Association for Borderlands Studies - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Association for Borderlands Studies
(ABS) is an international scholarly association dedicated exclusively to the systematic interchange of ideas and information relating to international borders and frontier

Frontier

A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. 'Frontier' was absorbed into English from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"--the region of a country that fronts on another country .The use of "frontier" to mean "a region at the...

areas. Founded in 1976 with the original emphasis on the study of the United States-Mexico borderlands region, the Association has grown steadily. It now encompasses an interdisciplinary membership of scholars at more than three hundred academic, governmental institutions, and NGOs representing the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe. The ABS publishes an academic journal Journal of Borderlands Studies

Journal of Borderlands Studies

Journal of Borderlands Studies is a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary academic journal. The journal was founded in 1986 and is published by the Association for Borderlands Studies. It appears three times a year and is edited by Emmanuel Brunet Jailly at University of Victoria, Canada, Henk van...

and an association newsletter La Frontera, as well as sponsoring an annual meeting. The current president of the ABS is Dr. Anthony Payan.

Contemporary issues dealt with by the ABS include regional economic integration, the emergence of new post-Communist nation states, the proliferation of ethnic conflicts, security versus openness of borders, and the need to institutionalize management of trans-boundary problems ranging from immigration to shared environmental problems to public health and economic development concerns.

Given the diverse nature of borders, borderlands and boundaries, the ABS draws on a range of disciplines and perspectives. Contributing fields include geography, political science, history, anthropology, demography, sociology, psychology, linguistics, security and technology studies, public administration and public policy.

The Association maintains relations with institutions and associations with similar interests in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia, as well as acting as an important resource for continued research. In conjunction with the Centre for International Borders Research (Queens University, Belfast, UK) the ABS has compiled a comprehensive bibliography of more than 1,000 published works related to state borders, border regions, borderlands, cross-border co-operation and trans-national governance.

More region-specific associations interested in international border areas include: the Nijmegen Center for Border Research, based at Radboud University in the Netherlands; the International Boundaries Research Unit

International Boundaries Research Unit

The International Boundaries Research Unit at Durham University in the United Kingdom integrates theory and practice in an academic setting. The research center provides practical expertise in boundary-making, border management and territorial dispute resolution.-History:IBRU was established in...

(IBRU) from Durham University

Durham University

The University of Durham, commonly known as Durham University, is a university in Durham, England. It was founded by Act of Parliament in 1832 and granted a Royal Charter in 1837...

, UK; the African Borderlands Research Network; the Latin American Network Information Center; and the Border Information and Outreach Service. The ABS seeks to maintain a listing of these and other border-related resources on its website.

The primary publication of the ABS, the Journal of Borderlands Studies
Journal of Borderlands Studies
Journal of Borderlands Studies is a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary academic journal. The journal was founded in 1986 and is published by the Association for Borderlands Studies. It appears three times a year and is edited by Emmanuel Brunet Jailly at University of Victoria, Canada, Henk van...

, presents research on border issues and has been published three times yearly since its inception in 1986. It is recognized as a key academic forum and leader in the study of borderlands phenomena. The journal's editors are Emmanuel Brunet Jailly

Emmanuel Brunet Jailly

Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly is a Canadian politics and public policy scholar at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, where he is Associate Professor, co-director of the Local Government Institute, and director of the European Studies Program...

, Martin van der Velde and Henk van Houtum. It is peer-reviewed and encourages the submission of articles from disciplines across the humanities and social sciences as well as business and law.

All members of the ABS receive subscriptions. The journal is indexed in the Hispanic American Periodicals Index and searchable by members of the ABS (behind password protected web page), and EBSCO.

The ABS also publishes an association newsletter La Frontera

La Frontera

La Frontera is a municipality in Cuenca, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It has a population of 203....

that reports on ABS meetings, professional news, and other information of interest. The newsletter is published semi-annually and all ABS members receive a subscription.

The ABS sponsors an annual meeting, which provides a forum for a wide range of topics on border regions around the world. The Association's 52nd annual meeting was held in April 2010, in Reno, Nevada. The ABS also co-sponsors other meetings on border topics. During the annual meeting, the ABS nominates selected publications dealing with borders to receive its annual Book Award. The recipients for 2009 were: "Landscapes of Fraud: Mission Tumacacori, the Baca Float, and the Betrayal of the O'odham" by Thomas E. Sheridan (University of Arizona Press) and Migration without Borders: Essays on the Free Movement of People edited by Antoine Pecoud and Paul de Guchteneire (UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

External links

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