Introduction: Beyond Borders—Inclusion and Exclusion in American Culture

Abstract

The introduction to this volume offers a critical survey of the contemporary proliferation of in/visible borders in the United States, arguing for a new interpretation of state boundaries beyond the opposition inside/outside. It takes critical definitions of the segmented, liminal, and biopolitical border as a point of departure for exploring the multiple dimensions of the concept within the US cultural map and situates the contributors’ reflections on diverse literary and filmic works against the backdrop of changing ideas about ethnicity, citizenship, and race. Tracing cultural manifestations that envision the US as an ambiguous site of intercultural negotiation, this introduction addresses how the discourse producing ethnic discrimination has historically coalesced with those around belonging, labor, and freedom to flesh out a new border dialectic beyond the concept’s normative frame. By questioning the implicit exclusionary rhetoric of the border, this introduction builds a critical foundation for the volume’s examinations, underlining the existing interdependence between center and margins and the oscillating meaning that the threshold generates.