Maps, Hedges, And Fences Analysis

Borders are not simply a physical infrastructure, they set a reputation to those on the outside and mold the identity for those within the boundaries. Samples of borders are, but not limited to, international borders, state boundaries, police precincts, neighborhoods, and private properties. It can be better understood how they affect people’s lives in Reece Jones’s text, Violent Borders; more specifically in chapter 5, “Maps, Hedges, and Fences: Enclosing the Commons and Bounding the Seas”. This is where Jones analyzes the past of borders and argues how people’s possessiveness of territory have not changed, but instead, evolved into a system with multiple aspects. The formation of the enclosure movement and the rise of Westphalian sovereignty,

In Lives in Limbo, Gonzales argues how the borders of a nation-state affects the natives and the people migrating into the nation-state. Gonzales writes about a group of people known as generation one and half, also refer as the dreamers. These are those who moved away from their born nation-state to go to another and were too young to had a choice about where they will live. This generation adapts and grews as if they were born in the new nation-state. They, however, only have a cultural citizenship. A cultural citizenship is a metaphor for those who know how to fit in with the natives and how to deal with the bureaucracy. This shapes their identity to them being one of the natives, but they still remain without legal citizenship. Therefore, they cannot take advantage of all the privileges that legal citizens can such as getting a driver license or a passport in the United States. A result of this is that they fall into a liminal identity where they become to feel lost and some feel unwanted. This is what sets them apart. It reminds them that they are not a full citizen regardless of how much they blend in and feel as if they are. Their status of “illegality” overshadows all the other privileges and becomes their “master status.” With illegality being their status, it is more difficult for them to continue their education beyond high school, and if they managed to attend college, barriers still remain. They will still struggle to attain a high paying career, and a mortgage for a house. Even with age, they remain stuck in a liminality stage of