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The Ethnic Conflict Research Digest

1999, Vol. 2 No. 2 .


Border Identities: Nation and State at International Frontiers
Thomas M. Wilson & Hastings Donnan eds.

(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998)
301pp. Index. Hb.: ISBN 0-521-58315-2. Pb.: ISBN 0-521-58745-X.



This title unfortunately promises more than it delivers. It is purported to offer "fresh insights into the complex and various ways in which international frontiers influence cultural identities" (cover blurb), albeit from an anthropological perspective. However, whilst the ten individual papers contained herein are in themselves intrinsically fascinating, as a whole the book suffers free being less than the sum of its parts, which must be attributed more to the editors than to the erudite chapter author authors themselves. This is unfortunately all too common a fault of edited collections of papers from conferences and similar events, which often lack a thematic overview and coherent framework. The book can be recommended for its various disquisitions on Catalonia, Mexico, Palestine, Zimbabwe, Malaysia, Turkey etc. However, it is difficult to see such a collection appealing either to the area specialist or to the general student, both of whom may feel equally frustrated and short-changed.


Dr. Alan Bullion
The Open University




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