Revisiting Al‐Idrissi: The Eu and the (Euro)Mediterranean Archipelago Frontier. (April 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ferrer‐Gallardo, Xavier; Kramsch, Olivier Thomas
• Other Names: Mamadouh Virginie guestEditor.; Bialasiewicz Luiza guestEditor.
• Is Part Of: Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie. Volume 107:Number 2(2016)
• Page Start: 162
• Page End: 176
• Publication Date: 2016-04
• Subjects: Mediterranean -- European Union -- Al‐Idrissi -- archipelago‐frontier -- fracture -- cohesion -- borders -- cartography; Economic geography -- Periodicals; Human geography -- Periodicals; 330.9005
• DOI: 10.1111/tesg.12177
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0040-747X

Abstract

Abstract: This contribution has three overarching objectives. First, it seeks to describe the logics of fracture and cohesion governing current geopolitical dynamics in the Mediterranean. Second, in the face of these contradictory tendencies, it proposes the notion of archipelago‐frontier as a concept for deepening our understanding of an ever more dispersed and ubiquitous geography defining the Southern border of the EU. In this light we draw on the contemporary resonances of the destabilising cartographic imagination of Al‐Idrissi (1100‐1165). And we argue that, read today, it helps us rethink the current symbolic, terminological (and hence geopolitical) abduction of the Mediterranean by the European Union, which the very term 'Euromediterranean' encapsulates. Finally, the paper underlines the necessity of forging new vistas on the Mediterranean engendering perspectives that are more dialogical, plurivocal and sensitive to permanent transformation, as evoked by a long‐term spatial as well as political horizon of struggle.