Chasing The Boundaries of Everyday Life

A misunderstanding permeates recent discussions on boundaries. That is the deeply rooted idea according to which boundaries are a hindrance to movement. Often portrayed as barriers and walls, or namely as material artefacts purposely designed to impede the free movement of people and goods, boundaries are instead intrinsic to movement. They are better understood as the settings of everyday life, or even as tracks left by the comings and goings of people. By adopting the concept of “practices on the move”, along with Bourdieu’s theory of practice, this paper argues that boundaries are integral to social motion. Territories are divided into districts either for securing general welfare or to achieve social control. However, the administrative layers of spatial ordering are built upon the customary territoriality of people. As life goes on, mismatches do occur between administrative boundaries and everyday practices. Social control is never achieved permanently. Unchartered boundaries result from unpredictable variations of motion patterns and routines. Reconciling administrative districts with the daily paths of citizens is a task requiring a strong expertise in boundary making, along with an intellectual understanding of boundaries as everyday horizons. Experts in this domain must be sensitive to the intertwining of society and space. What is crucial is the ethical skill to discern, within concrete settings, the emancipative power of a boundary from its segregating power.