World Borders Political Borders

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Etienne

Balibar

71

tienne

Balibar

71

transnational

itizenship

meet the

politics

of

inter-

nationalaesthetics n an era of

technological

iter-

acy,

EtienneBalibar's

writings

assume

increasing

importance

n the

analysis

of mobileand indiscrete

formsof national

modernity

nd culture.

EmilyApter

University

of

California,

Los

Angeles

transnational

itizenship

meet the

politics

of

inter-

nationalaesthetics n an era of

technological

iter-

acy,

EtienneBalibar's

writings

assume

increasing

importance

n the

analysis

of mobileand indiscrete

formsof national

modernity

nd culture.

EmilyApter

University

of

California,

Los

Angeles

NOTES

l

See also

Balibar,

Les

frontieres,

nd Balibaret al.

2

The

quotation

n full

reads as follows: But he

[Kemal

Ataturk]

ad

to

force

through verything

he did

in

the

struggle

against

he

European

emocracieson the one

handandthe old

Mohammedan-Pan-Islamic ultan's

economy

on

the

other;

and the result s a

fanatically

anti-traditional

ationalism:

e-

jection

of all

existing

Mohammedan

ultural

heritage,

he es-

tablishment

f

a fantastic elation o a

primal

Turkish

dentity,

technological

modernization

n

the

European

ense,

n

order o

triumphagainst

a

hated and

yet

admired

Europe

with its own

weapons:

hence,

the

preference

or

European-educated

mi-

grants

as

teachers,

romwhom one can

ear

without he

threat

of

foreignpropaganda.

Result:

nationalism

n

the

extreme

ac-

NOTES

l

See also

Balibar,

Les

frontieres,

nd Balibaret al.

2

The

quotation

n full

reads as follows: But he

[Kemal

Ataturk]

ad

to

force

through verything

he did

in

the

struggle

against

he

European

emocracieson the one

handandthe old

Mohammedan-Pan-Islamic ultan's

economy

on

the

other;

and the result s a

fanatically

anti-traditional

ationalism:

e-

jection

of all

existing

Mohammedan

ultural

heritage,

he es-

tablishment

f

a fantastic elation o a

primal

Turkish

dentity,

technological

modernization

n

the

European

ense,

n

order o

triumphagainst

a

hated and

yet

admired

Europe

with its own

weapons:

hence,

the

preference

or

European-educated

mi-

grants

as

teachers,

romwhom one can

ear

without he

threat

of

foreignpropaganda.

Result:

nationalism

n

the

extreme

ac-

companiedby

the simultaneous

destructionof the historical

nationalcharacter.This

picture,

which in othercountries

ike

Germany, taly,

andevenRussia

(?)

is not visible

for

everyone

to

see,

shows

itself here

in full nakedness....

It is

becoming

increasingly

lear o

me that he

present

nternational

ituation

is

nothing

but a ruseof

providence,

designed

o lead

us

along

a

bloody

andtortuous

path

o an International f

triviality

and

a

cultureof

Esperanto.

have

already

uspected

his n

Germany

and

Italy

in

view of the dreadful

nauthenticity

of the

'blood

and soil'

propaganda,

ut

only

here has the evidenceof such

a

trendalmostreached he

point

of

certainty

82).

companiedby

the simultaneous

destructionof the historical

nationalcharacter.This

picture,

which in othercountries

ike

Germany, taly,

andevenRussia

(?)

is not visible

for

everyone

to

see,

shows

itself here

in full nakedness....

It is

becoming

increasingly

lear o

me that he

present

nternational

ituation

is

nothing

but a ruseof

providence,

designed

o lead

us

along

a

bloody

andtortuous

path

o an International f

triviality

and

a

cultureof

Esperanto.

have

already

uspected

his n

Germany

and

Italy

in

view of the dreadful

nauthenticity

of the

'blood

and soil'

propaganda,

ut

only

here has the evidenceof such

a

trendalmostreached he

point

of

certainty

82).

.i

_1.

3'

T

me

'

fa

.i

_1.

3'

T

me

'

fa

WORKS

ITED

ORKS

ITED

Auerbach,

Erich. Letter to Walter

Benjamin.

3 Jan.

1937.

Archiv

der Akademie der

Kunst,

Berlin.

WalterBen-

jamin and Erich Auerbach:Fragmentsof a Correspon-

dence. Ed. Karlheinz

Barck. Trans.

Anthony

Reynolds.

Diacritics 22.3-4

(1992):

81-83.

Balibar,

Etienne. Droit de

cite:

Culture et

politique

en

de-

mocratie.Paris:

L'aube,

1998.

.

Les

frontieres

de

l'Europe.

La crainte

des

masses:

Politique

et

philosophie

avant et

apres

Marx.

Paris:

Galilee,

1997.

Balibar,

Etienne,

et

al.

Sans-papiers:

L'archai'sme

atal.

Paris:La

D6couverte,

1999.

Auerbach,

Erich. Letter to Walter

Benjamin.

3 Jan.

1937.

Archiv

der Akademie der

Kunst,

Berlin.

WalterBen-

jamin and Erich Auerbach:Fragmentsof a Correspon-

dence. Ed. Karlheinz

Barck. Trans.

Anthony

Reynolds.

Diacritics 22.3-4

(1992):

81-83.

Balibar,

Etienne. Droit de

cite:

Culture et

politique

en

de-

mocratie.Paris:

L'aube,

1998.

.

Les

frontieres

de

l'Europe.

La crainte

des

masses:

Politique

et

philosophie

avant et

apres

Marx.

Paris:

Galilee,

1997.

Balibar,

Etienne,

et

al.

Sans-papiers:

L'archai'sme

atal.

Paris:La

D6couverte,

1999.

World

Borders, olitical orders

orld

Borders, olitical orders

I AM SPEAKING

OF THE

BORDERSOF EU-

rope

in

Greece,

one

of

the

peripheral

oun-

tries of

Europe

n its

traditional

onfiguration-a

configuration

hat

reflects

powerful

myths

and a

long-lived

series of

historical

events.

Thessa-

loniki is itself at the edge of thisbordercountry,

one of

those

places

where the

dialectic

between

confrontation

with the

foreigner

(transformed

into

a

hereditary

nemy)

and

communicationbe-

tween

civilizations

(without

which

humanity

cannot

progress)

s

periodicallyplayed

out.

I

thus

find

myself,

it

seems,

right

in

the

middle

of

my

object

of

study,

with all

the

resultant

difficulties.

The

term

border s

extremely

rich in

signifi-

cations.

One of

my

hypotheses

will

be

that it

is

I AM SPEAKING

OF THE

BORDERSOF EU-

rope

in

Greece,

one

of

the

peripheral

oun-

tries of

Europe

n its

traditional

onfiguration-a

configuration

hat

reflects

powerful

myths

and a

long-lived

series of

historical

events.

Thessa-

loniki is itself at the edge of thisbordercountry,

one of

those

places

where the

dialectic

between

confrontation

with the

foreigner

(transformed

into

a

hereditary

nemy)

and

communicationbe-

tween

civilizations

(without

which

humanity

cannot

progress)

s

periodicallyplayed

out.

I

thus

find

myself,

it

seems,

right

in

the

middle

of

my

object

of

study,