Abstract
This article deals with the notion of how borders have a penchant for becoming a marker of security. The moment borders become securitized the question of flows across them acquires particular importance. In the colonial period this was marked by concern over dacoits, thugees and hooligans who crossed the district border at will. In the post-colonial period concern remains over undocumented migrants and whether their arrival threatens the nation form. Against this background the article addresses the notion of flows and increasing violence at the borders, fencing as the most recent marker of such violence and how women and the evolution of their relationship to the border is shaped through the discourses of violence.
Notes
IB File No. 1238 A/47 (Nadia), p. 493, “Extract from the weekly report of the Superintendent of Police, Nadia, for the week ending 1.12.50,” WB State Archives, 43 Shakespear Sarani (hereafter WBSAIB).
IB File No. 1238 A/47 (Nadia), Memo No. 7491 (5) / 23:50 (Tehatta) “To the WB Police, DIG Central Range, DIGIB, DM 24 Parganas,” WBSAIB.
IB File No. 1238 A/47, Memo no. 19082/1238 A – 47 / For, date. 7.5.1951, pp. 809-841, “Fortnightly report on Border incidents in West Bengal during 2nd Half of April 1951,” pp. 809–41. WBSAIB.
Survey undertaken by Subharati Banerjee (Citation2000–2001, 73).