BORDER REGIONS IN TRANSITION XVII

CONTESTED BORDERLANDS AS SPACES OF NEGOTIATION AND ADAPTATION

26-28 May 2025, Cyprus

Dear friends, colleagues, and participants,

Welcome to “Contested Borderlands as Spaces of Negotiation and Adaptation”.

Bringing together an outstanding lineup of border studies scholars, this high-level international conference offers a unique opportunity to explore the complex dynamics of borders and boundaries as barriers and bridges in one of the most interesting locations in the world.

Held at the Cyprus campus of the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan Cyprus) in Pyla, the last Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot mixed village in Cyprus, it will take place in the UN buffer zone, and just a few hundred metres from one of the two British military bases on the island.

In addition to the academic programme, the conference will also include two days of optional excursions. The first will be to Nicosia, the divided capital city, and the second will be to Varosha, the recently opened fenced-off ‘ghost city’. This will give participants a chance to see first-hand the practical dimensions of one of the most intractable disputes in modern international relations.

We look forward to welcoming you to what promises to be a thought-provoking conference in a truly fascinating place.

BRIT Conferences

Since 1994, the Border Regions in Transition (BRIT) Conferences are among the leading international scientific conferences on interdisciplinary research on borders and borderlands.

Keynote Speakers

Henk van Houtum

Professor of Geopolitics and Political Geography, Radboud University Nijmegen

Henk van Houtum is a Professor of Geopolitics and Political Geography at Radboud University and co-director of the Nijmegen Centre for Border Research (NCBR). He has written extensively on b/ordering and othering, borderism, global mobility inequality, visa regimes, migration policies, the cartography of borders and migration, borderlands, conflicts, cross-border cooperation, nationalism, and the geopolitics of football. His latest book is: Free the Map. From Atlas to Hermes. A new cartography of borders and migration (2024): https://www.nai010.com/en/publicaties/free-the-map/246126/. For further info and publications, see henkvanhoutum.nl/

Costas Constantinou

Professor of International Relations, University of Cyprus

Costas M. Constantinou is Professor of International Relations at the University of Cyprus with research interests in diplomacy, conflict, international theory, and legal and normative aspects of international relations. Born in Nicosia, he completed his PhD at Lancaster University and taught in the UK at the Universities of Lancaster, Hull and Keele, before returning to Cyprus. He also held visiting posts at Taras Shevchenko University, Kiev, the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, and the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) in Geneva. His research received international awards and funding, and published extensively in international peer-reviewed journals and publishing houses. For a selection of his publications, see https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Costas-Constantinou-4

Important Dates

Conference registration fee

The conference fee for students is €90, and for all other participants is €180. Participant registration takes place from 10 February until 13 April.
Failure to register and to pay the conference fee will result in the participant’s name being removed from the Conference Programme and the List of Participants.

Registration is completed upon the payment of the registration fee. The payment will take place through bank transfer to the below account details. The description in the payment transaction should be ‘BRIT 2025 Registration Fee’. Upon making the transaction, please email to [email protected] with proof of payment

Account name: UCLAN CYPRUS LIMITED
Account number: 3140186879501
Currency: EUR
IBAN number paper format: CY78 0050 0314 0003 1401 8687 9501
IBAN number electronic format: CY78005003140003140186879501
Hellenic Bank SWIFT: HEBACY2N

Paper Submissions

Important Dates

• 28 October 2024: Call for papers opens.
• 12 January 2025: Deadline for submission of abstracts for individual papers.
• 4 February 2025: Notification of acceptance. Registration platform opens.
• 13 April 2025: Registration closes.
• 12 May 2025: Submission of full text papers.
• 26-28 May 2025: Conference.
• 29-30 May 2025: Post-conference field trip.

Organisers

Eiki Berg, University of Tartu

James Ker-Lindsay, University of Kent and LSE

Nasia Hadjigeorgiou, UCLan Cyprus

International Advisory Board

David Newman, Ben-Gurion University

David Newman, Emeritus Professor of Geopolitics, Department of of Politics and Government, Ben-Gurion University, Israel-hmp

Martin Klatt, University of Southern Denmark

Martin Klatt, Associate Professor, European Centre for Minority Issues and University of Southern Denmark-hmp

Anne-Laure Amilhat Szary, University of Grenoble Alpes

Jussi Laine, University of Eastern Finland

Jussi Laine - Professor of Multidisciplinary Border Studies, Karelian Institute, University of Eastern Finland-hmp

Willie Eselebor, Lagos State University

Tina Harris, University of Amsterdam

Anna Casaglia, University of Trento

James Scott, University of Eastern Finland

PROGRAMME

Monday, May 26^th

09:00 – 10:00 Registration

10:00 – 11:30 Session I

Contested Orders: Territorial Integrity & Inviolability of Borders

Border Disputes: Land, Sea & Air

Border Barriers Tackling Real & Imagined Threats

Bordertexturing Borderlands

11:30 – 11:45 Coffee break

11:45 – 13:15 Session II

Governance, Security & Legitimacy in Contested Borderlands

Borderscapes & Communities

Border Ideologies & Practices

Emotional Borders

Phantom Borders I

13:15 – 14:30 Lunch

14:30 – 16:00 Session III

Third Party Involvement in Sovereignty Contestations

Border Zones in Transition

Complexity of Border Politics

Representing Borders

Phantom Borders II

16:00 – 16:15 Coffee break

16:15-17:45 Welcome and Keynote Address: Prof Henk van Houtum “Free the Map. Towards a New Cartography of Borders and Migration”

18:30 Reception at Larnaca Nautical Club

Tuesday, May 27^th

09:30 – 11:00 Session IV

The State of Exception & Liminality

Borderlands Affected by War in Past & Present

Securitization of Borders

B-Shapes

Climate Change & Liquid Borderscapes

11:00 – 11:15 Coffee break

11:15 – 12:45 Session V

Dynamics of Cyprus Conflict

Elastic Borders

Mapping & Framing Borderscapes

Wet Borderlands

12:45 – 14:00 Lunch

14:00 – 15:30 Session VI

From Self-determination to Transitional Justice

Ethnography of Migration

De-bordering Through Practice & Dialogue

Frontier Ecologies & Human Mobility

15:30 – 15:45 Coffee break

15:45-17:00 Keynote Address: Prof Costas Constantinou “Interstitial Self-Determination: Negotiation and Adaptation in Divided Cyprus”

18:00 Reception at UCLan Cyprus

Wednesday, May 28^th

09:30 – 11:00 Session VII

Bi-Communal Spaces in Cyprus Buffer Zone

Navigating Borders in Times of Crises

Re-visiting Cross-border Cooperation Initiatives in the Western Balkans

Border Securities

11:00 – 11:15 Coffee break

11:15 – 12:45 Session VIII

Roundtable: Border Scholarship

Co-organisers / Funders

The conference is co-organised / funded by

12 - 14 University Avenue, Pyla, Larnaca, Cyprus

E: [email protected]

P: +357 24694000