The Strategic Mobilisation of the Border in GibraltarThe Postcolonial (Re)Production of Privilege and Exclusion
- Orsini, Giacomo 1
- Canessa, Andrew 2
- G. Martínez del Campo, Luis 3
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1
Ghent University
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2
University of Essex
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3
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
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ISSN: 1123-7023
Year of publication: 2020
Issue Title: Cromohs
Issue: 23
Type: Article
More publications in: Cromohs: Cyber Review of Modern Historiography
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.