Introduction to Borders and Life-Stories

Borders came into global focus during the last decades of the twentieth century. The reason for this was the large-scale geographical, political, and societal changes that took place in Europe, for example, the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the formation of the European Union, and the gathering momentum of global migration movements. These large-scale changes permanently altered the characteristics and significance of national borders in Europe. Instead of being boundaries of strict separation, borders became flexible gateways and pronounced areas of interaction and negotiation. Furthermore, the large-scale changes which were being experienced had a strong impact on the lives of individuals in various borderlands. They altered the way that individuals and groups of people, whose lives were affected by the presence of borders, defined their identities.