Rethinking Borders Through a Complexity Lens: Complex Textures Towards a Politics of Hope

This article aims to explore the potential of a complexity approach for promoting a more comprehensive understanding of b/ordering processes and their relation to contemporary post-global phenomena. Specifically, the paper - which is theoretical rather than empirical - sets out two aims. On the one hand, to show how a complexity approach - with a focus on Morin’s “complex thought” - is helpful for advancing research on borders, thereby establishing a dialogue with the conceptualization of borderscapes and bordertextures within critical border studies. On the other hand, to reflect on how theoretical knowledge on border complexities can be operationalized through anthropological reflections on cultural complexity and borders. The article concludes by considering how borders as complex textures might be reinterpreted as a space of political creativity, where it may also be possible to cultivate a politics of hope, thereby opening up the way to alternative political subjectivities and agencies.