speak to me of universal law…of heroin and speed, of genocide and suicide, of syphilis and greed…speak to me the language of love, the language of violence, the language of the heart...just give me something i can believe

p j harvey

Welcome to the borderlands e-journal - a virtual intellectual space for new forms of thought and writing in the humanities and social sciences.

borderlands is a refereed international journal that aims to promote transdisciplinary work across the humanities and social sciences, work which might also intersect with diverse practices and sites in culture, policy and everyday life. Although our beginnings are modest, we hope that over time you will be able to view writings cutting across and between politics, media, literature, history, law, science, medicine, philosophy, economics, music, film and more, along with incisive debate about contemporary culture.

The founder (and publisher) of borderlands e-journal is Anthony Burke, but its origins lie in earlier collective efforts to create open spaces of dialogue and thought in the humanities.

the borderlands concept began with the seminar series identity and governmentality organised in 1994 by Roland Bleiker, Rod McGibbon, Simon Philpott and Paul Rutherford at the Australian National University - featuring speakers such as R. B. J. Walker, Moira Gatens, Paul Patton and David Campbell, on subjects ranging from Bosnia, postmodernism and international relations, Spinoza and feminism, to Baudrillard on the Gulf war.

The series continued in 1995 and 1996 as borderlands, the name suggested by its inaugural speaker Christine Sylvester. Organised by Kate Burton and Anthony Burke, it featured writers such as John Docker, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Julian Pefanis, Rosalyn Diprose, Klaus Offe, Lindsay Barrett, Roland Bleiker and Sasho Lambevski.

In 1997 borderlands was a conference held at the ANU, convened by Anthony Burke, David McInerney and Rebecca Stringer. It featured keynote speakers William Connolly, Susan Hekman and Katherine Gibson (as J. K. Gibson-Graham), along with a range of challenging new postgraduate scholarship.

…a few intellectual touchstones, and some humble beginnings. We hope that the borderlands e-journal will draw in writers and readers from around the globe, and speed up a democratisation and cross-fertilisation of thought from a variety of cultures, debates, conflicts and intellectual traditions, united by a dream of internationalism, a respect for difference, and a common struggle for global social justice.

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