Visual and Sensory Methods in the Study of Everyday Bordering Processes: Insights from the Finnish–Russian Border

Contemporary interdisciplinary border studies understand borders as dynamic and multidimensional processes of “bordering” that are produced by people and communities in their everyday lives through ideology, discourses, political institutions, attitudes, and agency (Scott 2015). This paper examines such everyday bordering processes at one of the world’s most rigid and divisive borders: the Finnish–Russian border. The aim is to demonstrate how visual and sensory methods can deepen the understanding of borders as more than static state lines, highlighting their role in shaping individuals’ perceptions, experiences, and identities. The paper draws on two studies conducted within the “Borders and Borderlands Revisited” project at the Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center, University of Antwerp, Belgium.

The first study employs visual and sensory ethnography to explore everyday bordering processes in Finnish and Russian border cities during the period following the COVID-19 pandemic and the onset of the war in Ukraine. This approach captures the affective and embodied dimensions of bordering processes and their interaction with material borders and landscapes. The second study investigates the visual representation of the Finnish–Russian border in the Finnish national press over the past decade (2013–2022), a period marked by deteriorating political relations between Finland and Russia and significant changes in everyday life at the border. The analysis reveals four overarching visual rhetorical strategies that construct the image of the border, showing how shifting social and political contexts influenced these representations.

By employing these examples, the paper aims to shed light on the power relations embedded in everyday bordering processes, illustrating how visual and sensory methods offer new avenues for understanding and making visible the complexity of borders in everyday life.