Interactions Across Borders in Historical Contexts: Interdisciplinary Approaches

Dear Colleagues,

In the past decades, numerous studies have shown that border crossing and interaction across borders are phenomena at the core of human societies. Borders do not simply remain fixed once established; rather, they are continually created and recreated through human action—political and institutional as well as symbolic and discursive. However, interdisciplinary historical approaches to these developments within frontier and border studies remain relatively scarce.

Privileging multi- and interdisciplinary analyses, this Special Issue aims to gather studies on border interactions and crossings as key processes in the formation of territorial, social, and cultural boundaries—including those related to collective identities and disciplines—across diverse historical contexts, from Antiquity to the present, within and beyond Europe. While English distinguishes between ‛frontiers’, ‛borders’, and ‛boundaries’, other linguistic and cultural contexts, such as the Iberian world, use a single term (e.g., frontera, in Spanish or fronteira in Portuguese). Embracing a broader understanding of these concepts, we particularly welcome essays that explore how borders are made, reinforced, transgressed, or relaxed within the cultures and societies that create them. Equally, we invite contributions that highlight the complexity of borders, underscoring that they are neither simple nor clear-cut demarcations but rather complex constructions that can be fully understood only through the integration of multiple approaches and disciplines.

This call welcomes original studies including, but not limited to, the following topics:

1. Border crossing in historical contexts;
2. Frontier-making throughout history;
3. Social groups and classifications in traditional societies;
4. In-between agents across past civilizations and cultures;
5. Trespassing and demolition of borders through historical processes;
6. Borders as territorial and spatial constructs over time;
7. Transitional spaces between historical periods;
8. Spatial and symbolic borders throughout history.

Prof. Dr. Pablo Sánchez Léon
Dr. Mariana Boscariol
Dr. André Murteira
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Histories is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• border interactions
• border crossings
• collective identities
• historical contexts