Episode Overview

Podcast: LSE: Public Lectures and Events
Title: Not Just Lines on a Map: Borders in a Changing World
Date: October 9, 2025
Host: London School of Economics and Political Science (introduced by Professor Armina Ishkanian)
Speakers:

• Dr. Tarsis Brito (SOAS, University of London)
• Dr. Maya Goodfellow (City, St George’s, University of London)
• Dr. Luc de Noronha (UCLA)

Theme:
This episode explores the complexities, histories, and contemporary realities of borders in a rapidly shifting world. The discussion interrogates how borders produce, reinforce, and are shaped by global inequalities, especially through the lenses of race, colonialism, and capitalism. The panelists offer scholarly and personal perspectives—including case studies and critical theory—on how bordering practices shape lives, societies, and notions of belonging.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction and Framing of the Event (00:14–04:23)

• Professor Armina Ishkanian welcomes the speakers and audience, outlining the session’s focus: exploring how borders shape and are shaped by contemporary global challenges.
• She introduces each panelist and notes the original inclusion of Noosha Kabawat, who could not attend.

2. Dr. Tarsis Brito: Borders, Whiteness, and Settler Colonialism (04:23–18:59)

Main Argument

• Borders as Settler Colonial Tools:
  Dr. Brito argues that “global north borders have historically and continue to function as settler colonial tools— not just to police mobility, but also to settle whiteness as native.” (05:25)
• Current anti-immigrant rhetoric often reverses the colonial narrative, casting white Europeans as “natives under threat,” and migrants as “potential colonizers.” (06:11)

Key Points

• “Invasion” Narratives:
  Since Europe’s so-called migrant crisis, politicians and far-right groups increasingly use colonial history to justify anti-migration sentiment:

  “If you are against Europe’s past colonial invasions, you should now oppose the invasion of Europe itself.” (06:51)

• Whiteness as Native:
  Whiteness is constructed as a trans-national native identity threatened by migration, sustaining a “state of siege” mentality.
• Racialized Construction of Nativeness:
  Borders historically consolidated whiteness as native—not just in “settler colonies” (US, Canada, Australia) but also in Europe.
• Historical Development:
  • The modern border is not a neutral territorial device but a product of racial-colonial projects, originating in the settler colonies to police non-white bodies while enabling white migration. (10:56)
  • Post-WWII: Former European empires adopted exclusionary border practices against racialized former colonial subjects, reinforcing white nativeness (ex: Enoch Powell’s 1968 “Rivers of Blood” speech).
• Unfinished Settler Colonialism:
  The “settling of whiteness” is an ongoing, fragile process, producing anxieties about white ownership and identity, continually reinforced through border violence and exclusionary practices.

Notable Quotes

• “What is really the history of the modern border? ...Borders were, from their very inception, part of a racial colonial project.” — Dr. Tarsis Brito (10:56)
• “The migrant crisis…can be seen as the very result of settler colonial anxieties that shape Europe’s understanding of whiteness.” (17:23)
• “White nativeness is a fragile and anxious project that relies on bordering practices to secure its claims to ownership and belonging.” (18:26)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [06:11] — Deployment of “reverse colonialism” rhetoric in European politics.
• [10:56] — Borders as racial colonial technology.
• [13:38] — Post-colonial migration policy shifts in Europe.
• [17:23] — Racial anxieties and the framing of migration “crises.”
• [18:26] — Conclusion: Borders as ongoing colonial legacies.

3. Dr. Maya Goodfellow: Race, Capitalism, and the Harm of Borders (19:08–24:00)

Main Argument

• The Border as a Producer of Inequality:
  Dr. Goodfellow interrogates mainstream narratives of the border, focusing on how bordering processes in the UK are intimately tied to both race and capitalism.

Key Points

• Diverse Meanings and Perceptions of Borders:
  Conducts a quick, interactive poll with the audience on whether borders represent security, nationhood, “a necessary evil,” or merely “an administrative burden.” Most saw them as an administrative burden, highlighting dissonances between lived and political/economic realities. (22:43)
• Mainstream Political Discourse:
  • Borders are framed as sources of “strength and security”—a bipartisan stance in contemporary UK politics, avidly called for by both Conservative and Labour parties. (23:19)
  • This rhetoric often eclipses the harms produced by bordering, such as forcing dangerous crossings or producing vulnerability and death among migrants (e.g., the English Channel).
• Race and the Border:
  • UK politicians claim race and immigration are unrelated—asserting it’s “not racist to impose limits on immigration” (a recent Conservative slogan).
  • There has been a rhetorical shift since the 1960s–70s: while openly racial exclusion used to be explicit, today it is often reframed in terms of culture rather than race.
• Capitalism and the Border:
  (Note: The transcript excerpt ends mid-point as Dr. Goodfellow prepares to elaborate on capitalism’s co-production with race in the logic of borders. Her full argument will connect to her broader work on “racial capitalism.”)

Notable Quotes

• “Borders are taken to represent strength and security. One of their main functions is to filter people, granting some people limited rights, others none at all.” — Dr. Maya Goodfellow (23:19)
• “What often happens…is it’s conjured up that borders are necessary for protection, but what is often eclipsed is that bordering also produces harm.” (23:36)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [22:43] — Interactive audience poll on the meaning of borders.
• [23:19] — Bipartisan calls for “stronger borders” in UK politics.
• [23:36] — Borders as sources of harm, not only protection.

Memorable Moments & Quotes

• Dr. Brito’s account of “reverse colonialism” rhetoric:
  “If in the past, white people invaded other spaces, now white people’s spaces have been invaded, occupied, and settled. In this reversal, whiteness appears now as the very dispossessed native under threat.” (07:55)

• Audience engagement with perceptions of borders:
  Dr. Goodfellow’s informal poll highlighted ambiguity and fatigue toward the concept of borders—most audience members labeled them an “administrative burden” rather than something to be celebrated or condemned outright. (22:43)

Summary of Episode’s Flow (with Key Timestamps)

• [00:14–04:23] — Introduction and context: framing the event, introduction of speakers.
• [04:23–18:59] — Dr. Tarsis Brito’s presentation: borders, whiteness, colonial legacy, and the case of Europe.
• [19:08–24:00] — Dr. Maya Goodfellow’s presentation (part 1): borders, inequality, race, and the UK context; audience interaction.

Tone and Style

The episode is scholarly yet accessible, critically reflective, and audience-engaged. The speakers maintain a rigorous, evidence-based approach grounded in both theory and empirical realities, while also inviting audience participation and considering lived experience.

Conclusion

This episode unpacks the political, racial, and historical underpinnings of borders in the global north. Dr. Brito forcefully articulates how “whiteness as native” is not a given but a constructed (and anxious) result of settler colonial logic—one that persists in contemporary border practices and anti-migrant rhetoric. Dr. Goodfellow invites re-examination of borders' mainstream justifications and highlights the harms and exclusions that are too often overlooked.

Listeners gain a nuanced, critical view: Borders are not just lines on a map—they are living, contested sites of inequality, power, and legacies of past violence.