Review of the book Anatomía de la frontera (Madrid: Tecnos, 2025) by Juan Carlos Velasco
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5007/1677-2954.2026.e110415Keywords:
borders, migration, cosmopolitanism, nationAbstract
This review examines Anatomía de la frontera by Juan Carlos Velasco. The book offers a comprehensive and critical introduction to the topic, aimed both at readers new to the field and at specialists interested in the normative dimension of borders. The first two chapters focus on the conceptual and historical reconstruction of borders — their lexicography, legal elements, forms, and functions. The central chapters analyze the relationship between borders, collective identity, and securitization discourse. The final chapters explore the normativity of borders and the limits and possibilities of an open-borders regime.
References
BALIBAR, Étienne. Fronteras del mundo, fronteras de la política. Alteridades, v. 15, n. 30, p. 87–96, 2005.
BROWN, Wendy. Walled states, waning sovereignty. New York: Zone Books, 2010.
FOUCHER, Michel. Fronts et frontières. Paris: Fayard, 1991.
FOUCHER, Michel. L’obsession des frontières. Paris: Perrin, 2012.
FOUCHER, Michel. Le retour des frontières. Paris: CNRS, 2016.
MAU, Steffen. Sortiermaschinen: die Neuerfindung der Grenzen im 21. Jahrhundert. München: Beck, 2021.
MEZZADRA, Sandro; NEILSON, Brett. Border as method: the multiplication of labor. Durham: Duke University Press, 2013.
VELASCO, Juan Carlos. El azar de las fronteras. México: FCE, 2016.
VELASCO, Juan Carlos; LA BARBERA, Maria Caterina (eds.). Challenging the borders of justice in the age of migrations. Cham: Springer, 2019.
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