The Strategic Mobilisation of the Border in GibraltarThe Postcolonial (Re)Production of Privilege and Exclusion

  1. Orsini, Giacomo 1
  2. Canessa, Andrew 2
  3. G. Martínez del Campo, Luis 3
  1. 1 Ghent University
    info

    Ghent University

    Gante, Bélgica

    ROR https://ror.org/00cv9y106

  2. 2 University of Essex
    info

    University of Essex

    Colchester, Reino Unido

    ROR https://ror.org/02nkf1q06

  3. 3 Universidad Complutense de Madrid
    info

    Universidad Complutense de Madrid

    Madrid, España

    ROR 02p0gd045

Journal:
Cromohs: Cyber Review of Modern Historiography

ISSN: 1123-7023

Year of publication: 2020

Issue Title: Cromohs

Issue: 23

Type: Article

DOI: 10.36253/CROMOHS-12503 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: Cromohs: Cyber Review of Modern Historiography

Sustainable development goals

Abstract

The border separating/unifying Gibraltar with Spain is reproduced in public discourse as a threat and an obstacle to the normalisation of political life in the small enclave. Yet, an in-depth socio-historical analysis of local cross-border relations over the 20th century, shows how the Gibraltarian national identity and local government originate from the border rather than in opposition to it. The fencing of the frontier imposed by the Franco’s regime between 1969-1985 allows the discursive (re)production of a Gibraltarian identity distinct from that of the Spanish neighbours - and, in part, from that of the English colonisers.