Notice Board

Most people today, if they think about borders at all, can be forgiven for believing lines on a map are real things serving useful purposes. Demarcating the edges of nation-states is responsible for everything from shoring up sovereignty, nationalism and colonialism, to drawing the lines between “us” and “them.” However, by taking a closer look at the long, messy histories, and even messier contemporary functions, you will discover those invisible lines are, at best, lying to us. This talk explores why we believe the lies borders tell us, and why we shouldn’t.

Dr. Sheila McManus is Professor of History and a member of the Lethbridge Border Studies research group. Their research focuses primarily on the history of the borderlands of the North American West. McManus is the author of Both Sides Now: Making the Alberta-Montana Borderlands (University of Nebraska Press and University of Alberta Press, 2005); Choices and Chances: A History of Women in the U.S. West, (Wiley, 2010); and Both Sides Now: Writing the Edges of the North American West (Texas A&M Press, 2022). McManus co-edited One Step Over the Line: Toward a History of Women in the North American Wests(Athabasca University Press and the University of Alberta Press, 2008), and Intersections and New Directions in Critical Border Studies (under contract with Athabasca University Press).