Volume 29.2 June 2005 389–407 International Journal of Urban and Regional Research © Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2005. Published by Blackwell Publishing. 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main St, Malden, MA 02148, USA Blackwell Publishing Ltd.Oxford, UK and Malden, USAIJURInternational Journal of Urban and Regional Research0309-13172005 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.June 2005292389 407ArticlesExclusion and difference along the EU borderLila Leontidou, Hastings Donnan and Alex Afouxenidis Exclusion and Difference along the EU Border: Social and Cultural Markers, Spatialities and Mappings LILA LEONTIDOU, HASTINGS DONNAN and ALEX AFOUXENIDIS Introduction: new global centralities and local constructions of ‘borders’ Globes make my head spin. By the time I locate the place, they’ve changed the boundaries (McLuhan and Fiore, 2001: 1). Research on socio-cultural divisions during the process of European integration and new centralities as outlined in this article, will sooner or later encounter two concepts — exclusion and the border — which carry multiple definitions and need to be interrogated at the conceptual level. ‘Borders and frontiers are cultural constructs that can take on many different meanings’ (Eva, 1999: 34). Similarly ‘exclusion’ is an oblique concept and a diverse phenomenon, and can be used with respect to a number of groups or individuals whose marginality stems from several sources (Leontidou and Afouxenidis, 2001; Reimer, 2004: 76–8). In policy and academic usage ‘social exclusion’ often refers to lack of social participation and integration into the ‘mainstream’ activities of society (Room, 1998; Burchardt et al., 2002). But it remains an ‘open’ concept, to which other local idioms of ‘exclusion’ have become attached in popular usage. In what follows we focus on these local understandings, exploring the extent to which those with whom we worked interpret their own situation in terms of ‘social exclusion’, and show how the notion of exclusion comes to be deployed alongside a constellation of related terms such as isolation, marginality and insularity. Borders will be interrogated in a different way. Far from ‘melting’ with globalization, borders still matter in the new millennium. In geopolitics, they are fought for, guarded, crossed. Instead of being a marginal element in the structuring of the wider socio- economic and cultural environment, borders are a major barometer of the (re)construction of identity and the (re)affirmation of culture with larger economic and political repercussions. On the symbolic plane, borders inflect people’s identities in This article develops sections of the TSER Reports on Border Cities and Towns (Leontidou et al., 2000; 2002). For their invaluable cooperation over the three delightful years of the project, the authors are grateful to their research consortium partners and co-authors of the TSER Reports: Vitor Matias Ferreira, Antonio Garcia-Lizana, Xavier Peraldi, Alberto Gasparini, Moreno Zago and James Gow. Hastings Donnan would also like particularly to thank Piero Vereni for his many insightful contributions to both the collection and analysis of the Irish case materials. Most warmly, we wish to thank ‘our’ Director General at the EU Commission DG Research, Achilleas Mitsos, for his appreciation and support, and our Scientific Officer, Fadila Boughanemi, for constant problem-solving and encouragement. Two anonymous referees made substantial suggestions for strengthening the argument for which we are most grateful.