About Border and Migration Studies

Border and Migration Studies Online provides both historical and contemporary resources that represent both personal and institutional perspectives on this important topic. The collection is relevant for the growing fields of border(land) studies and migration studies, as well as history, law, politics, diplomacy, area and global studies, anthropology, medicine, the arts, and more. In collaboration with an international board of scholars, materials were selected and organized around fundamental themes such as:

  • Border Identities
  • Border Enforcement and Control
  • Border Disputes
  • Border Criminology
  • Maritime Borders
  • Human Trafficking
  • Sea Migration
  • Undocumented and Unauthorized Migration
  • Global Governance of Migration

Teaching and Research Applications:

With Border and Migration Studies Online, students and researchers can utilize primary and secondary sources to study borders and migrations through interdisciplinary, comparative, and cross-national perspectives. For example, users can:

  • Examine events through the interaction of personal documents (firsthand accounts) and institutional sources (from governments and organizations).
  • Compare events related to the walls in Berlin, Israel/Palestine, and U.S./Mexico.
  • Evaluate colonial responses to a range of conflicts.
  • Examine policies towards surveillance and control on different borders.
  • Research the history of U.S./Mexico relations, Turkey’s evolution, and Latin American borders.
  • Explore the situations around being a refugee in Europe during WWII and compare it with being a refugee today.

Key Border Events and Areas Covered:

  • Border Events and Areas Context*
  • Afghanistan and its Borders*
  • Angola and Namibia
  • Argentina and its Borders*
  • Austria and Hungary*
  • Australia-Indonesia-East Timor*
  • Bangladesh and India
  • Benin and Nigeria
  • Botswana and Namibia
  • British Guiana Boundary Disputes (Venezuela and Brazil)*
  • Bulgaria, Macedonia, and the Balkans
  • Burma and Thailand*
  • Burundi and Tanzania
  • Cambodia and Thailand*
  • Canada and the United States*
  • China and its Borders*
  • Colombia and Venezuela
  • The Congo and its Borders*
  • Cuba and the United States*
  • Dominican Republic and Haiti
  • Eastern European Borders*
  • Egypt and its Borders
  • European Union and its Borders,
  • Internal and External*
  • France and its Borders*
  • Germany and its Borders*
  • Guatemala and Mexico
  • Indigenous Peoples and the Americas
  • India and Pakistan*
  • Indonesia and Malaysia
  • Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria
  • Iraq and Syria
  • Irish Border*
  • Korea and its Borders
  • Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan
  • Mexico and the United States*
  • Morocco and Spain
  • Mozambique and its Borders*
  • Sea Migrations*
  • Sierra Leone and Liberia*
  • South Africa and its Borders*
  • Sudan and its Borders*
  • Turkey and its Borders*

Editorial Board Members

This collection was created in collaboration with an international board of scholars. Contributors include:

  • Holly Ackerman, Librarian for Latin American, Iberian, and Latino Studies, Department of International and Area Studies, Duke University (U.S.)
  • Vanessa Barker, Docent and Associate Professor of Sociology, Stockholm University (Sweden)
  • Mary Bosworth, Professor of Criminology and Fellow of St Cross College, University of Oxford (U.K.); Professor of Criminology, Monash University (Australia)
  • Yuk Wah Chan, Associate Professor, City University of Hong Kong; Chief Editor, Routledge Series on Asian Migration
  • Hastings Donnan, Director, Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation and Social Justice; Co-Director, Centre for International Borders Research at Queen’s University Belfast (Ireland)
  • Catherine Filloux, Social-justice and human-rights playwright; Cofounder of Theatre Without Borders, New York (U.S.)
  • Pranoto Iskandar, Founding Director of the Institute for Migrant Rights (Indonesia)
  • Molly Molloy, Latin American and Border Studies Librarian, Mexico State University Library (U.S.)

Sensitivity Statement and Takedown Policy

Materials contained on the Alexander Street platform include historical content that may contain offensive language, negative stereotypes or inaccurate representations. Alexander Street does not endorse the views expressed in such materials, but believes they should be made available in context to enable scholarly comparison, analysis and research.

In making material available online, Alexander Street and our content partners act in good faith. To the best of our knowledge, content contained within these collections has been cleared for publication by the appropriate rights holders and has not been placed under any restrictions for privacy, cultural or other sensitivities. If you have found material for which you believe you hold the copyright without proper attribution, which contravenes privacy laws, or which is a breach of the protocols determining accession provision for heritage materials which reflect indigenous history, culture, language or perspective, please contact us in writing at history@alexanderstreet.com. Please include with your query:

1. Your full name

2. Your contact information

3. URL to the content in question

4. The reason for your inquiry

Upon receipt of inquiries, the following steps will be undertaken:

1. Inquirer will receive confirmation of receipt.

2. Alexander Street will contact the holding source and/or any related copyright holder to notify of the inquiry.

3. Alexander Street will make all possible efforts to resolve the takedown request quickly and to the satisfaction of all parties involved. Possible outcomes include: Access to content remains unchanged on the Alexander Street platform; Access to content is modified on the Alexander Street platform; Access to the content is removed from the Alexander Street platform.

Alexander Street strives to provide the broadest possible online access to content where permissions have been granted by the known rights holders and/or the content holding institution. Permanent access restrictions will be considered only as an exceptional response.