east but also from the
outcome of frontier competition in the west, did not represent an obstacle to
everyday life in the border regions. In fact, various economic activities have
benefitted from houses built on the line in order to evade taxation, to the
more complex industrial systems, such as that of the automobile industry
in the Great Lakes region. These activities have led to the consolidation of a
number of cross-border regions, enhanced by NAFTA, which are witnesses
to both the vitality and variety of interactions along the line.2
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