Nation-state, frontiers, margins: redrawing the border areas in contemporary Brazil

Abstract

The border is a fundamental aspect of the imaginary of the modern state. The role of the state as an organizing and centralizing power is related to the idea of borders, the limits of the sovereignty, problematic spaces of domination and conflict. However, contemporary discussions in the Social Sciences field suggest new possibilities for analysis, emphasizing the heterogeneity of practices of the power, involving, simultaneously, devices of sovereignty, disciplines and governmental management. We should think of this space of practices not like borders, space limits and peripheral to the central power, but as margins that are multiplying and moving both in the periphery and in the center. The ongoing research seeks to analyze the new forms of state action on the borders of Brazil, such as the Policiamento Especializado de Fronteira (Specialized Border Policing), the “Calha Norte” Program and the Sistema Integrado de Saúde das Fronteiras (Integrated Border Health System).