Review by Choice Review
Based on a hybrid methodology of field research and the study of written documents in the period between Poland's accession to the EU in 2004 and application of the Schengen border concept to former Communist countries in 2008, Follis (Lancaster Univ., UK) presents a valuable anthropological study of conditions at the Polish-Ukrainian border. She defines the concept of re-bordering that includes decisions made in offices well away from the border, "contingent mobility" of persons back and forth, connections among people rather than nation-states, and a picture of Ukraine as a new buffer zone for asylum seekers. The author gives due attention to the history of these "bloodlands" in which the suffering of its peoples still evokes strong memories. The stories of itinerant Ukrainian women who work in Poland are poignant and bring the study to life. Equally penetrating are the interviews with border guards who struggle daily to enforce EU standards that may conflict with their own nationalistic emotions. While the new system permits the movement of Ukrainians, it is much more restrictive of people from wartorn countries farther east. Whereas EU treaties depict Europe as a special place of hope, the reality at the border is often quite different. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. J. W. Peterson Valdosta State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
