Urbanities,
Vol. 3 • No 1 • May 2013
© 2013
Urbanities
133
The conference demonstrated that in comparison with 1976, when the Association for
Borderlands Studies was founded as a reaction to the research of the specificities particularly
on the borders of Mexico and the USA, the topic of borders has substantially expanded and is
now studied all over the world. Borders are now perceived rather as a part of processes and
not as a static phenomenon. The topic of borders today helps overcome methodological
nationalism and is instrumental in understanding the phenomena that not only form the
borders but also overcome them. The conference in Berlin indicated that research of this type
is currently highly dynamic and is moving forward methodologically also research
perspectives in the area of urban anthropology.
