Cover not available
Article published In:
Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 16:3 (2017) ► pp.367–387

No borders

Australians talking beyond the nation

| The University of Western Australia

Academic debate about the anachronism of national borders is extensive. The general population, however, has been less keen to embrace the idea of a ‘postnational’ world. This paper offers evidence from focus groups with Australians suggesting that in some quarters talking beyond the nation is occurring. However, the ideology of the nation-state remains strong, and such talk is quickly shut down using a particular rhetorical device. This is ‘the principle/practical’ dichotomy, which insists that dropping national borders is impractical for a range of reasons, despite it perhaps being a valuable idea in principle. The paper explores the ways this occurs, using detailed critical discourse analysis. Practical objections are generally framed in terms of governance rather than cultural issues. However, practical examples of existing ‘no borders’ situations are used to make the counter-argument that a postnational world is possible.

Keywords: nation, cosmopolitan, post-national, no borders, nationalism, critical discourse analysis
Article outline
  • 1.Background
  • 2.Australian orientations beyond the nation
  • 3.Method
  • 4.Results
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 April 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.15026.foz
References
Abram, Simone, Bela Feldman Bianco, Shahram Khosravi, N. Salazar, and Nicholas de Genova
2016 “The free movement of people around the world would be Utopian: IUAES World Congress 2013: Evolving Humanity, Emerging Worlds, 5–10 August 2013.” Identities. 1–33.Google Scholar
Anderson, Benedict
1991 Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Anderson, Bridget, Nandita Sharma, and Cynthia Wright
2009 “Editorial: Why No Borders?” Refuge: Canada's Journal on Refugees (Special Issue on ‘No Borders as a Practical Political Project’) 261: 5–18. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Appiah, Kwami
2006 Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Audi, Robert
2009 “Nationalism, Cosmopolitanism, and Globalization.” The Journal of Ethics 131: 365–81. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bartram, David
2010 “International Migration, Open Borders Debates, and Happiness.” International Studies Review 121: 339–61. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Beck, Ulrich
2006 Cosmopolitan Vision. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Beck, Ulrich, and Natan Sznaider
2006 “Unpacking Cosmopolitanism for the Social Sciences: A Research Agenda.” British Journal of Sociology 571: 1–23. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Block, Walter
1998 “A Libertarian Case for Free Immigration.” Journal of Libertarian Studies 131: 167–86.Google Scholar
Brett, Judith, and Anthony Moran
2011 “Cosmopolitan Nationalism: Ordinary People Making Sense of Diversity.” Nations and Nationalism 171: 188–206. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Calhoun, Craig
2007 Nations Matter: Culture, History, and the Cosmopolitan Dream. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carens, Joseph
1987 “Aliens and Citizens: The Case for Open Borders.” The Review of Politics 491: 251–73. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Castles, Stephen, and Alistair Davidson
2000 Citizenship and Migration: Globalization and the Politics of Belonging. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Dinan, Desmond
1999 Ever Closer Union: An Introduction to European Integration. London: Boulder. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Edwards, Derek, and Jonathon Potter
1992 Discursive Psychology. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Fairclough, Norman
2013 Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fozdar, Farida
2016 “Asian Invisibility/Asian Threat: Australians Talking About Asia” Journal of Sociology 521: 789–805. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2008 “Duelling Discourses, Shared Weapons: Rhetorical Techniques Used to Challenge Racist Arguments.” Discourse and Society 191: 529–47. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fozdar, Farida, and Mitchell Low
2015 “ ‘They Have to Abide by Our Laws…and Stuff’: Ethno Nationalism Masquerading as Civic Nationalism.” Nations and Nationalism 211: 524–43. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fozdar, Farida, and Anne Pedersen
2013 “Diablogging About Asylum Seekers: Building a Counter-Hegemonic Discourse.” Discourse & Communication 71: 1–18. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gamson, William
1992 Talking Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hannerz, Ulf
1996 Transnational Connections: Culture, People, Places. London: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Hedetoft, Ulf, and Mette Hjort
2002 The Postnational Self: Belonging and Identity. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Higgins, Peter
2008 “Open Borders and the Right to Immigration.” Human Rights Review 91: 525–35. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Huntington, Samuel
1996 The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. India: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Inglis, David
2013 “Cosmopolitanism’s Sociology and Sociology’s Cosmopolitanism: Re-Telling the History of Cosmopolitan Theory from Stoicism to Durkheim and Beyond.” Distinktion: Scandinavian Journal of Social Theory 151: 69–87. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, Keith, and Jeff Malpas
2011 Ocean to Outback: Cosmopolitanism in Contemporary Australia. Crawley, Western Australia: UWA Publishing.Google Scholar
Jupp, James
2007 From White Australia to Woomera: The Story of Australian Immigration. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kitzinger, Jenny, and Rosaline Barbour
1999 Developing Focus Group Research: Politics, Theory and Practice. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Kohler-Koch, Beate, and Rainer Eising
(eds) 1999 The Transformation of Governance in the European Union. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Krueger, Richard, and Mary Anne Casey
2000 Focus Groups. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Krzyzanowski, Michal
2008 “Analysing Focus Group Discussions.” In Qualitative Discourse Analysis in the Social Sciences, edited by Ruth Wodak, and Michal Krzyzanowski, 162–81. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kymlicka, Will
1995 Multicultural Citizenship. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lamont, Michele, and Sada Aksartova
2002 “Ordinary Cosmopolitanisms: Strategies for Bridging Racial Boundaries Among Working-Class Men.” Theory, Culture & Society 191: 1–25. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Munday, Jennie
2006 “Identity in Focus: The Use of Focus Groups to Study the Construction of Collective Identity.” Sociology 401: 89–105. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nussbaum, Martha
1994 “Cosmopolitanism and Patriotism.” Boston Review 191: 3–16.Google Scholar
Pakulski, Jan, and Bruce Tranter
2000 “Civic, National and Denizen Identity in Australia.” Journal of Sociology 361: 205–22. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Phillips, Timothy, and Robert Holton
2007 “What Do Australians Think About Globalisation? Public and Personal Dimensions.” In Australian Social Attitudes 2: Citizenship, Work and Aspirations, edited by David Denemark, Gabrielle Meagher, Shaun Wilson, Mark Western, and Timothy Phillips, 107–24. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.Google Scholar
Phillips, Timothy, and Philip Smith
2008 “Cosmopolitan Beliefs and Cosmopolitan Practices: An Empirical Investigation.” Journal of Sociology 441: 391–99. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2000 “What is ‘Australian’? Knowledge and Attitudes Among a Gallery of Contemporary Australians.” Australian Journal of Political Science 351: 203–24. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pickering, Sharon
2001 “Common Sense and Original Deviancy: News Discourses and Asylum Seekers in Australia.” Journal of Refugee Studies 141: 169–86. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pomerantz, Anita
1986 “Extreme Case Formulations: A Way of Legitimizing Claims.” Human Studies 91: 219–29. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1984 “Agreeing and Disagreeing with Assessments: Some Features of Preferred/Dispreferred Turn Shapes.” In Structures of Social Action: Studies in Conversation Analysis, edited by Maxwell Atkinson, and John Heritage, 57–101. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Puchta, Claudia, and Jonathon Potter
2004 Focus Group Practice. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rawls, John
1971 A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Sassen, Saskia
2006 Territory Authority Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
1996 Losing Control. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Schiller, Nina Glick, Linda Basch, and Christina Blanc‐Szanton
(eds) 1992 “Transnationalism: A New Analytic Framework for Understanding Migration.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 6451: 1–24. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schiller, Nina Glick, and Andrew Irving
2015 Whose Cosmopolitanism? Critical Perspectives, Relationalities and Discontents. New York: Berghan.Google Scholar
Skey, Michael
2013 “Why Do Nations Matter? The Struggle for Belonging and Security in an Uncertain World.” The British Journal of Sociology 641: 81–98. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Skrbis, Zlatko, and Ian Woodward
2007 “The Ambivalence of Ordinary Cosmopolitanism: Investigating the Limits of Cosmopolitan Openness.” The Sociological Review 551: 730–47. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Smithson, Janet
2000 “Using and analysing focus groups: limitations and possibilities.” International Journal of Social Research Methodology 31: 103–19. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Soysal, Yasemin
1994 Limits of Citizenship: Migrants and Postnational Membership in Europe. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Stokes, Geoffrey, Roderic Pitty, and Gary Smith
(eds) 2008 Global Citizens: Australian Activists for Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Stone, Dianne
2013 Knowledge Networks and Transnational Governance: The Public-Private Policy Nexus in the Global Agora. London: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Turner, Bryan, Christine Halse, and Arathi Sriprakash
2014 “Cosmopolitanism: Religion and Kinship Among Young People in South-Western Sydney.” Journal of Sociology 501: 83–98. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
van den Berg, Harry, Margaret Wetherell, and Hanneke Houtkoop-Steenstra
(eds) 2003 Analyzing Race Talk: Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Interview. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
van Dijk, Teun
1987 Communicating Racism: Ethnic Prejudice in Thought and Talk. California: Sage.Google Scholar
Vertovec, Steve
2001 “Transnationalism and Identity.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 271: 573–82. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vertovec, Steve, and Robin Cohen
(eds) 2002 Conceiving Cosmopolitanism: Theory, Context and Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Walzer, Michael
1981 “The Distribution of Membership”. In Boundaries: National Autonomy and Its Limits, edited by Peter Brown, and Henry Shue, 1–35. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman.Google Scholar
Werbner, Pnina
2008 “Introduction: Towards a New Cosmopolitan Anthropology.” In Anthropology and the New Cosmopolitanism, edited by Pnina Werbner, 1–29. Berg: Oxford.Google Scholar
1999 “Global Pathways. Working Class Cosmopolitans and the Creation of Transnational Ethnic Worlds.” Social Anthropology 71: 17–35. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wetherell, Margaret
2003 “Racism and the Analysis of Cultural Resources in Interviews.” In Analyzing Race Talk: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on the Research, edited by Harry van den Berg, Margaret Wetherell, and Hanneke Houtkoop-Steenstra, 11–30. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wetherell, Margaret, and Jonathon Potter
1992 Mapping the Language of Racism: Discourse and the Legitimation of Exploitation. Hertfordshire, UK: Harvester-Wheatsheaf.Google Scholar
Wise, Amanda, and Selvaraj Velayutham
(eds) 2009 Everyday Multiculturalism. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wodak, Ruth
2001 “What CDA is About: A Summary of Its History, Important Concepts and Its Developments.” In Methods of Critical Discourse Studies, edited by Ruth Wodak, and Michael Meyer, 1–13. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Wodak, Ruth, and Michael Meyer
2001 Methods of Critical Discourse Studies. London: Sage. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wodak, Ruth, and Martin Reisigl
(eds) 2009 The Discursive Construction of National Identity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Woodward, Ian, Zlatko Skrbis, and Clive Bean
2008 “Attitudes Towards Globalization and Cosmopolitanism: Cultural Diversity, Personal Consumption and the National Economy.” British Journal of Sociology 591: 207–26. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 5 other publications

Ashcroft, Bill
2019. Borders, Bordering, and the Transnation. English Academy Review 36:1 ► pp. 5 ff. DOI logo
Fozdar, Farida
2018. Social Transformation and the Individual: Opportunities and Limitations. Journal of Intercultural Studies 39:2 ► pp. 129 ff. DOI logo
Fozdar, Farida
2018. Buying the Nation and Beyond: Discursive Dilemmas in Debates around Cosmopolitan Consumption. In Cosmopolitanism, Markets, and Consumption, ► pp. 239 ff. DOI logo
Fozdar, Farida
2021. Re-imagining the world: Australians’ engagement with postnationalism, or Why the nation is the problem. Journal of Sociology 57:1 ► pp. 146 ff. DOI logo
Moran, Anthony
2021. Globalisation, postnationalism and Australia. Journal of Sociology 57:1 ► pp. 128 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 2 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.