Fortified Nationalism: Racializing Infrastructures and the Authoritarian Transformation of the Body Politic. A Field Trip to the Bifurcated Polish/EU Border Regime.

In this paper, we take the shifting position of »Ukrainians« within the political and imaginary European space since the full Russian invasion and EU’s activation of the »temporary protection directive« as an entry point to examine how the relation between the border, »race« and »Europeanness« is currently reaffirmed in the consolidation of a bifurcated European border regime. Against the backdrop of a research trip to the Polish Belarusian border zone, we argue that the massive fortification of the EU external borders needs to be read not only as a »deterrence regime« directed outwards but in relation to its »internalizing effects« and in conjunction with the ongoing authoritarian transformation of European politics and societies. We examine the fortified border spectacle as racializing infrastructures and trace the emergence of a new spatio-moral regime we call »fortified nationalism« which is directed at reconstituting the body politic as a morally purified, white Christian nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]