Connectivites: Monumentalizing Borders

Abstract

The chapter makes the case that the study of post-national border monuments (mainly in the UK) can generate new perspectives on borders. More specifically, these borders must be viewed less as markers of division and more as ‘engines of connectivity’. The chapter considers the case of several recently proposed border monuments — particularly the’ star of Caledonia’ situated on the English/Scottish border and the ‘White Horse’ at Ebbsfleet in the south of England — in order to show how certain borders, some of which are located in non-traditional locations, are being (re)configured as visibly welcoming and ‘outward looking’. The chapter also examines the ways in which these borders monuments are implicated in (re-)making the borders at the locations in question.