The Border in the Pocket: The Passport as a Boundary Object

Abstract

Most routines reveal their taken-for-granted character only when disrupted unexpectedly. Border crossing is no exception to this, as Edward Snowden came to realize after he arrived in Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport on a flight from Hong Kong on June 23, 2013. What would, in normal circumstances, have been but a short transit visit on his way forward to Ecuador or Venezuela grew into an extended stay of 39 days at the airport’s transit zone. The background to Snowden’s involuntary detainment in the Moscow airport is, of course, now familiar to all. In deciding to disclose top-secret British and US government internet and telephone surveillance policies in May 2013, Snowden placed himself squarely in the position of a wanted person. While celebrated by many as a whistleblower and a dissident concerned with information privacy, this former CIA and NSA employee is viewed as a traitor and a threat to national security by the US government (Greenwald, et al., 2013).