Borders are where wars start, as Primo Levi once wrote. But they are also bridges - that is, sites for ongoing cultural exchange. Anyone studying how nations and states maintain distinct identities while adapting to new ideas and experiences knows that borders provide particularly revealing windows for the analysis of 'self' and 'other'.

Hastings Donnan The Queen's University of Belfast Thomas M. Wilson Professor of Anthropology,Binghamton University

List of Maps and Figures, Acknowledgements, Preface, 1. Introduction: Borders, Nations and States, 2. Borders and Boundaries in Anthropology, 3. Other Approaches to Borders, Nations and States, 4. The Symbols and Rituals of Power, 5. The Subversive Economy, 6. Border Crossings and the Transfonnation of Value and Valuers, 7. Body Politics, 8. Conclusion: Border Cultures and the Crisis of the Nation-State, Bibliography, Index