The borderscape of Punta Tarifa : concurrent invisibilisation practices at Europe's ultimate peninsula
Ferrer Gallardo, Xavier (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Geografia)
Albet i Mas, Abel 1963- (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Geografia)
Espiñeira, Keina (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Geografia)

Date:	2014
Abstract:	This contribution aims to provide a cultural-geographical reading of the borderscape of Punta Tarifa: the southernmost point of so-called continental Europe and a key site vis-a-vis material and representational Euro-African (dis)connections. It is argued that Punta Tarifa harbours a complex process of symbolic and functional invisibilisation that turns this border landscape into a highly significant scenario within the ongoing European Union bordering process. This invisibilisation process is twofold. On the one hand, it lies with the selective public neglecting/ignoring of a crucial historical episode which challenges mainstream readings of Europe's cultural heritage (the arrival of Tarif and Islam to Tarifa in the year 710). On the other hand, it concerns the veiling of the implemented migration management practices and, more precisely, the opacity surrounding the Migrant Detention Centre situated by Punta Tarifa. Having explored the case of Punta Tarifa, we suggest that a cultural-geographical reading - and hence the shedding of some light - on these and other similar invisibilisation processes is paramount in order to neutralise symbolic and functional exclusionary practices which lie at the heart of current European Union external bordering dynamics.
Grants:	European Commission 266920 European Commission 290775
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Borderscape ; European Union ; Migrant detention centre ; Punta Tarifa ; Strait of Gibraltar ; Tarif
Published in:	Cultural Geographies, Vol. 22 (september 2014) , p. 539-547, ISSN 1477-0881

DOI: 10.1177/1474474014547336
PMID: 29708119

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