657 Geopolitics, 13:657–675, 2008 Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1465-0045 print / 1557-3028 online DOI: 10.1080/14650040802275495 FGEO 1465-0045 1557-3028 Geopolitics, Vol. 13, No. 4, September 2008: pp. 1–36 Geopolitics Border Narratives at Work: Theatrical Smuggling and the Politics of Commemoration Border Narratives at Work Eeva-Kaisa Prokkola EEVA-KAISA PROKKOLA Department of Geography, University of Oulu, Finland This paper discusses how cultural and artistic work constitutes a powerful means for mediating the collective memory of state borders. The empirical case study concerns the commercialisation of a borderland culture in the form of a ‘Smuggling Opera’ in a cross- border project on the Finnish-Swedish border region where border crossing has been unrestricted for decades. This theatrical perfor- mance constructs a particular local narrative which contests the authorised representation of borders in the discourse of the nation- state. The narrative analysis method is applied to this popularised border narrative and its interpretation among local participants, leading to the conclusion that the understanding of state borders differs between authorised border narratives and the stories of borderland people for whom it represents part of the everyday sur- roundings, although both serve to fix the meaning and moral justification of the border or argument for its rejection. The narra- tives of people living in the ‘borderless’ Finnish-Swedish border region show the continuing significance of the border in people’s lives as both a barrier and a place of contact. INTRODUCTION State borders are often understood as exclusive barriers for mobility and communication. A glance over the world’s economic flows, cyberspaces and other new communication media, and perhaps the withdrawal of most restrictions from the European Union’s internal borders, may evoke a tempt- ing idea that we are living in a ‘borderless’ world. Such an idea has been criticised by border scholars, however, for it is contradicted by the fact that Address correspondence to Eeva-Kaisa Prokkola, Department of Geography, P.O. Box 3000, University of Oulu, Oulu, FIN-90014, Finland. E-mail: eeva-kaisa.prokkola@oulu.fi